Extremely squeaky brakes, especially on initial startup.
Hesitation in transmission.
Part time 4 wheel drive, creates a tightening in the drive line, that gives one the impression something is going to break. Especially noticeable on tight turns-- vehicle does not want to turn, causing tire skid.
Uncomfortable seats for long distance driving.
Started noticing the break noise as soon as I got the vehicle home. Have visited Chrysler repair shop a dozen times. They have replaced all the pads, and rear rotors. Noise still there. Was told a recall for this defect would be coming Dec/03.
Transmission-- One of the gears seems to hesitate. When one goes to accelerate, there is a hesitation, then suddenly the gear catches causing a slight jerk.
The vehicle works very awkwardly in "part time 4 wheel drive"...If one goes to back up and turn, the drive train tightens up (like the brakes are being applied)..I heard a "clunk" from the rear, one time. Seems like something is going to break. Also, when turning, the wheels skid on the ground like the differential is locked.
The seats are quite uncomfortable, in spite of being leather. I think a lot of this is due to the large beam between the front and side windows. One feels like the drivers seat would be better situated if it was about 4 inches more to the left.
I own a Liberty Sport 4X4. On occasion, in the mornings usually, the brakes a really really loud when backing out of the garage. Not high pitched, sort of low to medium, but LOUD! It only seems to be in reverse. I haven't tried backing into the garage and pulling out forward yet. Once I get to the end of my street, the noise is gone and everything is fine and dandy. Brought it in for its first oil change the other day. Part of the "deal" that my dealership was giving away was the extra care service package. So I've got some 13 more free oil filter and lube changes. On top of it all, they top off all the fluids, and check the tire pressure. I stood out there and watched them when I had it in just to make sure they did everything correctly and they did. Fortunately, my car will not be affected in the upcomming ball joint recall. I will have to do some research on a possible Brake recall. Sorry to hear about your misfortune with your Liberty. Every company has some lemons that are scattered about, sounds like you got one. I know a bunch of other people who are very happy with their's and use it off road just about every weekend.
I got the usual excuses for the brake noises -- rust forming overnight etc...I talked too many owners-- no problems. I finally made a recording and took it in. The service manager says the noise is coming from the front end. Most noticeable in the morning after backing out of my driveway then driving forward. Will squeak for about 500 feet. If you tap the brakes lightly, the vehicle sounds like a semi coming to a stand still...Was told -- finally -- that my Liberty was not the only one with this problem. "Expect to hear something about this problem by early Dec."...I haven't heard anything yet...I've decided to wait 'till Jan.,then get on their butts again...Noise not as bad in wet winter months, but still there from time to time.
A few comments. First of all, part time 4wd is not designed to ever be used on dry pavement. If you use it in conditions where wheel slip would not be expected at low speed, you are always going to get that binding feeling when turning. The reason is both axles are turning the wheels at the same speed. In a turn, each wheel actually needs to travel at a slightly different speed. In 4X4 operation (part time, not full-time AWD) you do not have a system that is designed to transmit differential power to each axle. The transfer case just starts spinning both front and rear drive shafts at the same speed. That is the binding you are feeling, and it is not unique to the Liberty. Any standard 4X4 does it on dry pavement. You are not really supposed to engage the feature until you are on a surface where there is a loss of traction and wheel slippage is expected.
The other option is to purchase a full-time 4X4 equipped Liberty or maybe go with some other AWD system.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the response...Re: Use of "part time 4 wheel drive"...I guess what has confused me, is I used to drive a Rav4 with it's "all wheel drive"...You'd think that they'd design the shifter so that the "full time 4 wheel" would follow the "2 wheel" -- it's just a natural progression...Of course, the "full time" can be used at any time, whereas the "part time" is only supposed to be used on snow, or off-road use...The names are misleading...Glad to hear that the tightening up is normal.
I wrote the first comment on this page, and I'm responding to the guy who wrote the second one. I had my nextdoor neighbor stand outside one morning while I backed out of garage and he said it was comming from the back. Then we swapped places, and he backed out of my garage and I also herd it comming from the back. After I get to the end of my street (which is maybe a block) and the brakes get warmed up, the niose stops. They are perfectly quiet. I thought it was dirt on the brakes. I live in a neighborhood still being built and there is ALWAYS dust flying through the air. What was DC going to do about it? Issue a recall or just a TSB?
--A very happy Jeep Owner.
...I never noticed the brake noise while backing out of my driveway, but as soon as I put it in forward and idled along, it was like a steady moan -- that would go on sometimes for 500 feet...Touch the brakes, even lightly, at this time, and there's MAJOR squeaking/moan. I haven't noticed the sound lately, as the ground is quite wet, but throughout the summer.. Practically every day it was there...The noise, in my opinion, seemed to be coming from the rear (as yours), but the Service Manager insisted it was coming from the front. I've been in to see the service dept. for this problem at least 10 times...I finally made a recording, as every time I went in they claimed they could find nothing wrong. When I took it in the last time, they said they did hear the noise. In fact, as I drove the vehicle out of the lot (un-repaired), the salesman and a customer both heard it. --You could hear it all over the lot!!...It was terrible --embarrassing. Further... Sometimes the noise would start up, right out of the blue, even after I'd driven for miles. For example: when making fairly tight, slow turns such as in our mall parking lot...
The service manager said he was expecting to hear something the end of last November, as there are apparently quite a number of Liberty owners experiencing this same problem. I went in to see him early December. He still hadn't heard anything...I'll be in to see him again, early January. If he still starts coming up with excuses, I'll get him to phone the district service manager, again.
Please let me know if you get anything out of your dealer. I was in the area of my dealership last week and ran it buy to see if they knew anything about it. I took the Service manager for a quick spin around the block and un-like what I thought would happen, the brakes acted up. The manager said he has had others come in and complain and he went around the block in their Liberty's and couldn't get it to act up. he also agreed just from sitting in the passenger seat that it was the rear disc brakes. He did some research and also said DC was planning to do something about it within the next couple of months. It's not something that I'm too terribly concerned about right now. I don't really see it as being a saftey issue. It's just that it's very very loud. You can't even hear the radio or the person in the car with you. And it is only if you barely hit the brakes, and as you said at idle speed. If you apply a somewhat normally or enough to slow down he car as any other person would do on a normal day, you don't hear it except the very first millisecond that you hit the brakes. Strange. Glad to see I'm not the only one. Again, please let me know what you hear out of D.C. If I hear anything I will let you know. I also have noticed it was mainly in the muggy, summer mornings. But I did hear it the other day while backing out of a parking space in the mall parking lot. And I had been driving around town all day long.
My girlfriend just bought an 03 Liberty with 15k miles;program vehicle. It's seems great in every way...except, there is rust on the floor rails the driver and passenger seats move forward and back on. Any idea what could cause this. No rust anywhere else.
Re the above comment, check under the dash or inside the interior panels for signs of mud; your Jeep may have been a flood victim...
Might have gotten stuck in a lot of mud.
I own a 2004 Jeep Liberty Renegade and will be having the Rear Brake Moan/Squeal repair done 4 Feb. 2004...still no official recall yet, but my dealership seemed to already know about the problem and was just awaiting parts.
I am a very happy Jeep Liberty owner. I picked mine up in June of 2003 (April 03 build) and now have about 9500 miles on it. I heard the brake moan shortly after I bought it. It would moan after it had been sitting for awhile (usually overnight), but only for a few seconds and then I would not hear it anymore until the next morning. I've had no other problems with it.
If there is a recall, I'll be bringing it in.
I am very happy to see that I am not the only one with this problem. I to have had this problem since I bought the Jeep in June. I took it in and of course you know how vehicles have the little kid syndrome (act up for you, but not for people who will fix them straight lol.) I was also told it may be rust forming on the brakes, took it home and the same thing. Finally they said some parts were being ordered because they had other jeeps with the same problem. I waited 3 weeks for the part got it fixed and all was fine for about a month now it is back to doing the same thing, but I can't get it to duplicate for them to notice, I hope a recall comes out soon and it is the right thing, although it is not causing any programs with the performance it is annoying as all get out.
Hello... I wrote the original review posted here...I've got another problem. I noticed that the "JEEP" lettering on the front of the hood had some thin, clear plastic that was peeling off the letters. Unfortunately, when it does, the chrome beneath disintegrates into a dull, ugly, blackish-gray coating that cannot be polished...I haven't priced replacing the letters, but I'm sure they'll cost an arm and a leg...Just curious if anyone else has experienced this problem. My Jeep was purchased new, and I've had it for seven months.
I have not noticed on my jeep. I was the one who posted that my breaks were "fixed" but still doing the squalling. Call you jeep dealers if you have this problem there has been a new update. They have now changed the rotors, break shoes and break fluid.