Whiny "hydraulic" noise

lorilou · **Joined:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:40 pm **Posts:** 15

Hi all. I have a 2003 Liberty, 4WD automatic, purchased used with 65k miles. We shipped it to costa rica and have been using it here for about six months. We drive it up and down our hilly and rocky one-mile driveway daily. In the last few weeks, it occasionally makes a noise I can only describe as hydraulic, kind of like a motor might make if it's lifting something. It makes the noise only when going uphill, and we initially thought only in 4WD. Yesterday however, it made the noise in 2WD on the highway, going uphill. The noise only lasts a few seconds, there is no change in performance that we can tell. Any ideas on what it is? Sounds like it's coming from front passenger side.

Maybe related, but maybe not - last week we were coming up hill and the car completely lost power. Didn't die, just lost the ability to go forward. It was in 4H, with the shift in "Drive". A passenger suggested putting the car in a lower gear, so put it in second and we were able to move forward again.

Any help would be appreciated! We're not very 4WD savvy!

RED_KJ_666 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:27 pm

Check the Transmission Fluid, It may be low. Long shot is it may be a Power Steering Pump, when they start to go they whine when the revs come up.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 9:00 pm

just to rule out a few things

while still in in park, rev it up to 2500 or so a few times momentarily as the engine is warming up, see if it'll do it while sitting still, work your AC on and off a few times to see if you can isolate the condition as a non-driving condition

the belt tensioner is probably the biggest whiner on these vehicles - and when they start to go out they're rather intermittent before they start doing it all the time

as he said, check your trans fluid, power steering fluid, and make sure your transfer case has fresh ATF4 in it, rather than try to stick your finger or something else in there to see the level and condition, it may be just as well to drain it and refill it with fresh fluid - assuming ATF4 is relatively cheap at your location

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 9:12 pm

lorilou wrote:

Maybe related, but maybe not - last week we were coming up hill and the car completely lost power. Didn't die, just lost the ability to go forward. It was in 4H, with the shift in "Drive". A passenger suggested putting the car in a lower gear, so put it in second and we were able to move forward again.

Any help would be appreciated! We're not very 4WD savvy!

Put into 4 low instead of 4hi,you will notice a major difference in power going uphill.

lorilou · **Joined:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:40 pm **Posts:** 15

Thank you! I'll follow all the suggestions tomorrow morning to see if we can isolate the cause. We're about four hours away from the nearest Jeep dealer, so anything we can figure out here is helpful! The local repair places aren't good options because all they see is "Gringo" and money signs... LOL! So I'm thankful for this user community!!! Keepin' it Real...

candpliberty · **Posted:** Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:27 am

Do you drive the Jeep on pavement in 4 wheel drive? Do you know which 4 wheel drive system you have ( command-trac or selec-trac)?

CostaRicaCRD · **Joined:** Sat Sep 03, 2011 5:58 pm **Posts:** 28

Where in Costa Rica are you? I live on the Central Pacific coast between Playa Herradura and Jaco...

lorilou · **Joined:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:40 pm **Posts:** 15

Well, we checked the tranny fluid, and it was ok. The power steering fluid was a bit low, but fixed that by topping off. Couldn't make it do the noise with engine running in the driveway, except...

Here is the weird thing... Last night we get home, no noise coming up the hill. We park the car, get out, open the house and the noise comes from behind us. What the heck? The car is parked and the engine is OFF...!!!

Someone asked if we drive on pavement in 4wd, but the answer is no. I think hubby did by mistake once, but caught it right away and didn't go more than fifty yards that way.

We are still stumped. Any guess as to what would make a noise whether the car is running or not?

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Sep 13, 2011 2:30 am

did it sound kinda like vehicular flatulence ?

lorilou · **Joined:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:40 pm **Posts:** 15

JeepinJarhead03 wrote:

did it sound kinda like vehicular flatulence ?

Ok, that was funny, JeepinJarhead...

So other than having Libby lay off the rice and beans here, any other ideas? And BTW, speaking of what my vehicle consumes - the gasoline here contains a much greater volume of ethanol than what you would find in the states. But it doesn't seem like that type of problem.

candpliberty · **Posted:** Tue Sep 13, 2011 12:52 pm

My mom owned a early 80's Firebird that would "fart" after you shut it off. It smelled of sulfur. We took it to the dealership and they told us it was "Normal". We couldn't hear the noise while it was running but it ran well and we sold it with close to a 100,000 miles.

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:01 am

Could you be hearing the umm....old age attack...forgot name....additional radiator coolant kicking in? I've been out of this for too long.

lorilou · **Joined:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:40 pm **Posts:** 15

Sigh... the drama continues.

All fluids are ok, as far as we can tell. We were a bit low on transmission fluid, but the dipstick at the service station here didn't even know the car had to be running before checking fluid level, and then probably overfilled it cuz we weren't watching, so hopefully the possible overfill isn't causing any problems. Haven't been to San Jose (nearest and only stealership in Costa Rica) to change out transfer case fluid, but will do so next Friday.

A couple of updates though, which may or may not be related. The other day, in 2wd on a curvy city street, the car stalled. We managed to pull over and the car restarted normally, so we finished our trip. Then yesterday, when going up a very steep gravel road (not raining, but it had just finished pouring) in 4hi, the car slipped out of 4wd (lever popped down to 2hi without touching it), wheels started spinning, so we pulled it back into 4hi. Didn't slip out again on rest of hill or coming back down it (about 1.5 miles), or coming up our very steep and rutted hill (about 1 mile).

Our check engine light has been going off and on since we moved here, with code P0123. Reading other posts, I guess it could be a bad TPS that caused the car to stall, so we'll have that changed out next Friday, right? But that still leaves the popping out of 4hi issue...

BTW, the car only has 72k miles on it, and the original owner (a girly-girl) had NEVER gone offroad in it. Does the transfer case fluid need new fluid even if it has only been offroad in the four months we've used it here in Costa Rica?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

candpliberty · **Posted:** Sat Sep 24, 2011 1:39 pm

If it popped out only once or occasionally, which it has happened to me, 4 wasn't engaged completely.

lorilou · **Joined:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:40 pm **Posts:** 15

Thank you! You guys are great!!!

so, no problem with driving it with the p0123 issue for about four hours to the dealer?

candpliberty · **Posted:** Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:10 pm

Did the problem with your throttle position sensor return? The OBD reader should be run again. You might not have a permanent problem. You can drive there with no ill effect except that TPS might quit working which will at least make your Jeep run like crap.

Whiny "hydraulic" noise

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