Ask the Car People.SM


Jeep Liberty

4228 messages,  Last post on Mar 18, 2013 at 11:37 AM

You are in the Jeep Liberty and Jeep Liberty Diesel Forum.

What is this discussion about? Jeep Liberty, SUV

Messages Page 420 of 424

#4185 of 4228 2005 Liberty Dead in the Mountains by wam161

Jun 08, 2007 (7:44 am)

My wife and I were just on a 1600 mile trip to the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. Our 2005 Liberty had approximately 37,000 miles on it, and it had been completely problem free up until this point. The only unscheduled things done to it were a couple of recalls.
 
We had taken the Liberty on a previous trip to the Black Hills in South Dakota and the Jeep performed pretty well. It was an enjoyable vehicle to use for a trip overall. For the Smokey Mountains things were different.
 
For one thing, I really felt the limitations in the handling department. Around the mountain roads, the Liberty just felt way too unwieldy. The sloppy steering just felt way too sloppy on the mountains curves. What made matters worse was how weazy the 3.7 was going up the mountain slopes. The V6 just labored continually. I was a bit emabrrassed that a family member caravaning with us was able to leave us in the dust with his Toyota Highlander. The Liberty was simply outgunned by the Highlander, and was pretty much outgunned by anything else on the road with us.
 
The biggest blow came when we were in Cades Cove in the Smokey Mountain National Park. At the 38,000 mile mark on the odometer, the belt tensioner ceased up. It tossed the belt, and the trip was effectively over at that point. Of course the warranty was up, and the incident ended up putting us back $400.00. That included the 30 mile tow out of the mountains.
 
So the lesson I learned was this: Liberty trail rated, but not mountain rated.
 
It's too bad, because we really enjoyed our Jeep up until this point. For 38,000 miles it had been one of the better vehicles we owned. The "power tech" V6 Chrysler uses is really a dog, and I wished they hadn't opted to use it in the 2008 Liberty. A better engine would go a long way in the Liberty. The vehicle is an otherwise decent small SUV.
 
As a side note, we averaged 19.1 MPG for the whole trip. That included the gas eating mountain roads. The highway travel came out to be more like 21.1 MPG. Overall that wasn't too bad for the Liberty considering the abysmal city type MPG it gets for our day to day driving.

#4186 of 4228 How can I find the engine# on a Jeep Liberty? by blkrbt

Jun 08, 2007 (11:51 am)

Hello everybody,
  
I need your help. A friend of mine imported a Jeep Liberty in the old country. In order to register the vehicle he also needs the engine#. I called my local dealership, service advisor told me it's located on the right(passenger) side of the engine. He had to look it up, so he couldn't tell me if the engine number would have just numbers or also letters. Also, does it start with the engine model? If anybody knows, please let me know. Any info will be great.
  
Thanks

#4187 of 4228 Engine# by blkrbt

Jun 08, 2007 (12:33 pm)

P.S. The vehicle is already overseas, so I am not able to look for the # myself. Neither do I have the vin# but I can find out. I work at a Honda dealership and I know I can look up a Honda engine# by entering the vin# in the Honda IN network. But then even if I had the vin# I'll have to ask the local dealer go the extra mile to help me out. If anybody have an idea what a Jeep Liberty engine# starts with please let me know.

#4188 of 4228 Re: Jeep Liberty extended warranty????? [lisab95] by nomorechrysler

Aug 19, 2007 (12:56 pm)

Replying to: lisab95 (Jul 19, 2005 9:58 pm)
It is probably too late, but I say YES. My extended warranty has saved me a mint! In under 60,000 miles the PCM went out, and that was only part of a very long list.

#4190 of 4228 liberty 07 by dwliberty

Jun 05, 2007 (9:07 pm)

I have been having problems with my liberty since I bought it. the dealer said they cant find anything.
idles rough at times..
one time stalled...told me its breaking in. it only has 1120 miles on it.
 the day after the third time bringing it did something really strange.
I was excelling onto a highway, making a right on red.
I do put my foot to the floor to get to speed. the jeeps rpm when crazy and it made this
 extremely loud high pitched grinding sound from behind the glove compartment.
and the car didn't excel at all. I thought it was going to stall. but it didn't and seemed to fix itself.
 since then it has made the grinding noise and rpm goes crazy but didn't act like it was going to stall.
I brought it in and they told me that it could be because its so new,
or because the engine is so big and its a light truck, or it could be that I shouldn't put my foot to the floor the way
I do and that it may be that the anti roll device is trying to even itself out.
the dealer says they can't find anything or make it happen so nothing is wrong. if this is because of the way I accelerate then this must have happened to someone else.
has anyone experienced this? I have had 2 mechanics tell me that it sounds like transmission, but I guess to enforce the
lemon law you need them to acknowledge the problem. Help! is this normal for a new car?
and do I have to drive the liberty more gingerly than other cars?

#4191 of 4228 Re: liberty 07 [dwliberty] by bored

Jun 05, 2007 (10:21 pm)

Replying to: dwliberty (Jun 05, 2007 9:07 pm)
That does in fact sound like the ESP system retarding the timing on the engine and using the brakes to control the vehicle. You shouldn't be driving that Liberty like a car. If you didn't have ESP, by the way it's sounding, you should have rolled it a long time ago. I'd suggest you keep your foot out of the go-pedal so much. You might get some better mileage too, hehehehehhehehehe.
 
It's a truck. Slow down.
 
I can't help on the stalling issue. Sorry...

#4192 of 4228 Re: liberty 07 [bored] by dwliberty

Jun 06, 2007 (3:33 am)

Replying to: bored (Jun 05, 2007 10:21 pm)
As embarrassing as it is to hear that, I feel better hearing it from other than the dealer.
And the fact that there is probably nothing wrong with it. just me apparently.
I had a small SUV before but not the jeep. handles differently, which is
what I wanted to know.
as far as the rough idle and the stall they said it was a new engine and
needed to break in. Thanks

#4193 of 4228 idle and stall by bored

Jun 06, 2007 (6:25 am)

Well it is a 3.7L 90º engine. It's not the smoothest engine in the world. The balance shafts that the engine has helps, but doesn't eliminate all of the shakes. If it was a 60º engine, it would balance itself, making it MUCH smoother.
 
I feel the stall was a different issue altogether... and the idle is normal. It's one of the first things I discovered about my Liberty. My passenger seat would visibly shake while idling...

#4194 of 4228 Re: Rear rattle??? [wayno05] by bjohnson99

Oct 19, 2007 (8:52 pm)

Replying to: wayno05 (Oct 13, 2005 3:55 am)
My rear rattling problem sounds very similar to yours. Did you ever figure out what was causing the rattle?

Messages Page 420 of 424

To POST a message, please Sign In.

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement