Not exactly a CRD newbie, but brand new to the site. And I'm kicking myself very soundly for not having found it years earlier.
My wife and I have owned a 2005 Liberty CRD since new- 7 years now. It has been pretty reliable for 6 of those 7 years. The first 6 months were hell, as there were intractable problems with the brake system that took multiple trips to the dealer to get corrected. It then ran pretty reliably for quite a while. We split turbo outlet hoses twice in the last year, which took a lot of the joy out of life. And then back in January, at 98k miles, it spit out the turbocharger very dramatically. It was on service contract and 100k mile extended warranty via the dealership, and we foolishly had it towed back there for the turbo work (and replacement of the timing belt, since it was due).
It has run like hammered dogmeat since the turbo and timing belt replacement, with major driveability issues. When on an even throttle at cruise, it would cut out and miss on all 4 cylinders for a couple of revolutions, and then pick back up, on about a 30 second cycle. Driving on cruise control was a study in overshooting and undershooting by 500rpm every 30 seconds, and was pretty maddening. It went back to the dealer 3 times, each time being returned with a "no trouble found". They claim that no codes were set, and they couldn't reproduce the problem... This was clearly a fuel delivery issue, whether mechanical or electrical in nature. It's a diesel, for crying out loud: if it has fuel, air, and compression, it freakin' has to run!
This culminated with a failure this past weekend (at 105k miles) that left us running on 1 cylinder for about 5 minutes, trying desperately to get it out of heavy traffic across 4 lanes before we were hit from behind. Most maddeningly, a key-off-key-on cycle (once we made it safely to the shoulder) cleared this up, and left it running no worse than before. It went back to the dealer, who then told us "Well, there were no codes set, and we can't reproduce your problem, but we have to replace all the injectors, it'll be $4500, and we can't get the parts until July". In a pig's eye! Button it back up, give it back, and get the heck out of my life.
So, after *that* last-straw occurrence this weekend, I found this place via Google. I immediately read the very well done noobie section here, as well as many of the other threads. I then took the vehicle to a well-regarded diesel specialist in the area who has actually worked on CRDs before, and provided them with the common wisdom described here as a starting point and guide. He was able to reproduce the cutout problem immediately (before even leaving the parking lot), found a whole bunch of codes set, and confirmed a number of mechanical issues that are well described here (such as an unrecognizably gunked up MAP sensor)- as well as work that was apparently performed improperly at the time of the turbo repair. Haven't got the vehicle back yet, but I expect that when I do, things will have improved dramatically.
They are installing the improved heater/filter head on spec, and I'll be doing the lift pump mod as soon as we get it back to work around any potential leakage issues there. If it is running at all well, a GDE tune will follow on shortly. I'm hoping to get another 100k out of it, whereas we were about ready to either shoot it or trade it as of Sunday evening. Serves me right for believing in the service contract, and I'm glad the damned thing has now expired. Won't make that mistake again.
So, in short: thanks very much to all for sharing all your experiences here! It would have saved a lot of pain to have found this a couple of years ago...