I HATE the Liberty!

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Winston Smith

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Well ain't you just a lucky pair then
The truth hurts, not as much as an icepick in the eye, but, it still hurts.
CDJ along with all the other manufacturers have been screwing people with second rate stuff for years, Modern engineering means that general failures can be controlled to within a given time frame or mileage (give or take) Probably most 'famous' (infamous?) example is/was john Deere tractors.They originally had a design life around 18~ 22yrs (I forget details, pretty much between the age of the commenter’s) but many were still running very well after 25+ years. Company was slowly going bankrupt, why buy new when it's still running fine?. They 'stole a page from 'Detroit playbook' and started using a design life of 10 yrs, After 10yrs it was debatable if repair or replacement was more cost effective and now they are highly profitable. If you have unlimited funds and/or only pay dealer/specialist to 'build' your vehicle your not 'real' Jeep people but wanabee's with internet courage
I saw something about name calling earlier in this thread, trolls? You wouldn't know a troll if it fell on you. Just keep drinking the coolade

BTW, camo seat covers? yep, real '*********'
 
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tommudd

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Mr. Smith goes to Washington, well in this case nowhere
I'll ignore you after this but people on here build their own Jeeps, they take pride in a vehicle and do everything to keep it running good and looking good. We have people with 250-300,000 miles and over ten years old. We enjoy doing this and while at time we may get frustrated its no more than getting up and having to shovel 10 inches of snow from the driveway.
So while you may want to go on and on and on about JDs, Jeeps etc we have much better things to do .
Already checked you out anyways and now know why..........
 

boboborino

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What I have a problem with is generalization. Just because your KJ *****(which I am sorry to hear about) it does not mean that CDJ ***** any more or less than FMC,TMC,here's an easy one for you, GM,another easy one, VW, HA JD BA RM OK (the last three are just random letters). Oh Ya back to my point, not all KJ's suck, but you are going to get good and bad with EVERYTHINGyou buy. If you are too stupid(not name calling, just being truthful)to go and bitcch about it the way you guys have then prepare for the back lash. It's all in the way you guys are expressing yourselves that gets me(not overly, I've already moved on).

Bert
 

JasonJ

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He's in NH, don't they salt the roads there in winter?
Without salt being washed off regularly it will rot in a bunch of places
Personally, I think he has a point about DCJ (Daimler-chrysler-Jeep) though.
My stepdaughters Jeep Liberty has warped both heads, real common problem with the V-6 and V-8 from what machinist told me. (he was doing almost brand new motors as well as older ones) Heads warped so bad they are now below minimum recommended thickness but machinist assures me they will work better than new. Just to be sure I cleaned out the exhaust manifolds with a die grinder and carbide burrs (real 'nasty' castings). Soon after engine got fixed the transmission 'went out to lunch' although front wheel drive enabled it to roll onto ramps so I could get underneath it. I think it's pretty unacceptable with only 85,000 miles on the clock
Criticising 'Jeep' is tantamount to treason, your un-american for telling the truth (actually I'm British)
Harley Davidson used the same strategy, they ended up cutting workforce and discounting bikes then pretty much had to cut production to much lower levels (about 1/2 of what they were manufacturing?)
I'm sure someone out there will correct any details I got wrong, but, all in all, the Liberty just takes liberty with owners

I'm not convinced that this head warping is as common as this makes it sound. It's not like these are Chrysler 3.5L engines with timing belts snapping on the highway... Although I do not doubt that what you are saying did happen to you. That's unfortunate.

If it is common, it isn't spoken about amongst the car groups here in Mid-Michigan, at least not much. And being Michigan, we have lots of those groups.

The Liberty ****** is actually fairly tough; sure anything can fail for whatever reason, but overall, with proper maintenance, shouldn't be an issue.

I think that was the OP's problem. If the story is legit. Previous owner neglected and abused the truck.

Full disclosure, I love driving my Liberty, but am a Ford/Lincoln/Mercury fan at heart.
 

twbranch

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First off let me say this, I am not a Liberty owner, YET! I am in search of one at this time. However, I am a former Jeep owner. While owning my 97 TJ I had a an issue with my engine locking up just after the warranty expired. When going about the requisition of a new engine and engineer with DCJ called to let me know that he wanted to inspect the engine because it should not have locked up with regular maintenance. After inspection DCJ replaced the engine at their expense minus the labor (about 800). They believed in the engine and knew it had to be a manufacturer defect. I got a letter a few months later explaining that it was just my engine that had the defect and why it locked up, (tiny holes that allowed water to enter or something, forgot now). If they believe in the motor, then so do I. The replacement motor ran 230,000 mile before I traded it. That comes to over 300,000 miles on the Jeep itself.

THAT IS WHY I AM IN SEARCH OF A JEEP!

Trolls be damned.
 

JasonJ

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First off let me say this, I am not a Liberty owner, YET! I am in search of one at this time. However, I am a former Jeep owner. While owning my 97 TJ I had a an issue with my engine locking up just after the warranty expired. When going about the requisition of a new engine and engineer with DCJ called to let me know that he wanted to inspect the engine because it should not have locked up with regular maintenance. After inspection DCJ replaced the engine at their expense minus the labor (about 800). They believed in the engine and knew it had to be a manufacturer defect. I got a letter a few months later explaining that it was just my engine that had the defect and why it locked up, (tiny holes that allowed water to enter or something, forgot now). If they believe in the motor, then so do I. The replacement motor ran 230,000 mile before I traded it. That comes to over 300,000 miles on the Jeep itself.

THAT IS WHY I AM IN SEARCH OF A JEEP!

Trolls be damned.

Here, here! Good post.
 

Kal-El

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First off let me say this, I am not a Liberty owner, YET! I am in search of one at this time. However, I am a former Jeep owner. While owning my 97 TJ I had a an issue with my engine locking up just after the warranty expired. When going about the requisition of a new engine and engineer with DCJ called to let me know that he wanted to inspect the engine because it should not have locked up with regular maintenance. After inspection DCJ replaced the engine at their expense minus the labor (about 800). They believed in the engine and knew it had to be a manufacturer defect. I got a letter a few months later explaining that it was just my engine that had the defect and why it locked up, (tiny holes that allowed water to enter or something, forgot now). If they believe in the motor, then so do I. The replacement motor ran 230,000 mile before I traded it. That comes to over 300,000 miles on the Jeep itself.

THAT IS WHY I AM IN SEARCH OF A JEEP!

Trolls be damned.

Good luck with your search. Libertys are a blast. You'll love 'em.
 

Winston Smith

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Ain't even mine, it's stepdaughters and son-in-law's vehicle. I just do the major work on it
I see I joined in 2009, guess that's when they first started having things go wrong with it?
It's a 2005 and they still have it in 2016. There are faults with every vehicle ever made, either you live with them (idiosyncrasies) you fix and modify things or you move on to something new.
I tend to find out WHY things broke then make or modify parts and pieces, engineers and designers can and do make major mistakes sometimes and have been known to tell customers they are driving outside design parameters :happy175:
V-6 3.7 Liberty isn't a performance vehicle by any standards but the restriction in exhaust manifolds could have caused slightly hotter than normal running condition which wasn't a problem when new but as things aged it got more serious? I don't know if it was core shift or they were made with restrictions? Anyway, both heads were warped pretty bad. After I opened up exhaust manifolds to reduce restriction, transmission failed,(Die grinder and carbide burrs worked OK, pretty hard 'cast iron' they are made from) I guess it needs decent exhaust system and manifolds to work 'properly'? Motor is running great, just doesn't go anywhere (until I get the transmission fixed.) BTW, this looks more like 'wind up' than waving 'bye' :Bye:
 
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Winston Smith

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I posted in how to section as I couldn't find where I posted about trans?
Anyway, both planetary sets are trashed, one the gears have broken up and the other because of the broken teeth going where they shouldn't. The more I've researched the 42RLE, the more I find it isn't a very good trans in a Liberty. No idea why this one failed, vehicle has never been in deep mud or even off road as far as I know
Here's a diagram of the busted bits, pictures to follow when I find camera
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Winston Smith

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As no one bothered to reply, I posted on another thread but here's pics of carnage. Seems almost common to have this sort of thing happen although very few people have any pictures because they pay a shop to do the work
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bluetick

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I don't know WTF he's ranting about. I love my Jeep Liberty.
 

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SWilliams

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I actually agree with the OP in some regards. EVERY KJ I've been near has rotted rocker panels. I have welded in a lot of replacements. Both of mine were rotted, the CHMSL lights both leaked and caused rot at the roof and around the hatch seams. Both are due to poor designs and materials.

That said, a LOT of other vehicles have rocker issues in this area, salt eats them fast...
 

CalcityRenegade

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Not a single dot of rust or corrosion on my 2003. Always parked outside and riven in the winter. Crossed creeks and covered in mud all the time. If anyone should have been rusted it was mine haha. But we also do not use salt up here.
 

CzarKJ

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Not a single dot of rust or corrosion on my 2003. Always parked outside and riven in the winter. Crossed creeks and covered in mud all the time. If anyone should have been rusted it was mine haha. But we also do not use salt up here.

See the salt is the killer! My 03 is slowly being eaten alive in New England!
 

dude1116

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My '04 has a hole in one of its rockers and rust all along the bottoms of the doors. I may be able to save the Jeep mechanically (now that I have a new vehicle) but the body is just falling away from it...
 

Adam Roby

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The solution for rust is to do antirust treatments every year.
Mine is a 2006 and has no rust. Trust me, they salt like crazy here in Montreal... most cars are falling apart by now, so its not a "Jeep" thing, I consider it basic maintenance just like an oil change or tire rotation. Treat your vehicle right and it should last you a while.
 
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