2005 Jeep Liberty: harsh or hard shifting

Filed Jul 19, 2017 · Steering · 156,623 miles · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 jeep liberty. While driving 21 MPH, the contact heard an abnormal clunking noise and the steering failed without warning. The vehicle was towed to a local dealer (hill-kelly dodge, chrysler, jeep, ram located at 6171 pensacola blvd pensacola, fl 32505) where it was diagnosed that the lower ball joint and lower suspension needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but did not offer assistance. The failure mileage was 156,623.

Filed May 10, 2015 · Brakes, Steering · NY

This is a safety complaint on a 2005 jeep liberty complaint for the 3 recalls. Ball joints, trailer hitch and control arms. On this day I brought my vehicle to transitowne in williamsville, ny for the recalls, I never received the ball joint recall previously. My vehicle was safe, no noise, no problems and was currently in mint condition mechanically and otherwise. I dropped it off thursday night 5/7/2015 to be worked on 7/8/2015. They called the morning of 7/8/2015 to say the vehicle was complete. As I drove home the wheel shakes and front end makes noise while braking and sounds loose. I immediately returned it, they were rude and after my obvious frustration finally decided to take a test drive. When sal, the service coordinator came back and actually admitted (with a witness) I was one in a million that received bad ball joints but that they don't have any more I would have to wait. I explained when braking something is rubbing, steering is shaky and makes a clunk noise from ball joints. They let me drive away with a vehicle that is unsafe. Loose ball joints with any play in them can result in an accident. They offered no rental, no help and ignore me. I have my own business (sole) and cannot drive it, I don't trust it and it cannot be driven to kayaking. My entire weekend was ruined not to mention I cannot drive a noisy, dangerous vehicle. They did not replace the trailer hitch even though it's 10 years old (I put it on myself) did not come with the jeep, and it's welds are rusty and brittle, they did not care about that either. Chrysler case # 26946712. I feel like nobody cares about my problem, it can't be legal for a dealership to send drivers home with vehicles that have loose ball joints and tell them it's safe, they have no idea where I go and drive with my vehicle, it's construction season and one pothole on the thruway could kill me.

Filed Oct 29, 2014 · Engine, Transmission · 85,000 miles · MI

My girlfriend of 21 years, went into the doctor and when she came out her jeep liberty would start and then stall. She said there was clunking noise from the engine. I get there and call aaa and have it towed to a plus transmission and auto repair in brighton michigan. They said the rocker arm came lose from the adjuster and that should fix the problem. Not so, turns out it was a broken valve seat also that had dropped down into the cylinder causing catastrophic engine failure. We are left with the expense of replacing the engine at a cost to us of $5600.00. This is a known problem with the chrysler 3.7 v6 engine. It happens just after the warranty expires. With todays technology I believe that engine should have had lasted up to 200000 miles. Since we cant afford a new car this is the only way we can go. However, I believe chrysler should help with the expense of this. Never will I buy from chrysler again.

Filed Dec 19, 2011 · Electrical, Visibility · 70,000 miles · OH

While driving down the interstate, I heard a clunk. My back window behind driver had slipped down. I called my personal mechanic, not dealer, and he diagnosed it over the phone as the regulator. He told me it was common in jeeps. While at the mechanic's, another customer said her father's jeep had done the same thing. The mechanic told me to be glad that my window did not break. I was charged to replace the regulator $300. I have no children and my back window is never used. Too many people have spent hundreds of dollars for this repair. This is definitely an inferior product and should be recalled. Customers should not be expected to pay for this repair. I only hope I can get rid of my jeep before I have another window regulator fail!!!

Filed Oct 21, 2011 · Brakes · 36,000 miles · AZ

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 jeep liberty. The contact stated that the rear passenger side of the vehicle would exhibit a loud clunking noise when braking to a complete stop. The dealer and manufacturer were contacted but denied assistance with repairing the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 36,000 and the current mileage was 37,000.

Filed Aug 5, 2011 · Suspension · 83,000 miles · CT

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 jeep liberty. The contact stated that while driving approximately 30 MPH, a clunking noise was heard coming from the rear. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnostics, where the mechanic stated that the drivers side trailing arm fractured and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired six months later. After the repair was performed, the vehicle began to exhibit a clunking noise again while driving. The vehicle was stopped at the shoulder of the road and towed to an independent mechanic. The mechanic stated that the passenger side trailing arm fractured. The vehicle was repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 83,000. Updated 09/14/2011 *ln the trailing arm on the driver's side rusted completely in feb 2011 and the passenger side rusted six months later/ 12/13/11.. Updated 04/11/12 *bf updated 04/23/12

Filed Feb 18, 2008 · Suspension · 34,700 miles · CO

Our 2005 jeep liberty limited crd has had the lower front suspension ball joints replaced as part of the vehicle's recall notice. At approximately 30,000 miles, we went to an independent tire shop for an alignment due to poor tire wear and "wandering" characteristics when driving at highway speeds. The tire shop indicated that the vehicle had a defective upper ball joint and could replace the failed unit with permission from the dealer. The dealer, medved jeep, denied the claim. We took the vehicle to medved who then claimed that the upper ball joints were not defective. At approximately 37,000 miles the vehicle had a higher frequency of front end clunking, so I took it back to medved who then claimed the noise was only an extraneous battery loose under the seat. At approximately 43,000 miles, the clunking had become disturbingly frequent and more severe. I took it back to medved and they now confirm that it's a faulty upper ball joint. However, they claim no responsibility for not correcting the problem at 30,000 miles or 37,000 miles. They refused to replace the defective part, and furthermore, called in a chrysler inspector who reported that our 1-1/2" lift kit caused the problems with the ball joint. However, the boots on the ball joints are still intact and there is no visible evidence that indicates the cause of the ball joint failure (poor manufacturing versus lift kit). There has been no forensic evaluation of the failure. The upper ball joints on this vehicle have a "record" of failure per online forums. Many failures are on vehicles without lift kits- pointing to likely underengineered component's on the part of jeep versus purely speculative conclusions that our 1-1/2" lift kit may have caused the failure. The lower ball joint engineering was faulty, and the federal safety agency should explore the related failures to the upper suspension ball joints. This is as potentially serious under catastrophic failure as the lower suspension ball joints.

Filed Sep 8, 2006 · Transmission · 22,900 miles · GA

Since new with my 2005 jeep liberty crd (diesel) in sept. 2005 my crd has needed to have numerous technical service bulletins (tsb's) done to attempt to resolve transmission issues. These tsb's are numbered 18-008-06, 21-009-06, 21-007-06 and now a recall number f31 as an emission issue as the previous tsb's caused a situation where by scan tools could not "read" the vehicles computer for emissions testing. There is also tsb 18-023-06 and tsb 18-009-06. Symptoms have been stalling and rough shift points for the vehicle. While driving in the blue ridge mountains on windy secondary roads my vehicle twice stalled at 40 MPH, one occasion I has a semi behind me that narrowly avoided impacting my vehicle as it suddenly lost speed on a turn due to stalling. The dealer can not replicate the issue. It is fairly obvious after research online that there are known issues with the transmission system of the crd that they have been attempting to prolong the service life of transmission components by use of various "unofficial" recalls known as tsb's., thus total failure of the transmission, torque converter will occur out of warranty. In my situation I could have easily been killed when the vehicle stalled for no apparent reason. I urge you to investigate the situation and jeeps knowledge of transmission problems. It has become unfortunately obvious that jeep is hoping to "band aid" the situation until warranty periods expire in order to save costs. The danger is when these "band aided" components act up or fail the vehicle suddenly and with no warning stops. You I'm sure can see the safety implications. The liberty crd (diesel) was an extremely limited production run for jeep of only some 13,000 vehicles over a 1.5 year period. They no longer produce the vehicle for the us market. I'm sure due to the small production they feel this issue can be "handled" quietly, I fear that somebody will die.

Filed Aug 23, 2006 · Transmission · 24,866 miles · CT

2005 jeep liberty crd last spring I had shuddering and stalling due to the transmission. The dealer could not find a problem in july at just short of 25,000 miles the torque converter failed.. It was replaced along with a transmission pump, and transmission oil cooler. I am still occasionally getting some transmission shudder and clunking.

Filed Aug 4, 2006 · Brakes · 8,000 miles · TX

2005 jeep liberty exhibits a loud clunking noise in the rear end of the vehicle when backing up after sitting overnight when the outdoor temperature is below 50 degrees f. Once the vehicle is driven a short distance, the noise disappears. This noise first appeared to be the rear axle but after owner hung out the rear of the vehicle while another person was driving it backwards, it is coming from the rear brakes and discs. Have taken this vehicle into jeep 3 times to have this corrected. The first time they didn't even look for the problem since they did not hear it. The second time, they heard it but could not find it. The third time, they were directed to the rear brakes by the owner and they still could not find the problem. The problem still exists. The jeep dealership appears to not know these vehicles very well. Since this is in texas, will have to wait for colder fall temps and owner will likely have to fix since dealership is confused.

Filed Jul 27, 2006 · Transmission · 2,000 miles · GA

Transmission on my 2005 jeep liberty crd diesel experiences on-going shudder and hard shifting when driving it. Chrysler has issued several tsb's to correct the software issue, but the problem continues. Many other liberty crd diesel owners experienced the same symptom before their transmission completely failed and required full replacement. I am afraid to take the car on long-distance trips from home for fear or being broken down on rural highways or roads and stuck hundreds of miles from home while a jeep dealer takes 2 or 3 weeks to replace my transmission. Chrylser needs to fix this, please help! Regarding the incident date, please note I just chose today's date because it has been happening ever since I got the jeep.

Filed Feb 7, 2006 · Suspension · 24,000 miles · PA

The lower front ball joints on my 2005 jeep liberty 4x4 with 26000 miles show excessive wear. Due to the design of the joint total failure will result in the ball and socket separating from the spindle/wheel assembly. A failure of this nature will result in loss of control of the vehicle. This excessive wear has manifested itself in a loud clunking which has been getting worse for 3000 miles but the dealer could not locate the problem. I found the problem when doing routine maintenance and measured the up and down movement in the joint to be .25 inches. When the dealer went to install the new joints he also found the upper ball joints to be bad. I had a previous liberty(2002) which was recalled for this same problem and assumed jeep had fixed the ball joints. Obviously they have not. There have been several incidents reported already (lostkj.com) where people have had a catastrophic failure associated with these joints. Jeep must fix this design asap. Suspension company moog has already designed a replacement ball joint that is more robust and greasable. Jeep must be forced to do something.