Liberty Rattles

[admonster01]

Hello everyone.

I just bought an '07 Latitude 4x4 with 6 miles in early February. Since then I have put about 8K miles on it to and from work. I live in NE Ohio where the roads are nothing more than paved cow trails. I'm careful to avoid the giant pot holes, ruts, cracks, dips and other surface imperfections.

I'm starting to notice squeeks and rattles inside the cabin from some of the trim, dash and moldings. Is this common for Libertys? Do any of you have this issue with your Libertys?

This is my first SUV and first American car as I have always driven import sports cars. My first inclination is to blame American car quality. I have noticed the fit and finish of my beloved KJ is slightly less than my 10 year old Mitsubishi.

Has anyone else noticed this as well?

My wife's Liberty is an '06 which has been through a $12K head on accident. Her Jeep rattles a lot as well, though I attribute it to the accident.

I would love to hear what you have to say.

 

[K Dje Ryu]

I wheel mine just about as hard as possible without skids and I have all kinds of squeaks, rattles, etc... Just turn the stereo up. Get a louder one, if necessary, it's a Jeep. Extra noises come standard.

 

[JeepJeepster]

Mine doesnt make any noises. Got 26k on it.. I dont even have many rattles when Ive got the sub going.

 

[tjkj2002]

It's a Jeep thing!!!!!!! Sqeaks and rattles are going to happen from driving on rough roads after awhile,it's not caddy.

 

[BoyNamedSue]

I've got an '07.
I have one rattle.
It's from the long vent that runs along the windshield.
Putting my hand on it doesn't stop it, so it must come from deeper within...........maybe someday I'll try popping it off to find out where it's coming from. Not that motivated right now.
Only happens on certain roads that have a more coarse surface.

 

[Marlon_JB2]

Rattles and squeaks? What?

My '06 with 16k has none. My sister's '05 with 32k has none. My '04 which I got rid of had 2 cold weather rattles that I didn't hear half the time anyway. At work I drove an '02 with 50k, it didn't have any either. Neither did the '03s with around 40k for both.

You don't typically hear about interior rattles and squeaks in the KJ.

 

[tjkj2002]

You don't typically hear about interior rattles and squeaks in the KJ.

I sure don't,then again I'm almost legally deaf and have to have the radio up so loud to hear it I couldn't possibly hear a rattle unless it's those pesky rocks in my head.But really the only thing that rattles in my '02 is all my tools in my tool box in the rear.

 

[hyde]

You are not, Marlon is.. How could there be no squeaks or rattles.... IM POS SI BLE!

 

[Dave]

Mine has 22,000 miles and no rattles or squeeks. It's actually very quiet.

I've been off road a number of times and stuck in the mud real good once and had to be pulled out. But I know there's others on this board that have been off road a lot more than me. Maby they have some rattles.

Dave

 

[hyde]

My jeep also rattled a lot on the driver side on top of (or behind) the A/C Vent for about 6 months after I got my Jeep. I went back to dealers "he said it is breaking in, give it some time) and it did go away after about 10k miles.

The rattle underneath the windshield where it meets the vents still remains in cold weather (anything less than 45 F).

Also my doors and pillars squeak time to time. With high bass they also rattle. Some things fall into place after a few big potholes, so maybe you should not avoid them at all. Let things settle in.

 

[Marlon_JB2]

Yeah, hit the potholes! All of our KJs have (or had!) door rattles while playing high bass.

 

[hyde]

I just noticed today, remember my rear door trim clip. When it came outta it's housing and now there is a slight gap on the trim... it rattles like hell. If am getting a sub sometime soon, that's gotta get fixed soon..

 

[MoladoGuy]

I've padded my doors with extra door pads that I took from work (We build the Liberty interior doors, wire them up, and pad them). This has eliminated door rattle and vibration from loud music, bumps, etc...

As for typical squeaks? I get them when the weather is cold, my tailgate rattled until I adjusted the latch, and my front passenger window squeaks. I think the window squeaks cause of the rain guard slightly rubbing against the plastic trim of the door or slight corner of the window. Do I hear it most of the time? No. Maybe that's because I'm used to it?

 

[admonster01]

My Squeek

Thanks for the information. The moulding on the B pillar under the seat belt where it connects to the pillar rattles on bumpy roads. No big deal except it is at ear level and drives me nuts. With the radio turned up I don't hear anything.

I'm not impressed with the build quality of the Liberty so far. There is deafening wind noise coming from the driver side door in wind, the sunroof doesn't seal completely, my brakes were mushy and spongy right off the lot. The right rear tailight operates at about 36% with the driving lights on...

Now at 1500 RPM when going up any grade, hill or accelerating I hear and feel a drivetrain vibration...sounds like the drive shaft is vibrating...

For a vehicle I paid $30K for I expect damn near perfection. Am I wrong?

 

[06Liberty]

I just recently fixed my only rattle, it was in the door panels where the door lock comes up through that hole on top of the panel. There was a gap between the door lock and the door panel and on certain roads it would rattle so I took the door panels off and used some dynamat to kinda fill in what little bit of a gap there was and now....no rattle.

 

[MoladoGuy]

Thanks for the information. The moulding on the B pillar under the seat belt where it connects to the pillar rattles on bumpy roads. No big deal except it is at ear level and drives me nuts. With the radio turned up I don't hear anything.

I'm not impressed with the build quality of the Liberty so far. There is deafening wind noise coming from the driver side door in wind, the sunroof doesn't seal completely, my brakes were mushy and spongy right off the lot. The right rear tailight operates at about 36% with the driving lights on...

Now at 1500 RPM when going up any grade, hill or accelerating I hear and feel a drivetrain vibration...sounds like the drive shaft is vibrating...

For a vehicle I paid $30K for I expect damn near perfection. Am I wrong?

If your judging based on paying $30K for then your right. Every vehicle made should be near perfection. However, each person has different opinion on what pleases them and what doesn't.

Is it too late to get dealer involement on these issues? If the sunroof doesn't seal that's fixable under warranty, if the brakes are mushy and spongy then thats because A.) You need to break them in and/or B.) they do have a problem and thats fixable under warranty. If your taillight operates 36% of the time (good math) then that's fixable under warranty. Have you taken this up with your dealership? It sounds like you may have received a bad one out of 800,000 Liberties.

Good luck, and even the Mitsubishi's were not built to near perfection. Guess it's just the experience that makes a difference.

 

[offrovering]

Thanks for the information. The moulding on the B pillar under the seat belt where it connects to the pillar rattles on bumpy roads. No big deal except it is at ear level and drives me nuts. With the radio turned up I don't hear anything.

I'm not impressed with the build quality of the Liberty so far. There is deafening wind noise coming from the driver side door in wind, the sunroof doesn't seal completely, my brakes were mushy and spongy right off the lot. The right rear tailight operates at about 36% with the driving lights on...

Now at 1500 RPM when going up any grade, hill or accelerating I hear and feel a drivetrain vibration...sounds like the drive shaft is vibrating...

For a vehicle I paid $30K for I expect damn near perfection. Am I wrong?

buy a land rover, then you will know what rattles are (blarg)

seriously though, make sure the seals are good, some rattles will pop up, you try and fix them, be sure all your moldings are on firmly. if it is things like drivelines and window seals - take it back and say something. the last thing you want is a driveline dropping, if it rattles that badly. you should mention something to the dealer, if they say it is normal, request you be allowed to drive another 07 around, see if it makes the same.

just my .03

 

[hyde]

my brakes were TIGHT as ..tight.
after a brake job at the dealer they messed it up, it is spongy.
i was told about the bleeding, or it could be the type of pads..

 

[_UnLiMiTeD_]

liberties cant be that bad. Down here there is thousands on the road and barely any used ones for sale. They must be doing something right

 

[admonster01]

Rattle Cont'd

I love my Liberty to death and am very happy with it, don't get me wrong. I know I am overly protective/obssessive about my vehicles and that is part of the issue.

Jeep must be doing something right as I see about 25 Libertys each day. That being said is does irk me to have several issues with a brand new vehicle. In a perfect world yes, each new vehicle would be perfect with no issues. Maybe it is just my luck that I got one marginal one out of 800,000.

I'm a bit puzzled by the strange vibration and sound at 1500 RPM...it only happens at that RPM and when accelerating up a grade/ incline. Can anyone guess what this might be? The vehicle starts and runs great-just got back from a 1500 mile trip to South Carolina.

Open to advice and ideas about the vibration..... Thanks