03 Jeep Liberty - good/bad?

Rick Kr · Feb 20, 2015

I found an 03 Jeep 3.7L 4x4. 160,000 miles. Body/vehicle is in pretty good shape. new front wheel bearings and brakes.

Asking $2500. Anything real bad to worry about on these?

Thanks
Rick

John in Nebraska · Feb 20, 2015

I had an 03 and 05, had no problems with them til I traded at 100k. Check the diff fluid and the tranny fluid. Listen for any rear differential noise when you drive it. Wife has an 08, 118k, never had a wrench on it.

johnlobb · Feb 21, 2015

My buddys wife had one, he said it was a gas hog.

ed will · Feb 21, 2015

Hi , my daughter had an 03 also. She
said it was a killer for gas. My 3 ton was
better. Ed will.

hd6gtom · Feb 21, 2015

rick we sell a lot of them, just the usual small things you can expect with any vehicle. Grand daughter has 1 Son says it is not as good on winter roads as he thought it would be. he is the only 1 I know to complain about that.

BushogPapa · Feb 21, 2015

Jeep 4x4 vehicles are wonderful, when it comes to getting around in bad weather or wet conditions, BUT..
You MUST drive with caution and understand what "4 wheel drive" will do when you do get into a slide..
Young fellow ditched his nice Wrangler a week ago here.. Driving way too fast for "Conditions"..he had Great tires, extra lights and all the pretty things and I guess he figured he could go faster than he should have been..
I drove Over-the-Road Semi for 13 years..never was "Stuck" or "Froze down", but I DID carry a simple 10 lb bag of Salt and that was my Ace Card..!!
I have seen and driven on 100's, maybe 1,000's of miles of Ice you could not stand on..where it would maybe take 1/2 MILE (maybe More) to stop from 10 MPH and never had a problem (that didn't mean I took it lightly tho)..
The OPERATOR is what gets the vehicle in trouble, as long as nobody else does anything Stupid..!!
With all the miss-leading devices on many new cars, like "Traction Control"(I LOVE that mis-conception), Anti-Lock Brakes (that take AWAY driver Control), etc. people become even more irresponsible than they had been..
I guess we must admit, Cell Phones (and Texting) just may be more important than DRIVING (to some people)..
Ron.

BushogPapa · Feb 21, 2015

The OLD 4.0 6 cyl was powerful and lasted 200,000+ but was never a 20 MPG engine..short trips, it might drop to 12-15...
When they Injected that old Rambler engine, they ended up with a Good one..

JCCWI · Feb 21, 2015

We have an 07....like it driving , handling , set up nice.!!! DON"T BUY FOR GAS MILAGE !!!! John

Tony Vidlak · Feb 21, 2015

We have a 2002 . It's been a nice vehicle But every bodies right about being a gas hog.

sourgum · Feb 21, 2015

Had one w/old Jeep straight six. It got 17 in short trips around town. Never less than 20 mpg on long trips and many times got 21-22 mpg on trips when vehicle had less than 100,000 miles. Mine would do better than 20 most of the time. It had 3.55 rear end. Good engine.

Leroy · Feb 21, 2015

Ron, I like your statement on anti lock brakes. They about caused me to have a busted arm many a time. Get within 2 feet of being stoped to put newspaper in the box and while your arm was in the box they would dissengage the brakes and you would shoot up ten feet before you could get car under control. I call them anti stop brakes. Should be outlawed.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 21, 2015

(quoted from post at 17:33:01 02/21/15) Ron, I like your statement on anti lock brakes. They about caused me to have a busted arm many a time. Get within 2 feet of being stoped to put newspaper in the box and while your arm was in the box they would dissengage the brakes and you would shoot up ten feet before you could get car under control. I call them anti stop brakes. Should be outlawed.

All you gotta do is pull a fuse or relay.....then you have regular brakes again....plus the warning light on in the instrument panel of course.

Leroy · Feb 21, 2015

You do that and your brake lights are gone,Found that out after that anti lock stoped working when seen I did not have that third brake light that was important for me to have.

David G · Feb 21, 2015

I put my 4WD truck in the ditch first winter, best thing that ever happened to me, learned they were not foolproof.

Pipestem · Feb 21, 2015

Wife drives one. It's a 2006 and other than normal maintenance never had any problem until earlier this winter and a relay switch went out on the 4 wheel drive. Not too bad a fix. It does like to stop at gas stations quite often.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 21, 2015

(quoted from post at 18:40:36 02/21/15) You do that and your brake lights are gone,Found that out after that anti lock stoped working when seen I did not have that third brake light that was important for me to have.

Never seen that before.

BushogPapa · Feb 21, 2015

For Best control, you would need to write a BOOK on 4 wheel drive...!

You NEED 4 wheel drive while stopping..BUT, if you do slide, you must Dis-engage the 4 wheel drive to regain control...sometimes a delicate maneuver..!!
Starting or parking on a grade is best done with 4-wheel left engaged..
As in my Cherokee, I must Dis-engage the 4-wheel drive before driving onto dry pavement or the drive-line binds..
Remember..Never hit the emergency Brake with the Jeep moving on snow or Ice, with it id 4-wheel drive..you will probably loose control.. The Emergency Brake will be stopping Both Differentials at the same time..
Ron..

Mike Henry · Feb 21, 2015

we have 3 in our family. Like them all. but milage is 17 to 19 no matter what you do to them. Keep the tires in good shape in the winter and there is not nearly the trouble I have read here. Only bad thing I know of in high miles has been addressed in this. The front cv joints/bearings are not sold separately. Have to buy axles with bearings and joints attached. Don't try to TOP off the gas tank. When it clicks full its full. any more and it will run down the fender inside or out depending on pressure it was pumping at. Wife drives hers to work at 4am before plowing in mid Michigan, locks it in to 4 high and goes. But it does need good tires or that anti slip stuff does come into play. I let hers get down to 1/3 tread left and get new ones. She has just over 100000. The front end thing is usually around 160,000. Good luck if you pull the trigger.

GordoSD · Feb 21, 2015

My 99 Tahoe, 5.7 4:10 gears gets 16 all around. with the 235x85 16 studded snow tires on it.

T in NE · Feb 22, 2015

Don't think there's room for the inline 6 in a liberty.

sourgum · Feb 22, 2015

This 4.0 straight six was in a Gr. Cherokee, not a liberty. Was in response to a post stating the fuel injected power tech 4.0 six was not a 20 mpg engine. It was. Had one of the last ones made.

dhermesc · Feb 23, 2015

I have one (2005). It averages about 19 MPG every tank of gas. Biggest thing is to maintain them. I was surprised when I bought mine how often the manual says to change the transmission, transfer case and differential fluids - every 30K miles. And the engine is supposed to be changed every 3K miles - they don't even pretend that it can go 6K or more miles like other manufacturers. Mine is usually about a quart low at 3k miles. I pour in five, but when I drain it the entire pan fits in a gallon milk jug. Apparently a lot of them have the wrong dip stick. Mine reads slightly over full after I change the oil, and is still in the operating range when its time to change - but it is off about 1 quart from actual - I later learned this is a common issue through all the KJ series from 2002 to 2007.

Most have the same Dodge 3.7 engine they used as the base engine in their full size pickups for about 10 years. A few have a 4 cylinder gas engine and even fewer have the diesel 4 cylinder engine - I would avoid both 4 cylinders like the plague. With both you gain very little in mileage and lots of repair costs.

Rick Kr · Feb 23, 2015

Thanks for all the advice.
I ended up buying it. Got it for cheaper than I expected and it only had 120K, not 160k.

I wont see a lot of miles so I wont be putting to much gas through it, I hope.

Looks in darn good shape. Only thing so far is the rear window wiper doesn't work and a crack on the grille.

Rick

03 Jeep Liberty - good/bad?

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