Greetings,

I'm looking into purchasing a 2006 Liberty CRD sometime this year. My biggest problem is I live in VT, and no new diesel passenger vehicles california b.s. garbage. I'll be in Mississippi from May - Sep for some training, so I'll buy one down there, register it, and put at least 7500 miles on it before I register it in VT.

I emailed Jeep, and the response I got from them was they have no future plans for a manual transmission in the CRD for the US market. Has anybody cinsidered importing a new/used/reman manual trans from Europe? I come from a BMW background, and it is pretty straight forward with converting from an auto to a manual. Typical parts needed are transmission, mounts, pedal brackets, couple splices so crusie control will shut off when the clutch is pressed down, possible different driveshaft to compensate for longer/shorter transmission housing. The only thing I'm not sure about is the transfercase and how they bolt up to the transmission. I'm guessing it is not the same case as the gas engines, and the auto/manual transfercases have different mounts, so we would need one of those.

What are the thoughts on doing that? And what about the warranty? I mean, you would be using Jeep parts, any take on the Magnuson Moss act in this instance?

Since I come from a world of gas cars, I am new to diesel engines. I have been wanting to buy one for several years now. I just started my business up, and have enough profit coming in, that I would be able to have a Jeep CRD. I do quite a bit of travel, on and off road. Some of my customers do live on back roads, that during the spring time, get pretty muddy. My AWD 89 BMW just does not have the clearance to get to them. As a result, I lose customers if I can't get to their house in a timely manner.

What are the performance mods/upgrades for the diesel engine? I will be using B100, my neighbor brews his own, so I just pay for his cost & time/gallon. I would also like to try one of the SVO/WVO tanks, but not many people seem to know how it works in the CRD.

One other thing I am considering for the diesel would be a hybrid boost for it, http://www.sigmaautomotive.com/electrocharger/electrocharger.php. This would help out with hilly areas & stop and go traffic. I wouldn't expect it to help much with towing 4K lbs.

Is there any room in the engine bay for adding the Dual Remote (full flow & bypass) bypass oil filter from Amsoil, or can I only mount a bypass filter in the engine bay? I would like to extend my drain intervals to 25,000 miles. This won't void the warranty as far as I understand it after reading the Magnuson Moss act & information from Amsoil.

Has anybody attempted to up the fuel economy by making the Liberty slightly more aerodynamic? Pull the spare tire off & put it inside, pull the roof rack & light bar off, etc.

I do have 2 kids in car seats (VT law requires it until they are 7). How well do car seats sit in the CRD? I'm not worried too much about cargo room in the trunk area, it'll be taken up by a SVO/WVO tank, battery bank, and possibly the spare tire. I'll have to make a shelf so stuff can sit above/next to all that in the trunk area, or mount it somewhere else.

Also, what have people down for performance chips? Or Propane injection? Is there any room in the undercarriage for a small propane tank to be mounted?

I do love having a small car, but for what I'm doing now for work and the size of my family, I need an SUV with clearance & decent fuel economy. Diesel will keep my options open as far as fuel choice & price. This will also allow me to tow my sleds & 4-wheelers now, so it'll all be good.

TIA,

~ryan

I asked some of these same ? a while back. got mixed results. I spoke to the owner of www.greasel.com and he said at the time he had successfully converted to CRD's. The guys over at www.greasecar.com said at the time they were waiting for a test vehicle to try thier system on.

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2016 JKU RUBICON

other mods coming soon...

I would like to know about this as well ???

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2016 JKU RUBICON

other mods coming soon...

I have 2 kids both in Booster seats. They are 5 and 7 (MN has age as well as height and weight rules). The seats fit well and there is plenty of room for the kids, including leg room. My wife has actually rode between the seats in the back seat.

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Gasoline is for washing parts - Alcohol is for drinking - Nitromethane is for racing - Diesel is for hauling.

2005 CRD Limited 4x4 - Deep Beryl Green - Selec-Trac
Trac-Lok - Skid Plates - BFG Radial Long Trail TA's- Rotella T 5W40 Synthetic.

2007 GC CRD Limited. Silver.

Man i wish we had CRD's in Cali so I could give a sure answer on the Amsoil filtration questions. I am hoping to get some time to take measurements on a CRD in Moab or at the very least, at a dealership outside of Cali. Can anyone take pics & measurements of any locations that you think there is room? If not, I hope to have some info to offer by next month on this.

I am glad to see others reading up on the Magunson-Moss act! It can help you to put a dealer in it's place when they are giving you grief about mods or service intervals.

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99 TJ
71 C101
04 KJ
03 SFA KJ Sport
LOST JEEPS So-Cal

I don't know about the transmission swap, but you should get much better fuel mileage with a manual. As for the hybrid electric boost kit, well it might help off the line-- but the CRD does not need ANY help going up hills. Test drive one up a hill and you will see it climbs like a mountain goat on meth. I was going up a 7% grade when I fell out to pass a RV, I got on the pedal because I was worried I would not have enough room. I had to hit the brakes the thing was going so fast-- I was worried I would not be able to take the upcoming corner at that speed. I don't think you will find much room for that hybrid device (although its quite clever)-- the CRD engine bay is stuffed to overflowing as it is.

There are some performance chips out there, the most talked about seems to be the Digi chip. 30hp and 60 ft pounds seems to be added with the chip, more if you have other mods and want to push the settings. If you do a site search on it you will find more info. People have different feelings on chipping this motor, as it is high strung as is- 2.8 liters and 295 foot pounds under 26.4 pounds of turbo boost is pretty good as is. The best performance mod is better breathing-- the exhaust system in particular. Mine feels faster after cutting off the stock muffler and replacing it with a better breathing model-- the turbo kicks quicker when asked and the fuel mileage went up a hair (1-2mpg). It accelerates a little quicker at highway speeds as well.

The same can be said for meth injection that can be said for the chip, but even more so. The head on this motor is aluminum and the common rail system is at 24,000+ psi. While a good motor, it is already turboed and hopped up. It would seem like playing with meth/propane/water/no2 injection on one of these will flush the engine's longevity down the toliet. I suppose if you don't care about that and want a hot rod, go for it. But don't expect any dealer to warranty your motor if you start putting shots into it (and they should not have too, they did not design the motor for that).

As for the filters, you will have a hard time finding room to mount much of anything in the engine bay, there is plenty of room on the underside of the chasis if you can get the lines to feed the bypass filter routed. I have considered a bypass filter, but am not sold on them yet and don't want to mess with trying to figure out an install yet-- will let someone else more experienced solve that problem for me before I even attempt to go down that route.

When it comes to fuel mileage, the Liberty is a brick. Moving the spare tire will probably get you little to nothing. I took mine off while driving it to the car wash (25 miles one way) and around town- and noticed no difference in fuel consumption as when I drive normally. I assume that because the tire is in the low pressure zone behind the car, it does not add enough drag to matter. Taking off the roof rack (and any roof lights) should help a tad, but the liberty is a 4300 pound brick and you can't get around that. When travelling at 75-80mph, if I want to slow down by 10-15mph-- I just take my foot off the accelerator and the wind resistance slows it down in a second or two, no need for the real brakes unless it is emergency braking. The Corolla, on the other had, just coasts along when I take my foot off the accelerator.

Good choice on the CRD, and good luck.

Well if you really want a 6spd then I would suggest you come to europe and find wrecked one and strip it. You can sometime find them already stripped and on sale on Ebay or soem typeof auto search. Not relly sure as to how much better MPG you are expecting from it. Plus you would have to add in the costs of the tranny, shipping and the parts for an item that has to be imported. Down forget the down time of getting the parts shipped from Europe. I have driven the 6sp and really do not see the advantage over the 5sp auto. I wanted a 6spd as well but then changed my mind when I drove the 5spd auto.

Which iX do you own? E30 or E34

Also if you get a chip I would highly recomend a chip that has TuV on it with a ABE # to boot. If you really know BMW's you will know what I am talking about.

Are you in NorCal or SoCal? I'm up in NorCal (Bay area) and you're welcome to check out my CRD. I do have a Provent in the engine bay so that's taking up some room.

Ryan, before you buy the CRD yourself, check out VT's stance on sales/use tax. Here in Cali you have to pay "use tax" (this is really sales tax in disguise) on used vehicles. You even have to pay it if it's ALREADY your vehicle (unless you've owned it out of state for more than 2 years). So you may get hit w/ sales tax in MS and then pay tax again when you reg it in VT.

To get around this I had my Mother-in-law buy the Jeep in Oklahoma and we drive it w/ OK plates until it hit 7,500 miles. Family xfers are immune from paying use tax.

9,400 miles on her now - headed to the DMV to register tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Also, I would NOT run SVO/WVO in the CRD. As some of the more knowledgeable will chime in, there is very little research that's been done on how VO will work in our high-pressure systems. You could end making Crisco

Bio is fine - make sure your guy knows what he's doing w/ homebrew. The CRD isn't a 1980 Mercedes diesel. Our motors expect quality fuel. I've been running B50 without problems from a commerical WVO refinery here but as always, YMMV.

Sounds like for what you're going to be doing the CRD will be a great vehicle for you. Go for it!

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Chris
Current:
2007 Steel Blue Metallic Grand Cherokee CRD Limited
GDE Eco Tune and DPF delete
CB Engineering DPF delete pipe
EHM

Past (sold to Mountainman):
2005 Patriot Blue Liberty CRD Limited

There are lots of CR diesels running SVO/WVO and everything from B 2 to B100 here in MO and never any problems except jelling in winter. The local trash company has it's trucks (CRD's) running WVO without problems. By the way the '80's MB's were designed to run on 50 cetane plus high sulfur fuel and would also have the same problems it the WVO were not filtered proper. Wish I had not sold by old 240D, now that was a real car and I loved driving her.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

Guys,

Thanks for the info. I've been trolling the board here for 2 days now and have come up with some excellent information.

I will be buying a Liberty CRD this year. I will check on the use tax on a used vehicle in VT. AFAIK, you don't have to pay any tax if you move to the state & own the vehicle already. You just pay an initial registration fee of like $65 for diesel engines. I'll double check on that as well.

I do about 30% of dity driving and that is what I would really want the hybrid assist for. Moving a 4300 pound brick from a dead stop takes a fair ammount of energy.

I have been using Amsoil for the last 3 years. Last year I finally broke down and paik the $150ish for the dual remote bypass filter. I think you guys should check into that, they just relased a new updated bypass filter. http://www.amsoil.com/StoreFront/eabp.aspx. This filter I guess can hold extra soot and whatnot out of the engine longer. I'm going to go with the EaBP-110 bypass filter (needs 2 qts to fill) and the EaO-26 (1.25 qts to fill) and find a spot to mount it. If I have to mount it on the undercarriage, what would be the best place? Would it fit between the undercarriage & a skid plate? Once the lines are factored in, I will have about 3.5 extra quarts of oil in the system. A 10 quart system will be nice for extendeding the drain intervals. I'm at 19K miles on my 89 325iX. The engine has 235K miles on it, and I converted it to Amsoil at 216K miles. I took a sample at 16K miles and it came back suitable for continued use. I can scan the report and send it to anybody if they want. I've taken 3 samples so far. The first one was to see if I had any coolant in the oil from a broken headbolt. I replaced all the head bolts after that with the updated ones for this engine and called it good.

Any idea on larger intercoolers? I'm not looking to hotrod the CRD. I'm want to maximize the fuel effiency out of it. We are already seeing fuel costs skyrocket. The more fuel efficient the vehicle you drive, the less it will impact you. I can't keep driving little cars, and diesel gives me options for fuel choice. I've made my house as energy efficient as possible, and in the future, I will have solar electricity, water heating to assist in heating my baseboard heating, a windmill, and a waterwheel for some hydro power off of the brook in my yard. The more I do to offset the costs now, the less it will impact me later.

I really want a manual transmission. The last automatic I drove was drivers ed. I just don't like them, I'm happier in the snow on winding mountain roads with a manual trans.

Good point about the present location of the spare tire. I might just take it off & make a WVO/SVO tank for that location. I'll have to figure out how much the tire weighs & how much weight the support can handle. That way I don't get the WVO/SVO smell in the cabin.

My ix is an E30. It's a little rusty, but I'll have a re-enlistment bonus in Sep, so the body is going to get taken care of, and I will drop an M50 in to it. This will be the unicorn of E30's, an iX with a DOHC m50 .

Thanks for all the info, I'll keep trolling and let you know when I make the deal. My bank USAA will do the price negotiation for me. I call them up with the dealer number and the VIN for the one I want and they call me back later on with the final price. I hate trying to negotitate prices, plus my bank will know what the wholesale price is, what their retail price is, and what sorts of rebates and incentives are out there for me. I"ll post the price once it's said & done.

~ryan

Does your E30 have vented rear disc brakes on it? If so you are very lucky, that is the rear end from a M3 sitting in there. I have a friend that has the very fist E30 325ix WAGON ever produced. Unfortunately it was totaled a year ago, t-boned. It sits in the garage as it still has a good value as is.

Dude, that's too bad. That is a nice car, was it in the US, or in Canada? As far as I know, there are not any iX tourings in the US, and only 2 or 3 E30 tourings as grey market imports in the US presently. I'd love to turn one of them into a hearse, or even an E28 into a hearse & drop the V12 into it. Is there any way he can buy an E30 iX touring that has a bad interior & engine & drive train but a good body to drop his setup into?

No, I don't have the M3 rear end. Dropping the m50 in is going to be cool. The oil pan has a hole for the front axle for the AWD, so the m20 is the only engine that works in the iX. But www.theeurodepot.com has a jig setup and cut & welded the m20 iX oil pan to the m50 oil pan.

~ryan

Just for the heck of it, what would be some good models to look for in a used diesel, and for that matter, ones to avoid? Looked thru the local Auto trader at BMW and Mercedes, but all the model designations are greek to me. Even some of the VW ads don't mention it's a TDI, until halfway thru the ad they mention "diesel engine".

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Mitchell Oates
'87 MB 300D Diamond Blue Metallic
'87 MB 300D - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Sport CRD Stone White
Provent CCV Filter/AT2525 Muffler
Stanadyne 30 u/Cat 2 u Fuel Filters
Fumoto Drain/Fleetguard LF3487 Oil filter
V6 Airbox/Amsoil EAA Air Filter
Suncoast TC/Shift Kit/Aux Cooler
Kennedy Lift Pump/Return Fuel Cooler

BMW codes generally follow this format:
1st number is model series, 3xx, 5xx, 6xx, 7xx etc.
3's are coups/sedans, real small & sporty
5's are larger sport sedans, but still under 3K lbs.
6's are sport coups
7's are luxuary sedans

the next 2 numbers are engine size designations
so a 325 would be a 3 series with a 2.5 liter inline 6
a 535 would be a 3.5 liter inline 6
a 524td would be a 2.4 liter turbo diesel inline 6 from the same engine block family as the 325's from 82-92.

i's are injected engines
is's are sporty suspension & interior
t is for turbo
etc

As far as MB's, I have no idea.

My favorite car was my 85 325e, It had a 2.7 liter fuel efficient inline 6 from BMW. Soft valve springs, designed for optiomal fuel economy. I could get 37 mpg out of it on the highway, and 39 if I set the cruise control to 63 mph.

Currently, AFAIK, BMW does not have any diesel engines in the USA. I would love to get my hands on an X3 diesel. That would toast all the subaru's around here.

I'm not sure of the last diesel engine that BMW produced for the USA, but I belive it was the E28 524td from 85 - 86. It's an ok engine that gets about 38 mpg with an automatic transmission. Check out the yahoo group 524td for the diesel. www.e30tech.com for standalone fuel management and all other things E30 related or www.mye28.com for all things E28.

~ryan

8 series- LARGE 4 seat sports coupe with V8 or V12 option.

There are several others along the BMW line as well like C, 2002, Z etc. Generally the ones posted are what you see.

In europe there were also M-Tech in the 3 and 5 series normally the model just below the M3 and M5. I had a 87 325I M-Tech.

The #'s after the series, ie 325i USED to stand for 2.5 L engine. Since the E46 that has pretty much been thrown out the window.

Old School 5 sires also had a 3.3L turbo motor that was listed as a 535. Currently they are doing the same thing with the 535D 530 with higher boost.

MB

USe this as an example: SLK 220 Kompressor

SLK-Series or in MB jargon Klasse (class)
220- 2.2L engine
Kompressor- Surpercharged
CDI- Computer direct injection



As for my friends 325ix Touring it is still here in Germany. I have met several people in the US that are interested in a ix Touring.

If any of you have driven a ML 350 and get to europe do yourself a favor and rent a ML 400CDi. If you this a KJ witha chip is fun you will be surprised.

VW NA has nothing in the TDI world the new 2.0L TDI would rule the roadsd in the US IF VW brought it over. A good friend has a 05 Audi A3 3dr 2.0 TDi DSG Quattro and that thing is more fun that any one person should have. It always brings stupid grins to our faces when playing around autobahn on and off ramps (Ausfahrt).

Hey oldnavy,

My buddy has a 1982 240D with a manual tranny. It is a great vehicle. His is barely broken in with 250K on the clock. Before this, he had a 1983 300D with the legendary 2.5L 5-cylinder turbodiesel. He gave it away with 480K miles.

Bill

The MB W123 240D was the longest lived and the least problematic diesel they ever built. THe MB with most miles documented that was recently bought back by MB was a 83 240D that was last used as a Taxi in Grease, if I remember correctly is was 3.5 million miles.

Mine was an automatic and only had about 150,000 miles on her when I sold her to a guy in WI for his wife to drive.

The 83 300D was a 3L turbo 5 cyl, not 2.5L, 2.5L turbo was many years later.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine