thank you muchly! yep this is literally exactly what is going on. And you got the RPM spot on, too. It only happens when accelerating up a steep hill AND (i forgot) when accelerating towing a heavy load.
I am looking into a new torque converter asap. appreciate the well thought out explanation.
Michelle

Does anyone have a good checklist of what to look for before buying a used CRD? This thread has awesome info in it and some items like when the last filter change, timing belt change, etc. were completed is a good start. What about red flags to look out for that are more specific to these diesels and might go unnoticed to us noobs?

Tomorrow evening I'm going to look at a 2006 CRD with 122k miles, a one-owner that looks bone stock. I don't know yet if the timing belt was changed, 13 years and 122k miles you'd certainly hope so but you never know.

Does anyone have a good checklist of what to look for before buying a used CRD? This thread has awesome info in it and some items like when the last filter change, timing belt change, etc. were completed is a good start. What about red flags to look out for that are more specific to these diesels and might go unnoticed to us noobs?
Tomorrow evening I'm going to look at a 2006 CRD with 122k miles, a one-owner that looks bone stock. I don't know yet if the timing belt was changed, 13 years and 122k miles you'd certainly hope so but you never know.
Is it worth checking for blow-by at the oil fill on a stock CRD, or will the EGR and similar give a false positive? I passed on a CRD a couple years ago that seemed to drive really well but looked to have a decent amount of blow-by, I'm wondering now if that really was just the emissions controls doing their "job".

Think I'm going to have to pass on the CRD we went to see last night, but the hunt continues and this info is all extremely helpful.
I did bring along an OBD-ii reader and found 4 codes: P0401, P1252, P0299, and P1263. Best I can tell those break down to the a bad glow plug, bad turbo vane actuator, and a general reminder that the EGR is a terrible system! It does also need struts, but I can say I didn't see any rust issues or oil/coolant leaks. The serpentine belt looked fairly new and I saw wrench marks on the fan nut, but couldn't say for sure if the timing belt had been replaced at 100k.
It is technically a one-owner car, but the current owner is a dealer and has kept it on dealer tags for the last 8 months. He very much appreciates his CRD and isn't too motivated to sell, his bottom line is $6k as that's what keeping it is worth to him. He's put about 16k miles on it since he bought it, don't think it's had an oil change since it was traded in at the last dealership...
For the right price I would have happily taken it off his hands, but $6k felt a little steep to me given what it'd need done pretty soon to catch up on maintenance and preventative.

There is some evidence that going the EHM route may risk causing failure of the crankshaft Rear Main Seal.
Provent, if you can afford it, and install it correctly, has no downside, providing you remember to clean the drain line and collector every oil change, and service the internal filter.
Not installing either, (OEM layout) continues to allow oil and contaminant-bearing crankcase gasses to recirculate through the turbo inlet, CAC & hoses, EGR, and intake. Unless your EGR system is blocked off or removed, it will continue to develop asphalt in the intake, and introduce excess carbon into the oil causing excess wear.
If you mechanically disable the EGR, you will no longer get the asphalt effect, and your oil will be cleaner, but you will still get the gassified oil recirculating through the turbo and remaining intake elements.

What if I simply get the GDE tune instead of using the ORM? Will that suffice or will I still have contaminates?

Basically, I'm trying to avoid installing the EHM/ProVent since I am an amateur mechanically.

The gde tunes significantly reduce exhaust gasses going into the intake, but they do not completely disable the egr system. If you are not able to do a complete egr delete or install a block off plate, then a tune is a very good alternative for that purpose. Of course the tune would have several other benefits as well.

A tune does nothing to prevent oily vapors from the crankcase from entering the intake stream and allowing oil to collect in the intercooler and hoses. If you want to avoid that, then install a provent (dont do the ehm, just forget you ever heard of it). If you are unable to install a provent, you should still do a tune, as it will reduce the amount of sooty exhaust gasses that mix with the oily vapor in the intake stream. It's the soot and oil mixing in the intake that makes the harmful sludge.

Bottom line, if you do nothing else, a tune is not a waste.