I hope I'm posting this in the right place. If not, my apologies.
I bought a 2005 Liberty CRD last summer, with approximately 84,000 miles on it. I was hoping to get some decent fuel mileage out of it, but I seem to be lucky to get around 21mpg. Anyway, some stuff started happening with it last fall... like replacing the transmission (ouch!), rupturing the hose between the charger and intercooler, and about that time I did the ORM mod, disconnected the MAF sensor, and cleaned the MAP sensor. I thought those last three items would have shown some improvement to the mpg, but no such luck. Actually, about a week after cleaning the MAP sensor I started to experience an intermittent, completely random fit where I am trying to accelerate but all of a sudden there is a loss of power. The engine still runs, and transmission still works, but I could barely get the vehicle moving. I could put the pedal to the floor and the engine would rev to 3000 RPM, but would barely go, and would not shift until I let off the accelerator a certain amount. I could eventually work it up to highway speed but it would never go into overdrive during these fits. Eventually, it would clear up and start driving normal. At first I thought it was the replacement transmission, so I had the tranny repair guy look at it. He said the tranny was fine, but it was throwing CEL codes for the MAF and turbo. So I drove it for a couple months with it having these random fits, which kept getting more and more frequent, and trying to do some research but finding nothing. After going to a local auto parts store that will plug into the computer, they said it was throwing MAF and MAP codes. So, between me and my co-worker talking about it, I finally decided to try a new MAP sensor. Ordered it thru Summit Racing (best price I could find, and was recommended on LostJeeps forum). Well, I switched it out three days ago and have not experienced any more of those fits, so I am gonna say the problem is solved.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue, and thought maybe my experience could help out another unsuspecting CRD owner.
Also, I thought I would post the pics of my MAP sensor:
This is pre-cleaning of the MAP sensor, at approximately 85,000 miles. I am assuming previous owners never touched it.
This is comparing the new MAP sensor with the old one that was cleaned two months ago, approximately 5,000 miles ago.
I'm gonna guess the old sensor was either damaged by my attempt to clean it, or bad to begin with, but since it was so encrusted with soot/oil build-up, the computer may have been running off of a default setting. Either way, I figure once the sensor was cleaned up, it started sending faulty signals to the computer, which was playing havoc with my engine.
Any thoughts from the audience?
JC
That being said, I really don't know if resetting the computer had anything to do with it. Also, I didn't notice any change or rough running of the engine when I reconnected the battery and started the engine. I was thinking it might act a little funny, at least on the first start, but it started up and ran just like it never missed a beat. I'm still frustrated on the mileage thing.