Jeeps Canada - Jeep Forums - General Liberty questions

Hey all

I bought my 2003 Liberty Limited in April of 2010. In the summer months I was getting about 400 to 420 km`s to around 50 - 55 Ltrs, or around 20 - 22mpg. I just figured out my milage again cause I was sure it was alot worse. Right now I am getting 350 km`s to 50 - 55 Ltrs, or about 14 mpg. If it`s in 4x4 on a bad day I am getting like 10 mpg!!!

Anyways I wanted to post the numbers on here to see if they are normal for the winter. I am aware gas milage will go down in the winter, to compensate for the richer Fuel/Air ratio`s needed to run properly, but I did not expect 14 mpg. I also would like to say that the 14 mpg figure was gained by, filling up at the station. Driving approximately 40 km at90 km per/h. Driving in town for about 10 km, then going directly back to the same gas station, for 40 km at 90 km per/h again. My liberty was in 2 x 4 the whole time and I drove pretty strict and used my cruise control. When I filled up again I went through 12.6 ltrs for 90.1 km. Like I stated it works sout to be around 14 mpg and that was bring careful.

I have recently had all 4 tires re-beeded, as they were having trouble keeping there pressure, as I thought maybe that was the culprit, but nothing has changed. The other mechanical issue I am having is in the transmission. In particular going into O/D and up a hill. I have been paying attention to shift points and the general operation of the tranny since I noticed the first ``hard shift`` up a hill. It`s a little loose when coming to a stop at a light then starting off again. Also when it is cold out, when I back up and shift it out of reverse and into drive, hit the accelerator. My Jeep chuggs a few times cause it feels like its slipping in 1st gear, then drives normally.

My general concern is that the tranny is slipping in O/D and that is why I am getting such bad economy out of it. Either that, or there is a drag on the vehicle. I have felt around the brakes after a 30 km drive and everything is normal, so its not them. I know when I was looking at the owners manual it suggest changing the rear diff fluid frequently. I have yet to do this job and am unsure if the previous owner had it down recently. If anyone could post a link to as instuction guide to change this fluid that would be helpful. I could not find the instructions on this site. Again I dont know if that would give me bad economy or not either. The only other part of the driveline that could give me bad economy would be the transfer case, but it shifts in all 4 gear sets perfectly, so I can`t see how that could cause any drag.

Anyways any information, or guidence would be apprecited and if any further info is needed to give better advise please let me know. Also if anyone has a link to a site that maybe more geared to technical Jeep help you could post that for me to and I will check it out.

Thanks
Chuck0505