10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
88,242 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2009 Jeep Liberty engine problems

engine problem

Find something helpful? Spread the word.
Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2009 Jeep Liberty:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

2009 Jeep Liberty Owner Comments

problem #7

Oct 082020

Liberty

  • 0 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I have judt brought my Jeep in may it is Oct and I am having transmission problems. Please can you assist if this is a recall

- Roxbury, MA, USA

problem #6

Feb 102020

Liberty

  • 145,000 miles
Car turns off without warning while in motion. No check engine light to show a problem... car has turned off on highway and while making turns. Have to place vehicle in park and start car again to work. Lights and radio all stay on.

- Apollo Beach, FL, USA

problem #5

Mar 222019

Liberty

  • 155,641 miles
I have had light sensors on my dash, electronic stability, slippery road. Service 4WD, and misfire #2 cylinder, and service ABS. I took it in for diagnostics they say the head gasket is blown, or it has a cracked head allowing antifreeze in the #2 cylinder. The lights come on a couple at a time, when driving, and then go ff either when I turn the car off, or a day or two later.

- Salem, MO, USA

problem #4

Jul 072017

Liberty

  • 146,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

On Friday, 07.07.2017, as I was driving into a turn lane from the hwy, I had slowed way down for traffic then picked up speed slightly, not even 10 mph, to follow cars in the turn lane when the accelerator became sluggish and the Jeep came to a stop. As I pressed the accelerator again there was a very loud pop from under the hood. Everything quit, the engine, the electric, the starter would not turn over when I tried to start it again or the emergency flashers. Just before this happened the engine light and, what I found out later, the electronic throttle control light came on. I was confused at what just happened. Thinking what I saw next was steam coming from under the Jeep was steam I popped the hood to go look. There was traffic all around on the hwy. Once I opened the hood I found the engine compartment was on fire, back against the firewall between the engine and the steering column, behind the battery. The fire got bigger once the hood was open, it spread very fast. People in other cars were yelling and a guy stopped to help me and told me to get away from the Jeep because it was gas that was burning. The fire dept was called yet by the time they got there the whole front end of the Jeep was destroyed.

- Chugiak, AK, USA

problem #3

Jan 222014

Liberty 4WD 6-cyl

  • 81,152 miles
While driving 55 mph down a busy road, my Liberty's engine shut down without warning. No warning lights lit up on the dash, oil was full, and it was running great just before the failure. Upon inspection at a Chrysler dealer it was determined that the #5 valve failed causing the engine to seize immediately. Cost to replace the engine was $6971. Chrysler nor mopar will admit that there is a problem with these engines, yet there was nothing I could have done to prevent the engine from seizing at 81,152 miles. Luckily I was able to get it off the road and stopped before I was hit by another vehicle. Liberty was 1, 152 miles over the power train warranty.

- Ortonville, MI, USA

problem #2

Jun 072014

Liberty

  • 35,000 miles
The contact owns a 2009 Jeep Liberty. The contact stated that while coming to a stop, smoke and flames emitted from the engine. The vehicle was destroyed. The fire department extinguished the fire. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 35,000.

- Astoria, NY, USA

problem #1

Mar 152014

Liberty 6-cyl

  • 54,903 miles
Engine suddenly started running extremely rough, and making loud noises. Immediately pulled over and turned engine off. Waited a few minutes and attempted to restart engine, but again it made loud noise and wouldn't turn over. Had it towed to our mechanic. He told us rocker arm jammed, lifter and camshaft toasted, and head blew, and more than one cylinder is involved. He also told us this is the third Liberty engine he's had to replace for customers in the past few years - and that's in a community of less than 250,000 people.when I googled the issue I found many Liberty engine failures reported on several blogs - edmunds, cartalk, allpar, topix, ask, etc., but not on the NHTSA site. Don't know why people don't lodge complaints here first! regardless, we're now looking at ~$4000 repair/replacement on a well-maintained vehicle with less than 55K miles on it. We went to our local Jeep dealer, who told us the Jeep lifetime power train warranty doesn't cover the damage as we're the second owner. This is ridiculous. There is obviously a design flaw in the 3.7L engines that causes them to blow, and Chrysler/Jeep must be aware of it, and should replace the failed engines. If the engine had blown at freeway speeds it could have easily caused a dangerous safety issue resulting in a crash. NHTSA needs to investigate these engine failures!

- Tallahassee, FL, USA

Not what you are looking for?