History: '02 Liberty Limited. 37K+ miles. No major issues to date.
Last weekend my battery died. It took two days and a blown work day to figure it out, though. OK, before you mock me for not knowing enough to just go get another battery, I have to tell you the strange symptom. My wife and son had just finished loading the Liberty after a weekend at her mom's house. We said our goodbyes, snapped my son into his carseat, and got in. (Note that just prior to getting in, I had unlocked the doors with my key fob.)
I turn the key, and nothing happens. No starter crank, no radio, no dashboard lights - absolutely nothing. The entire vehicle is dead as a doornail. OK, so the battery must be dead or something, I think. That's odd, but not impossible.
So my wife and I get out of the Jeep and I start to open the hood. My wife, now standing by the tailgate, says "what's this noise?" I go back to the gate and you can clearly hear the tailgate latch clicking, as if it were constantly cycling itself or something. So I try opening the gate and it won't open. I try the key fob, and the locks don't unlock. Every indication was that the battery was dead, but it baffled me that the tailgate actuator was making that noise.
I figured if the tailgate latch were cycling, then the battery must not be dead because there has to be power to run the latch. So, I convince myself it's not the battery. Nothing I do makes the latch stop clicking, or makes the Jeep show any other signs of power.
So we decide to stay an extra night and get the Jeep to the local dealer (not my original dealer) in the morning.
After a harrowing morning of trying to get the Jeep to the dealer (another story in and off itself, but not really relevant), I finally manage to get the Jeep jump started. I start to drive to the dealer and the battery light comes on within a few blocks. All the way there the red battery light is on and the dashboard lights and odometer are randomly blinking on and off.
I explain everything to the dealer's service counter, and they take a look at it. He calls me a few hours later and says my battery is dead, that it won't take a charge, and that I simply need a new battery. I ask about the tailgate latch, and he says the only thing they can think is that the low power in the battery somehow caused the latch to start doing strange things. This makes absolutely no sense to me, but I figure what the hey. I tell them to put a new battery and double check the tailgate and let me know how it goes. He calls back about an hour later and says everything is fine and the new battery did the trick.
I still have no explanation as to what the clicking noise was from the tailgate latch. In the end, all is well, but I found it odd that my battery was essentially completely dead (and wouldn't take a charge), but somehow there was enough power to cycle the tailgate. And then there's the whole question of why the tailgate latch kept cycling/clicking in the first place. [Note, I say it was cycling, but really all I can say for sure is it was clicking. I presumed it was cycling, but the gate and window weren't opening, so who knows?]
The bottom line is, if you one day find your Liberty completely dead, go ahead and try a new battery (or at least jump start it) regardless of what weird noises may be eminating from it.
Oh, and the new battery cost me $123.73 ($76 for the battery, $41 for a 'diagnostic', and $2.05 for "customer pay shop charge for repair order" - whatever the heck that is - and $4.05 for Uncle Sam).
Last weekend my battery died. It took two days and a blown work day to figure it out, though. OK, before you mock me for not knowing enough to just go get another battery, I have to tell you the strange symptom. My wife and son had just finished loading the Liberty after a weekend at her mom's house. We said our goodbyes, snapped my son into his carseat, and got in. (Note that just prior to getting in, I had unlocked the doors with my key fob.)
I turn the key, and nothing happens. No starter crank, no radio, no dashboard lights - absolutely nothing. The entire vehicle is dead as a doornail. OK, so the battery must be dead or something, I think. That's odd, but not impossible.
So my wife and I get out of the Jeep and I start to open the hood. My wife, now standing by the tailgate, says "what's this noise?" I go back to the gate and you can clearly hear the tailgate latch clicking, as if it were constantly cycling itself or something. So I try opening the gate and it won't open. I try the key fob, and the locks don't unlock. Every indication was that the battery was dead, but it baffled me that the tailgate actuator was making that noise.
I figured if the tailgate latch were cycling, then the battery must not be dead because there has to be power to run the latch. So, I convince myself it's not the battery. Nothing I do makes the latch stop clicking, or makes the Jeep show any other signs of power.
So we decide to stay an extra night and get the Jeep to the local dealer (not my original dealer) in the morning.
After a harrowing morning of trying to get the Jeep to the dealer (another story in and off itself, but not really relevant), I finally manage to get the Jeep jump started. I start to drive to the dealer and the battery light comes on within a few blocks. All the way there the red battery light is on and the dashboard lights and odometer are randomly blinking on and off.
I explain everything to the dealer's service counter, and they take a look at it. He calls me a few hours later and says my battery is dead, that it won't take a charge, and that I simply need a new battery. I ask about the tailgate latch, and he says the only thing they can think is that the low power in the battery somehow caused the latch to start doing strange things. This makes absolutely no sense to me, but I figure what the hey. I tell them to put a new battery and double check the tailgate and let me know how it goes. He calls back about an hour later and says everything is fine and the new battery did the trick.
I still have no explanation as to what the clicking noise was from the tailgate latch. In the end, all is well, but I found it odd that my battery was essentially completely dead (and wouldn't take a charge), but somehow there was enough power to cycle the tailgate. And then there's the whole question of why the tailgate latch kept cycling/clicking in the first place. [Note, I say it was cycling, but really all I can say for sure is it was clicking. I presumed it was cycling, but the gate and window weren't opening, so who knows?]
The bottom line is, if you one day find your Liberty completely dead, go ahead and try a new battery (or at least jump start it) regardless of what weird noises may be eminating from it.
Oh, and the new battery cost me $123.73 ($76 for the battery, $41 for a 'diagnostic', and $2.05 for "customer pay shop charge for repair order" - whatever the heck that is - and $4.05 for Uncle Sam).
