I recently took my 2008 Jeep LIberty to the local Jeep dealership where I have all of my service done, as it had just over 60000 miles on it. I followed the shop's suggestion that I have the automatic transmission, differential, transfer case, etc serviced (along with new shoes on the rear brakes.) This came to about a thousand dollars for service, but I willingly paid it as I felt it was good preventive medicine to keep my Liberty running as it should. A few hundred miles later I drove it to town to only find that it was stuck in low range and in second gear.

For a bit of background, I live in the Appalachian mountains and my home is on a snowy hill as we have had lots of snow and cold lately, so I had been using my select trac in 4Hi and also 4lo to traverse different areas of my long wintery road in all of this snow. That is why I've had over a dozen Jeeps in my life, as they have always gotten me through anything.

When I drove into the dealership here in my town the service manager took me right in even though they were busy and took me with him on a test drive. He was not sure what the problem was, but kept the vehicle and had a guy run me home in a Wrangler. I called later that afternoon as they suggested, but they were still not sure yet what was wrong. They said if it was mechanical the lifetime warranty would cover it, but if it was electrical it was my responsibility. The next day (Friday) I called and they said "good news" as it was the transfer case under warranty and they would order one from Chrysler, which would be in Monday or Tuesday. I asked if they were sure it was just that and not the transmission or something else and they said they were sure This being Tuesday I stopped by and they said it was not in, but it would be in "any day now." Somehow this seemed insensitive to me, and I told them I really needed to have some idea of how long it would be in order to make provisions to get another vehicle of some kind as my job requires I travel the region. I then was directed to the other service manager, as I have been working with both of them, and they pointed out they resented me suggesting that I might trade it and get a different vehicle from their competitor if it was going to be a long time (which I had said when I felt they did not care how long it would take.) I also pointed out I had spent a thousand dollars on service with them recently, and felt that I needed some help. (Of course I did not say it but in the back of your mind you wonder if they did something wrong on the service of the transfer case!) Anyway, after the service manager made me fell that I was asking too much, taking advantage of them, and was not trustworthy as I would even suggest going elsewhere I retreated, apologized and was about to leave as I felt I was getting no where. It was then he said that BTW they could put me on a list to get a Mopar 4X4 to rent which Chrysler would pay the bill.
To cut to the chase- am I just oversensitive or are they a bit our of line? Maybe it is just me.....

IF you have the 7/70 bumper to bumper, it will cover a rental vehicle. I'm not sure if the life time warranty covers a rental car or not. Unless they forgot to fill the T case back up with ATF, well not sure. Were you in low when you came in to town? Usually, the trans will stay in second because it goes in to limp mode.


Please keep us posted as to why and what failed..............

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2008 KK Liberty Sport NIGHT OPS EDITION + GILLS
OEM & Custom Skids - Factory Tow Package - Rock Lizard Skink Super Sliders
Prototype JBA 4 Inch Lift - JBA UCA's - Flowmaster Super 44 OR - Whacked Resonator
Jet Stage 2 - RL Gecko Basket Rack - Custom Winch Bumper - Recon 10.5K Winch

That is too bad. I would like to vent, in hopes of... just vent.

I love my Jeep, my Service Dept. not so much. I went to to different ones to get replaced the sun visor for the passenger side. Easy ordering that simple part, not really. 1st place they ordered wrong side and made me go in to tell me. They reordered and I'm still waiting for a call back. This was almost a year ago. The 2nd place got it correct, but only after they make me go there to tell me, sorry wrong part, to say the least I was Livid but kept from yelling and just my facial expressions said what I was thinking, he apologized and made it happen.
I used to own a Scion Tc (Toyota) and I have to say, it is too bad Jeep does not have the same service system. I would take my car in and if it was something that would take a day or more they would automatically set me up w a car, and the only requirement was bring it w a full tank and don't go out of the country. It makes me wonder what good service vs poor service does to the company, and why Toyota is doing well and Jeep is becoming FIAT, maybe service will improve. Well after all my venting, I still love my Jeep and want to support my US Automakers. But to the service department Just Joking
This was just my experience in 2 different places. Not to say there are better places out there, so don't get me wrong, I'm venting not generalizing.

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08 Jeep KK Blue. Currently Stock.

More color from my busted transfer case adventure.... as I last left off with this story I was offered a rental by the service manager, and as I got ready to leave he insisted we go inside the sales area to talk to the free standing Enterprise agent there to see about getting me a rental. En route he suddenly stopped in the hall way and said he could talk for a minute there, as inside the service area and inside the sales area everything is video taped and recorded and they have to go by the script. I was starting to wonder if he was paranoid or nuts or what... but we suddenly moved on, he spoke to the Enterprise rental guy, who said no problem, and put me in a new full size p/u 4X4. I turned to thank the service guy and he was gone. I am still wondering about this high tech CIA-or-mob style business this Jeep dealership must be.....

Let me share some example of how some other things have gone at this Jeep service center so far....

First off, another quirk to this picture is that this dealership is new to Jeep, as they were the Chrysler Dodge store that took over the Jeep franchise from the dealer down the street when Chrysler closed so many dealerships. I had dealt with the old Jeep dealer for 20 years. Most of the Jeep service crew from the former dealership were hired by the new combined dealership including the service manager who I am dealing with. I have dealt with him and those techs for several years as a result, so this is not a new realtionship. The new place was very welcoming to all of us Jeep owners that they picked up.

My first oil change at the new place was interesting, as when they backed the Jeep off the rack a huge puddle of oil appeared as either they did not get the filter on good or left the plug out- I never got a good answer on that one. They said a lot of oil got on the engine compartment, but maybe sometime they could clean that for me when they had time. This made we wonder if things were going to be OK at the new Jeep place. Although the service area has all the old Jeep techs in it, every time I have taken my Jeep in for service in a newby has worked on my Jeep, as all the Jeeps techs seem to be working on the Dodge pick ups, vans, & Chrysler cars.... this was just another thing to make me wonder.

My first problem that they had to fix was that I had a window regulator break, and they took me right in, ordered the part, and they fixed the window to stay up until the part arrived. A week later things were fixed, however, they gave me some interesting scratched pry areas along the door panel as they must have had to experiment on how to get the panel off. I pointed this out, they rubbed along it and said that there wasn't much you could do on that. Seems they are learning by doing.

I still wonder if they put the wrong fluid in the transfer case when I gave them the 1000 bucks for the service at 60,000 miles.... terrible to think that, but their track record so far doesn't do much to help me be confident. I suppose I should not whine about it, as everything was fixed under the lifetime powertrain warranty, but it does seem odd that one of the key components they serviced breaks shortly afterwards. Sad to have negative vibes over this, but there it is- maybe they will get better over time.

So far this is about all the adventures I have had there- and I am thinking the old Jeep store with its lighter volume and more laid back approach must have me spoiled, as it seems the wonderful treatment I used to get just isn't going to happen at the new digs.

I am beginning to think about moving my service and new Jeep purchases to the next nearest dealer for Jeeps, but that is a 30 mile trip instead of just down the street.

This is the exact reason I hate dealerships. TBH, I think they didn't fill it at all. I still believe the trans went in to limp mode because of the heat generated buy the transfer case.

Hopefully they will shape up

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2008 KK Liberty Sport NIGHT OPS EDITION + GILLS
OEM & Custom Skids - Factory Tow Package - Rock Lizard Skink Super Sliders
Prototype JBA 4 Inch Lift - JBA UCA's - Flowmaster Super 44 OR - Whacked Resonator
Jet Stage 2 - RL Gecko Basket Rack - Custom Winch Bumper - Recon 10.5K Winch

...one more thing too- when I picked up the KK they had forgotten to put the skid plates back on it- they had stored them in the cargo area, so when I checked it out when they handed it over I had to have them take it back in and crew the plates back on.

To bad you guys don't have more dealerships

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2008 KK Liberty Sport NIGHT OPS EDITION + GILLS
OEM & Custom Skids - Factory Tow Package - Rock Lizard Skink Super Sliders
Prototype JBA 4 Inch Lift - JBA UCA's - Flowmaster Super 44 OR - Whacked Resonator
Jet Stage 2 - RL Gecko Basket Rack - Custom Winch Bumper - Recon 10.5K Winch

Well, if it was me I would go the extra 30 miles would not see them again,do what I can myself and maybe use a mechanic that I can trust to check it out, at least double check the work. I get paranoid fast, I would even check that they bolted the skid correctly and that you are not missing any bolts.
The worst part is that even though it's under warranty they damaged a perfectly fine component on our vehicle, left you w/o a perfectly fine vehicle and then the hassle to give you a rental.
All I can say is I wish you best of luck if you need to see them again.

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08 Jeep KK Blue. Currently Stock.

We used to have 6 Jeep dealerships in our area (about 30 miles radius) but now are down to a couple as Chrysler closed many. These all were small dealerships only having a dozen or so in stock.... We have seen the big three do this across all of our small WV towns....the transition from small town to centralized regional stores has not been too great in areas like rural WV.....Ford was the first of the "big 3" to do this here.... Our new consolidated dealers are still small as they attempt to "grow" - Perhaps down the road it may be fine, but their service centers at the moment are taxed as the dealership owners spend time trying to plan to build larger facilities when they can arrange the $$.

Meanwhile we have our "regional shopping areas" filled with dealers in better facilities selling Hyundai, Kia, Subaru, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota, etc- and they likely are giving the big three fits in sales locally. The more "premium brand"s went regional long long ago as they left the small dealerships to up standards.

The landscape has changed- Case in point- in West Virginia this time last year we probably had over a dozen Cadillac dealers and we now have THREE. We have seen many GM dealerships fold as well in a move to become centralized, and the remaining ones are running scared. You gotta wonder how fewer places to buy and to service vehicles will help the traditional US brands- here we were used to having domestic stores in our towns so we had many locals loyal to the big 3- partly because you would have to go to the "Bigger regional town" to get an asian or european brand.... now the advantage of buying local is kinda a moot issue.

I suppose I am fortunate to have another dealership to turn to- it looks like my local store is wacky, but the 30 miles away dealer has been there for a while and has a better reputation. I may drive up that way to make contact with that dealer this weekend to get some "peace of mind" for the future, as I plan to continue to drive Jeeps.

Let us know how that goes. I really hope it works out, nothing like not having a good dependable dealer around.

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08 Jeep KK Blue. Currently Stock.