I've owned a CRD since the beginning of the year and it has been a sort of mechanical nightmare. Exhaust leaks and a new turbo have been installed and the engine has 77k miles.

It may be my imagination or my unfamiliarly with diesels but this CRD still feels slow even though it now has the HOT tune. The 3.7 I drove has more grunt down lower and more power up top. This CRD has a significant dead zone in low RPM up until 2500 where it starts to pull a little bit.

Are there any owners or mechanics in or near Kansas City? I would really like to have my concerns alleviated. Currently no codes are being thrown, what could be the problem?

Get torque pro for Android, an obd2 blue tooth adapter and read the MAF sensor. Gde stated this: "the factory [is] 18.2g/s flow number [...]
Flow rates below 15 g/s most likely exhibit some degree of rocker wear. Below 13g/s and all the rockers are wasted." You should read the MAF when engine is idling. If you have low values, either your intake is clogged with egr soot (diesels do this a lot), either you rockers have wear. Either way, you'll have to take out the valve cover.

If you don't have an android phone, maybe you have a friend with one, torque pro is less than 10 bucks on google store and a decent obd2 adapter (eBay, Amazon) less than 20.

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2005 kj CRD, samco, suncoast tc, provent, Kennedy lift pump, GDE ECO full torque, 2nd gen filter head, 245/70/16 a/t tires, mopar light bar, fumoto oil valve, OEM Skid Plates, ARB Front bumper and HD OME, tru cool LPD47391 40k GVW tranny cooler (stock cooler delete), FF Dynamics e-fan and shroud, rocker arms replaced, HDS2 190F thermostat.

I did that a month ago before the shop readjusted my turbo claiming the turbo vanes were not opening. Maybe improved slightly but it's still not right.

My MAF read was between 9 and 10. Would leaking CAC hoses cause this low number at idle? Would rocker damage have any audible signature?

If you measured the MAF before the GDE tune, go and remeasure it. That is very low and could be bad rockers or a stuck open EGR valve. You will not be able to hear worn rockers for the most part. There is also a good possibility the mechanic did not adjust your turbo properly. We have been around many of these engines and we will not adjust the control arm on the turbo as it is set in the factory and it would be very easy to make the turbo not function correctly very easily is the arm is not adjusted correctly.

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Providers of wholly developed aftermarket solutions for the KJ CRD.
(248) 977 - 9531

I'm going to check the MAF numbers again this afternoon.

I did notice what appears to be a fuel injector leak at the injector closest to the bumper. Atomised diesel is dispersing outside the block. Would this cause the low numbers?

That depends on how bad the leak is, but it needs to get fixed in either case.

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Providers of wholly developed aftermarket solutions for the KJ CRD.
(248) 977 - 9531

With the injector replacement it is at 18.3 to 18.5 g/s with the turbo vacuum hose solenoid bypassed (broke after washing engine compartment). Everything looks AOK right now.