Jeep Liberty: Problems & Solutions

nivekfalk

I'm seeing the same thing with My '05 Liberty CRD, don't even have the temp tags off yet. I posted a fairly long message about 6 weeks ago regarding noise and thumps from the drivetrain while backing out of my driveway and it ended up being the pads depositing a film on the rotors. The noise goes away after a bit of driving. The dealer supposedly fixed it by swapping out the rotors and pads, essentially everything but the callipers from a brand new liberty still on the lot (it was going to take too long for parts) and now 4 weeks later it is doing it again. It was cold and damp out this morning and it seems markedly worse. I have had some inconsistent braking on the road, and as a father of two, that is not acceptable to me at all. I am going to initiate my own recall notice and trade this thing for a Honda, "It's a Jeep thing, and no, I don't get it at all..." :lemon:

glhperformance

I am happy with my Liberty, this is my second Jeep my last one had 250k on it and i plan on just as many with this one, you can go buy your foreign piece of scrap iron and I will keep my USA made Jeep which keeps people jobs here in the USA, Well I guess its a Jeep thing being rated #1 by 4X4 magazine, Jd Power associates and to have an over 95 percent approval rating by Jeep Liberty Owners, I am proud to say I buy USA built products from hard working people. Just my opinion.

cyart

After pulling out of work Friday morning, I heard and felt pinging, and it didn't feel right, and then the engine light went on, so I took it right to the garage. After getting a lecture about keeping up with my oil changes (I was 900 miles over), they said they cleaned up something and gave me an oil change and it was good to go.

Went to get the jeep and on my way back home it acted the same way, I took it right back to the garage (this this the dealer- by the way) and said it wasn't fixed. The Manager took it for a ride and said it wasn't.

Monday they called and said that they are replacing the cylinder cap. Chrysler wanted them to do what they did on Friday first, to see if cleaning that one part worked - which it didn't.

He told me it was going to be over $1000, but he could get it covered by their "mechanic" agreement (I think it was mechanic. Could have been service agreement), and that I would have to pay $100. Does this sound like a volunteer recall to you? And if it is, do I have to pay the $100? Has anyone else had this problem?

Thanks!

kpriest

Hi I also have some of the similar problems with my 2004 Jeep Liberty, after 3 months having the vehicle the Rear end was making winning noise an d took it in and the replace the Pinon Bearings, then 2 months later I took it in again and they replaced the whole rear end, I still here the noise on the brakes when I back out some times it is really load but like you when you drive it awhile it stops, plus the rear end still cry s. Taken it in several times and they tell me I'm crazy, but I'm not,

last week I heard a pop and smoke and opened the hood and the electric fan wires where melted and had to replace it. but then I still here the problem when I back out and some winning but Dealer just don't want to listen, I did contact a lemon law layer and said I need to get them to repair the rear end once more.

Any suggestion? :lemon:

mentholmoose

Greetings. This just happened to us. When we turned the car off, the tail latch ketp clicking, but we didn't notice. Came back to the car and found the battery REALLY dead. Then, it wouldn't run at all. Would start, then die.
Has anyone found out anything about this yet??????

p38man

Hello,I just bought a 2005 Liberty Limited with 14,500 kilo,s on it,I have the same problem backing out of my driveway with a slight incline and the wheel cranked 360 degrees,I get a binding also like it is in four wheel drive part time almost stalls the vehicle.when I go forward and straighten the wheels I get a loud bang in the rear end like a axle problem.I am in the automotive business myself but not a mechanic by trade.brought the liberty to my dealer here in Canada, they replaced the Transfer Case,said it was binding.one day later the same problem and only mornings like everyone else and only backing up.returned to the dealer with the binding problem still there,now they put some sort of additive in the rear end they felt was never put in at the factory,I have the optional Trac-Lok Rear Axle,the dealer thinks that without the additive the rear ending is locking up, and the problem is the inside wheel trying to turn as fast as the outside wheel creating the binding effect and the bang is it letting go when you pull ahead.has everyone else who has this problem have the locking rear axle.? the additive was only put in yesterday they say to drive it about 1,000 Kilo,s before it will work in.I am hopeing, and I will keep coming back to check this site,sorry for the long post I am new here.
Good Luck,I am the same first new vehicle in Twenty Years and now problems

mrobins

Attention all, Lisa Parker From Channel 5 news in Chicago is doing a special report on Chrysler Thursday night 11-3-05, check it out, there will be more to come after that, she can not do two chrysler stories at once.

mrobins

Hi do you work for chrysler or a dealer? sounds like it just my opinion partner"

boilermaker2

Got o http://www.e85fuel.com/
You will see that there is a E85 vehicles button
Unfortunately, you will see that the closest thing listed to your Jeep KJ is a Dodge Durango 4.7 :mad:

It is not recommended to run E85 if your car if not properly equipped. As I understand, the fueld system if "beefed up" to hand the solvent properties of the fuel. Your KJ might run OK for a while but only a while... :sick:

unclebubba

I don't know if we are lucky or what. We got our Jeep Liberty, 02 model, in August of 2001. Not one problem related to manufacture. I keep looking for problems, but not finding any. We have nearly 60K miles on it, plus we have towed it behind our motorhome at least another 25K miles. No problems. Not looking for any.

Now, as for my 05 Liberty CRD!! 3K miles on it and have been having fuel delivery issues. Maybe the earlier models were built with more care or who knows. I still like the vehicle. It will be made right. Or else I'll let the states Attorney General handle the matter. He loves things like that!

renegader

"has everyone else who has this problem have the locking rear axle.? the additive was only put in yesterday they say to drive it about 1,000 Kilo,s before it will work in"

I have the TracLok differential and there was problem with this noise too. After 5000 miles. But the noise (and locking) disappeared immediatelly after adding of "Mopar friction modifier", which should be added in every TracLok dif even in production. My dealer told me they never do it in production, they are waiting till the problems appear. Air humidity, temperature and so influence the need of aditivs. But 1000 km? I have other experience...

glhperformance

No i don't work for a jeep dealer, just some people on here have very small problems they make a big deal over, some are serious though. and the people with crd's that have cold weather issues or milage they don't expect got to learn a diesel's break in period is 10k miles and diesels start harder in cold weather read your owners manual and use your block heater people.

crdfan

I have had my CRD since Feb. I now have 14,500 miles on it and just got it out the the service department again because of the EGR valve. They have now replaced it 3 times along with 2 other parts. I have contacted a lawyer about using the lemon law on it. Its too bad because I love the Liberty but they need to do something about the new engine, I get anywhere from 22 to 26 miles/gal but I cant afford to keep taking it back to the dealer every month for them to fix the same problem. Good luck to you.

crdfan

I have forwarded my complaint to them. I have 14,500 mi on my CRD and have had 3 EGR valves replaced and 2 electrical components, its nice to know mine is not the only one with so many problems.

p38man

Thanks Renegader for your input,good to know I am not alone with this problem,hope the Friction Modifier works,at least I know the mechanic is on the right track,it does seem to be getting better but not completely gone.time will tell or back to the dealer again which is the pain.

I will keep in touch,good to have advice from other people with the same problems.

renegader

Hi, if it is caused by TracLok, Friction Modifier will help you very quickly, Im sure. If not, look at brake pads. There are a lot of inputs in this forum about metallic sound, caused by disk brake pads. I have not this problem, my rear brakes are drum. An older type, but without noise.

jdrage

I just bought on O5 JEEP CRD. I have experienced rapid acceleration on 2 occasions. I have less than 1000 miles on it. Are we talking about the same thing? I traded in a Lexus SUV because of the mileage, plus and I can two it behind my RV with out a lot of extra exp. :confuse:

jdrage

I just bought on O5 JEEP CRD. I have experienced rapid acceleration on 2 occasions. I have less than 1000 miles on it. I need to go back to the dealer to have it looked at

scooter59

2002 liberty heater stays hot while driving normal highway speeds, come too a stop and heater puts out cool air. radiator fluid level good, engine tempeture is normal. what can be the problem?

willds2

Has anyone had a problem with turning onto a roadway during wet weather? The other day it was raining. I was at a stop light and the light turned green and when I accelerated to make a left turn I lost complete control of the rear end as it spun around 180 degrees. This happens to me every time it rains. I have learn to start out very slow, but as we all know there are times you have to give it the gas to avoid being hit by oncoming traffic. I wrote Jeep/Chrysler about this but they acted like I was the first person ever to complain about this problem. Has anyone had a similar experience?
Will

cherini

Tuesday, I was at a stop light and got the arrow.. just had rained a bit... i turned the corner and did 3 180 and slammed into the medium ruining my rims and blowing out two tires.. I was not going fast. Just started the turn.... I am really scared to drive my new Jeep.
Cherini and Bob

indianrefining

Will -

Your problem is probably those piece-of-crap OEM Goodyear tires. Their wet-weather performance (particularly) is horrible. I replaced mine with Firestone Destination LEs and it's like a different vehicle.

xscout

Is the heater on or off when this happens? The first place I would check either way is the vacuum system. Vacuum is high at idle and low at higher engine speeds. A leak could be enough at speed to affect your climate controls.

div2

You might want to keep in mind that the throttle is NOT an on-off switch.

jayrider

That's why you have full time 4wd. When the road is wet/slick you have a rear wheel drive truck with little weight over the rear axle. My 03 has poor traction unless I shift into f/t which I always do whenever a drop of rain so much as touches the pavement. After that, the traction is awsome! As soon as conditions improve, I shift out.

scooter59

was thinking that. will try and check hose going to climate control. vacuum seems fine in rest of car system. thank you

trisha7525

Just bought my 2nd Jeep Liberty in July 2005. This one is a Renegade, the first one a Sport. Anyway, I was traveling at about 60 kph (40mph) and lost steering like I had a blowout ... very hard to control. I got out and no flat tire but the driver's wheel was towed completely in and down at the top. I looked and saw the tie rod end just hanging there unattached to the wheel! I called the 24 hr warranty folks and he was shocked to hear to only has 1942 kilometers and is 3 months old! The wrecker took it it to the dealership. The service mgr called me today and gave me the verdict .... the torque to yield nut came off ... it was gone! Imagine how comfortable and secure I feel behind the wheel tonight. LoL We are discussing a buy-back. Wish me luck!

tninspector

I just bought a new 2006 Liberty. From day one when ever I go over a bump in road or speed bump, etc. Its like it loses power. Feels like its not getting gas. It only last for a second then its fine. Dealer kept for 3 days and said it would not do it for them. Has anyone else had this problem??

glhperformance

I drive mine hard on rain snow ice never had the 180 problem don't know what to tell you.

div2

I have a 1999 Wrangler Sahara and it has never come close to spinning 180 degrees-even when it was fitted with the terrible OEM Goodyears. I can't imagine what it would take to make a Lib do that. :confuse:

liberty4all

Many times at intersections were traffic sets cars and trucks leak oil and after a rain it will be very slick. Easy on the gas peddle next time should help.

vamir

Yes, most half way intelligent people have noticed this problem. Upgrade to a 235/70/r16 tire. I chose the FS Destination AT. HUGE difference. I cant believe there are acutally people saying that they dont experience a problem. All you have to do is press lightly on your gas pedal when your light tunrs green on a rainy day to find out. They OEM Goodyears are HORR-E-BULL

vamir

Go to Tirerack.com and do a seach for the 215/75/r16 tire or 225..depending on what year you have and look at the ratings. Compare with a Firestone destination AT 235/70/R16 (104S). The tires suck. Change them asap.

glhperformance

I never had a problem with slipage and I have the six speed with my v6 and first gear pulls really hard never spun out even when burning the tires not a problem of going around in circles like some of you are haveing and have the cheap oem tires, even on snow 2 wheel drive works great, i just have the base sport model 05 with 4 wheel drive, remeber burn rubber not your soul, cause its a jeep thing

horne2

a friend warned me about the Liberty - she had nothing but trouble with hers :lemon: . our 2002 jeep liberty is at the dealership waiting for a second ball joint replacement. we've had the rotors done too ( way too early). the ac compressor had to be replaced and the windshield has been replaced twice (cracks easily). we've had several 4 wheel drive vehicles over the past 25 years and only had this much trouble with a Mazda Navajo and the 4wheel drive on a 98 Kia sportage. we're trading in the libery asap.

seabass

Help Jeep-ites,

My wife owns an 02 Liberty. We are experiencing the phantom dome light problem some of you have described. The dome comes on while driving and does not go off until several minutes after shutting the car off.

Any suggestions?

craigk1

I've noticed the same thing in my 2005 6-speed 4-cyl. Very "clunky" transmission. I just assumed that was the nature of the transmission since it's a little more rugged than your standard auto transmission.

Can anyone confirm or deny that?

john81

I also purchased a 2006 Jeep Liberty, but have a 6 spd manual, but yours is probably an automatic. I have not noticed this problem with mine, but you can try something. Go to where there is a speed bump, because you are going to perform a test. Drive over the bump just to verify the problem is still there. Turn around and approach the bump again, but get enough speed because just before you hit it, put the transmission into N neutral. As you coast over the bump, see if the engine repeats the same problem.
Your RPM should drop to almost zero. If you put on the brake, if the engine is starved for fuel, should shut off while braking over the bump.
What I am suspecting is the sensor or a couple of speed sensors are loose or intermittant, maybe on the bell housing (crankshaft position sensor) What I would ask the technician for a list of items checked, tested, removed, replaced and results of a driving test. I just like to have things on paper, just in case I might need it later.
The best way to diagnose a problem is close observation.
See if that helps
John

ttandjj

Ok so we have the 2005 diesel liberty and this evening my husband cranked it up & put it in reverse, backed out of the garage, put it in drive and it "putted" or "stuttered", very weird! He accelerated and the engine sounded really funny, like something was loose or something. I told him to press the pedal a little more to zoom it a bit and like, uhhh it didn't accelerate any faster? It's like something is hung up or stuck or something. Anyone have any idea what is going on?

ttandjj

We had our Liberty towed to the dealership & they found that some hose to the turbo thing had blown off. They fixed it and our Liberty is back at home.

glhperformance

I have the six spped no problems works fine

libertyinct

The switch that controls the fan speed is not working in the "1" and "2" position in my 2002 Liberty. Has anyone else had any issues with the fan switch? Is there an easy fix for this?

jnaut

I live in Seattle: Hills + Lots of rain. I haven't seen this problem. Yes, occasionally if you gun the engine on a hill, some slippage occurs, but I would link this more to tires than to the liberty itself. I agree that the Lib probably doesn't have the same weight over the rear axle as other full sized suv's.

But, I don't drive like I'm 16, either. I would seriously consider your tires to be the issue.

renegader

Could you write more about these occasions?

luwy7604

I have a 2002 Jeep Liberty Limited Edition...
When driving the dome lights turn on by itself, when you touch the signlight it turns off, some sort of short circuit...anyone has this problem or knows the or a solution?

kburke

I had the same problem with my 2003 Liberty;heater only worked on high speed.You need to replace the heater resistor. With the help of a Haynes repair manual its not a big job.

john81

I did a search on all existing gripes concerning rear brakes or noises coming from the rear end and I was surprised that this problem existed back in 2001.
All disk brakes overheat because of continuous friction from the brake pads and caliper assembly. Any heat generated from the front disk brakes transmits to the ball joint/u-joint assembly and consequently causes premature failures in bearings and grease fittings. The front axle is rarely damaged from the generated heat coming from the rotor.
Now on the rear, any heat generated coming from the rotor is possibly transmitted to the rear axle assembly. One of the problems someone wrote in indicated the dealership changed the rear axle. Swapping a rear differential isn't very hard to do, but my interests lie in what the technicians found which brought them to that decision. Can excessive heat cause a weakening in the outer axle seals? The air inside the differential might be prone to expansion from the resulting heat causing a hydraulic piston effect against the lube gear oil, thus pushing out the seals from the inside.
The rubber view/refill plug would blow out if any over pressure occured, but you wouldn't know that as you drove down the highway.
What I need is for a technician to get in here and do some theoretical troubleshooting, because the guys in the shop are apparently clueless if this problem has existed since 2001.
Request anyone seeing brownish fluid leaking from the axle shaft and rear disk brakes after long drives or known periods of rear brake temperatures. I routinely ask Jiffy Lube to check my rear differential to monitor any fluid changes. If anyone has seen smoking tires, not from the tires but from hot fluid on the rear rotor. Not that you want to get real close and look. I'll let the fire dept do that.
John

hraines

Blower resistor. HI goes straight to fan(through relay). 1, 2&3 goes through resistor.

caribou1

There is an easy way to detect overheating:
-On the market you can purchase temperature recorders that log time and temperature. I used "I-Button" one wire technology in the past.
This kit consists of a little software application with an adapter you connect on the serial port of a pc. You program the recorder sampling period, fix it against the differential with sticky tape, and let it run the test.
When the test period is over, you retreive the data by putting the sensor back on it's adapter.
The sensor has a built in lithium battery that lasts for a long time and is not affected by cold temperatures.
Here is where I bought mine:
http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/ibutton/
Good luck

john81

I saw in a racing magazines that the pit crew duct tape'd a long cooking probe thermometer to the rear axle. One of the technicians came to the realization that if the metal outer shell of the differential reached 300-400 degrees, the interior gearings and bearings have already been cooked. The rear bearing lube (lube is not designed for high temperatures like engine oil) had broken down creating gear and bearing "salad".
There are not provisions to cool the axle fluid, so it continually absorbs the surrounding heat from both the rotor and outer differential shell.
I also saw where the parking brake will readjust the brake pads with every use. The changing dynamics of the parking brake, pad wear, powdered metal on the rotor itself with continuous applied heat, Wow, something has to snap.
I noticed my jeep liberty had some rear rubbing on the rotor. From experience, it knew it was the rotor rubbing with the pads. We all use the parking brake at the end of the day for security, but the technician should know that this linkage needs continual adjustment based on pad wear.
This linkage is self adjusting, which I have learned to do.
John