We've had our 06 CRD for about a year now and I still love it, even though it has been a real pain in the booty. Every issue that you can learn about in this forum has been ticked off in the last 20K miles. Anyway the next thing I want to deal with (after the timing belt change) is the transmission shudder we occasionally deal with. We live on the southern side of the santa cruz mountains south of San Jose and we are often going over that mountain. We don't tow, and the GDE mod we have is the mild eco one basically just got it to delete EGR. So anyway at 55-60MPH up the grade we may get the shudder and it is disturbing. I typically keep it in OD off mode to avoid it happening. So I want to square it away but I hope I can delay a little because we are at 97K miles and have to do the timing belt first.

So my first question is, can I put it off or are we doing damage to the Tranny by either having the shudder or running up the grade with OD off?

My plan to ameliorate it is a series of escalating measures that get more and more pricey:

• Run with OD off when you might expect the shudder (full load, up the grade) <-- what we do now
• try this lube guard stuff: http://www.greendieselengineering.com/f ... st/49.page
• Tranny fluid and filter - flush and service
• Suncoast TC and transgo pump upgrade

I want to put off that big ticket item at the bottom about a year or so to save up for it. Even after doing that though, I read reports here that the shudder problem doesn't go away. My suspicion is that after upgrading the TC those folks get the hot tune from GDE and tow their boat over the mountains. That, or they upgrade the TC without the pump when maybe the pump was more the problem. We aren't interested in towing or hotting up the tune (unless that would somehow increase over all reliability).

My goal is to beat this jeep into submission until it is as docile and compliant as my old 1987 honda accord. It will be a reliable car, if I have to replace and upgrade every part in the catalog.

So anyway, yeah. Looking for any thoughts from those with more experience on my little plan.

So mostly, I am just curious what folks opinions are of using the lube guard product until I save up enough to upgrade the TC.

I put up with the shudder for about a year before replacing the TC with the euro unit and the pump with the redesigned stock pump. Those cured my shudder, and I do tow a 5,000 lb travel trailer.

Of course, I do not tow that trailer up hills under conditions that would have brought on the shudder, and did not before the TC/pump transplant, and don't do that now, either, so I can't speak to whether it did or will make any difference on that score.

I do know that my shudder is gone now, and I also haven't seen the 30 seconds to shift into gear problem, either, which is the main reason for replacing the pump.

If you are not having the cold-start-slow-engage issue, I think you can go a long time with the shudder -- driving it so as to avoid the shudder, of course -- without damaging the tranny. But the TC will get worse and worse.

And for what it is worth, a decade or so ago we bought a '92 Chevy Astro AWD van that had that very same shudder when we bought it at 96,000 miles. It now has 240,000 miles on it, and the engine is getting pretty tired, but the tranny and TC are unfazed, and still shuddering under just the right conditions.

cold start slow engage issue ... I was about to say I don't know what that is ... But now that I think back on it ... I do think that describes something we have experienced before, but only rarely. We tend to start up our diesels slowly, like time for glow plugs time for a short warm up etc. It may be we haven't noticed it because we haven't given it many chances to manifest. Not sure if it's good or bad to do that.

But at the risk of hijacking my own thread, We will keep using the OD off method when we are driving in the hills. I do that in my ford Crown vic anyway, just because i like to have more get up and go, not for any shudder reasons.

Comments:
1. cold start slow engage issue is caused by tranny fluid drain back when the vehicle is parked for say 8+ hrs. Symptom - crank up; shift into gear; vehicle doesn't move or if it does it stalls within 100-200". Cheap solution that works indefinitely - crank up; shift into neutral; hold idle at 1,000-1,500 rpm for 10-15 seconds; drive but if there is an immediate hesitation in motion repeat the neutral/high idle cycle; in effect you are pumping fluid back into the TC. Better solution - perform tranny service with OEM or WIX filters as there is a check valve in one of the filters that often solves the problem. Somewhat better solution - install full Transgo shift kit including pump part. Apparently best solution - tranny service and new front pump design but requires dropping tranny.
2. shudder. a) don't use overdrive and/or downshift to bypass issue; b) try the stuff you mention or the similar Lucas product as they might be a cheap near term fix (e.g. won't hurt might help don't cost much). Shudder is the TC springs bottoming out and the only harm that I know of is to the TC not the tranny so you can probably carefully work around it for a while (FYI - I drove for a month with no shudder after installing the Stage II turbo simply by using a light foot on the go pedal as I knew from experience that any heavy foot would produce instant shudder). Long term fix heavy duty TC and new pump. I have Suncoast simply because they are close and would do the install. Euro is nearly as good and costs less especially if you can do the install.

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Sold to LOST member my 05 Ltd, GDE Stg II turbo + TCM tune, SunCoast TC w. Transgo kit, Steiger window regulators, Samcos, Fumoto valve, 2nd gen filter head with Lub. Spec. bleeder, Hayden clutch & 11 blade fan, inverted spare, P-1 battery, BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs, Etecno1 glow plugs, timing belt at 50K miles/8 yrs