help - poor gas mileage is killing me

brogrimm · **Posted:** Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:33 pm

I have a 2002 Liberty Sport 6cyl 5sp and have noticed that it gets very poor mileage. Okay, so the previous owner had the spare on the roof which didn't help aerodynamics. But even after moving it to the OEM rear door mount my mileage still stinks. I replaced the previous intake with a free-flow K&N setup and Crane throttle body spacer. We had to replace one O2 sensor recently also. Fuel mileage was about 14 and is now around 12.5 after the intake mods. I've not had the tire moved for long so I cannot say what current gas mileage is however it's not looking much better if at all.

What kinds of gas mileage figures do you all see in a gas Libby? I've read some postings giving figures between 17 and 20! I have about 62k - anything I should look to check?

gone_jeepin · **Posted:** Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:41 pm

I'm looking at about 17-19mpg doing 85% highway driving I have 40k miles on mine. My gas mileage goes down a little around the time it needs an oil change!! Proper tire inflation helps gas mileage, along with emptying out any extra un-needed weight, just some Fuel for thought! :lol:

Hood297 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:43 pm

i was getting average of 19 in the summer w/ the AC on. 22 in the winter, tahts before all the mods listed below, now im getting an average of 15-17.

LostRenegade · **Posted:** Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:47 pm

I am getting 12 - 16 MPG with mine. :cry:

It seems to improve during the summer. :lol:

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:50 pm

How much idling are you doing to get only 12.5MPG?

First - drive slower!

Second - the throttle body spacer is junk so throw it away

Third - I average about 14.9MPG driving around Metro Detroit. On the highway I average about 18 - 19MPG

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:12 am

Sell the K&N intake and spacer and put the money in your gas budget. The engineers spent a lot of time and effort on designing a good, large, air box that draws aool air from the front of the KJ and it flows more than the 3.7L can use if you keep a good FILTER in it like a Wix. The K&N might flow more air but guess what else it flows better. Go back to stock and then see what happens. Also, the best improvement I see for gas mileage is when I install a fresh set of NGK plugs. OEM style, none of the fancy stuff. Oh and tire inflation and light footed driving help too.

Kniggit · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:32 am

24 is the best I've gotten so far, but I'll tell you after I get it back from the body shop.

K

Video Guy · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:49 am

Does this 12mpg Liberty have oversized tires on it? (Most of us here have upgraded to larger tires.) A tire bigger than original equipment will cause you to log false mileage on your odometer, because it requires fewer rotations per mile. So you might be driving more miles per tank than what your KJ is telling you. That would affect your mpg calculations.

TnRebel · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:56 pm

My 06 is 14 months old with 9K300 miles and I get about 22 on the open road

Albert · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 1:03 pm

Depending on where you are - winter gas blends are different - and the extra ideling with the heater on to warm it up etc. Mine is worse - about 16 or so tops lately and I normally get 18-19 in the warmer weather with 20-21 on the highway.

kolesy · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 1:48 pm

Mine flat out sucks to after all the mods I have done to it. When I brought it home it woudl get about 18-19 city and 21-22 highway. Now I am lucky if I get 16.5 on the high way and now in town I pull about 12-13 miles per gallon. :evil:

kj@best · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:27 pm

Reset you computer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2372ighost · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:30 pm

After correcting for odometer error, I get 16mph in town.
02 sport 5spd, 115,XXXmi
245/70R16 MTR's
3 skids and rails

Skipperb · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:48 pm

I get 16mpg with my 265/75/16 and I know that at 60 I'm doing 65 and it stays around 2000 rpm so what is the best rpm for highway. MY Wife's 05 LJ gets 18.5 at 65 on the highway. I cant do 55 anywhere around here I'll get run over. How much do you think the roof rack cost in mpg.

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:53 pm

1. New plugs
2. OEM Air intake and filter
3. Standard size tires and wheels (235/70/16)
4. Remove armor (skids) and rock rails
5. Remove any lights on roof
6. remove roof basket
7. Change oil
8. check for proper tire PSI
9. Check alignment
10. injectors need cleaning?
11. remove lead from foot

:lol:

jeeplikens · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:07 pm

Mine started getting worse GM around the 20k mark. I had been running a K&N filter but it didn't seem to help much at all. When I swapped it for a 07 Town&Country minivan, it was getting about 12mpg in the city (at times, it seemed worse and hwy? No better then 19 and that was driving 65). Best I ever got hwy was around 22 and 15 city). The new minivan is getting 23hwy (on the one 450 hwy trip I took) and 18 city. Might not seem much in difference till you use it as your primary mode of transportation and you find yourself filling the thing up every few days. Same travel with the van is 10 days. The room gained in the switch was the biggest plus (stow and go is great). Just wish DCX hadn't dumped the AWD version. Due to the low clearance because of S-n-G, I doubt it would do well in 6 inchs or more snow.

Take care all.

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:44 pm

Not trying to start a family fued here, (just my 2 cents of rambling) but why did some of you buy a 4Wheel Drive vehicle in the first place? I have driven 4Wds since the 1970s and they never, ever got that good of gas mileage. If you look at the wanna be 4 wds (Rav-4 etc ) they dont get that much better than a Liberty, when stock. Then like Tokyojoe said if you do add larger tires/lift/skids/etc etc of course the thing is going to weigh 5000 lbs and take more gas to haul its fat butt around. I agree that 12-14 is not that great but if you want the great mileage then dont lift it, keep stock tires inflated properly, tune up often etc. I get an average of 20 on the road now and about 22 when it was stock. If I would of wanted something that got 25/30 all the time I would never of bought a 4WD! Since 1975 I have never been without one so I know I have to pay the price to enjoy it, its like any toy be it a boat, Harley, RV whatever you pay the price to play the game.
OK I will get off the soap box now!! :lol:

BVCRD · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:57 pm

tommudd wrote:

Not trying to start a family fued here, (just my 2 cents of rambling) but why did some of you buy a 4Wheel Drive vehicle in the first place? I have driven 4Wds since the 1970s and they never, ever got that good of gas mileage. If you look at the wanna be 4 wds (Rav-4 etc ) they dont get that much better than a Liberty, when stock. Then like Tokyojoe said if you do add larger tires/lift/skids/etc etc of course the thing is going to weigh 5000 lbs and take more gas to haul its fat butt around. I agree that 12-14 is not that great but if you want the great mileage then dont lift it, keep stock tires inflated properly, tune up often etc. I get an average of 20 on the road now and about 22 when it was stock. If I would of wanted something that got 25/30 all the time I would never of bought a 4WD! Since 1975 I have never been without one so I know I have to pay the price to enjoy it, its like any toy be it a boat, Harley, RV whatever you pay the price to play the game.
OK I will get off the soap box now!! :lol:

.....................or, you could have bought a CRD. That is why I did.

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 6:15 pm

Thats Right BVCRD, better mileage and should last longer. I should have since my wife likes the smell of Diesel, strange woman, never met a woman who liked the smell of diesel in the morning :lol:

Kniggit · **Posted:** Tue Feb 06, 2007 6:43 pm

My wife likes the diesel smell better then the gas smell. Then there is that whole pesky mileage thing.

K

help - poor gas mileage is killing me

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