CRD mechanics in/around Austin, TX?

irwinr · **Joined:** Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:34 pm **Posts:** 11

Does anyone know of or have any shops in or around Austin they recommend?

I've had my CRD re-timed several times now, and it continues to lack power and blow black smoke under even very light acceleration. So far Jeep dealer and two different diesel mechanics have been stumped because everything looks fine on this engine from the outside. Issue began when I replaced the timing belt first time at 95k miles. Pretty sure that shop did not do it correctly. However Jeep dealer hasn't been able to correct it.

I've been having trouble finding a shop that has any interest in even looking at the Jeep CRD. Most of them have the same reaction "I didn't know they ever made a Liberty with a diesel. We have no idea what to do with that engine."

Any suggestions?

-Jeremy

diesel_guy86 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:31 am

If it wasn't done correctly and ran, you could have some broken rockers that arent letting the full air charge into the cylinders.

geordi · **Posted:** Sun Aug 10, 2014 11:31 am

Exactly. The tolerances on the engine for screwing up the timing are about 1 tooth wide. More than 1 tooth out from correct... The rockers are broken.

The engine can run with a few rockers broken, but as you are experiencing, it will run rough, blow black smoke, and generally just not be a happy vehicle.

I'm sorry that you missed out on my trip out west a few months ago, I was right in Austin and could have taken care of yours too.
Send me a PM if you are interested in discussing a special trip to have your CRD worked on by the person that has seen the most CRDs in the USA. I have worked on over 35 different CRDs currently, and I would be happy to add yours to the list. If only it wasn't the summer in Texas! :ALONE:

irwinr · **Joined:** Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:34 pm **Posts:** 11

Yeah I came across your posting as I was searching this board for mechanic options in and around Austin. I'll definitely PM you.

And as far as tolerances. The Jeep dealer claimed that the repiar manual said that the tolerance was three teeth, and that it was off by two teeth. So they felt like the rockers should have been fine.

But if you're saying it's only one tooth, then they are certainly shot.

geordi · **Posted:** Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:18 pm

Saw your PM, give me a bit to get back to a computer and type up a proper reply.

I'd love the dealer to show you (or me) where it says that the tolerance is 3 teeth. To my knowledge (and the service manual is downloadable from here) that isn't mentioned in there anywhere. I'm making a statement based on my own observations of the motor and how far it would allow each pulley to rotate before there would absolutely be contact with a valve. I can't think of any way that 3 teeth could be possible.

irwinr · **Joined:** Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:34 pm **Posts:** 11

Yeah well, when I went to drive off the lot, I had to basically floor it and it would barely move while it created a cloud of black smoke thick enough to block out the sun. When I went back inside and said "WTF?" They said "Oh that's normal for a diesel..."

So yeah, I don't exactly have a lot of faith that those morons know anything.

However one added piece of info is that I have the turbo kit from GDE and I emailed Keith at GDE about it, and he asked me to monitor the MAF sensor at idle. Based on those measurements he said it was unlikely that the rocker arms were damaged. His email to me stated: "MAF at idle is roughly 714 mg/stk, 144 lb/hr or 18.2 g/s based on the units your tool reads."

My actual reading was 16.8-17.2 g/sec after driving around and getting it up to operating temp. To which he said those seemed acceptable. So I was hoping it wasn't the rockers, but I suppose they could be just barely bent enough to make a difference?

-Jeremy

geordi · **Posted:** Sun Aug 10, 2014 8:49 pm

Well, the member in New Zealand just pulled his apart and found about 6 that were "cracked a bit" which he hadn't initially seen. His CRD didn't want to run however, and IIRC, quit when the belt snapped while he was driving.

Your CRD may only be missing 2-4 rockers, they don't really "bend" so much as "crack" and then they either remain bent up (and not doing anything productive) or fall apart entirely. The lifters may also be broken too.

Since you mentioned that you have Keith's turbo, do you have his tuner as well, or can you validate that the dealer chimps didn't overwrite Keith's program for some reason? They shouldn't have ever connected the car to their system... But then again, we are talking about dealer chimps here. They only know what they have been trained to do, which is let the computers of Chrysler Corporate tell them what most-expensive-parts-first to throw at any vehicle.

Whenever having any questions or interactions with a dealer... identify the DUMBEST or most expensive thing for them to have done, that is usually what they will do.

I don't know if Keith's turbo tune does this (probably does) but the rest of his tunes identify themselves when you first start the motor with a flare of the tach to about 1200-1500 before settling to 800-900 idle. Normal engine starts don't do that. I think there is minimal risk in your giving the CRD a start and seeing if it has that flare before we talk about my coming out there - it'd be a shame if it was a computer retune that was all that was needed.

You will have a PM shortly too with the rest of the details if the startup flare doesn't answer the question.

camo · **Posted:** Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:18 pm

Open it up, replace the rockers, re-time and be happy. Don't even keep bothering with the dealer.

irwinr · **Joined:** Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:34 pm **Posts:** 11

Trust me, the first thing I did after picking up from the dealer was hook up the GDE tuner and verify the GDE turbo kit tune was still in place.

Dennis MacGyver · **Posted:** Mon Aug 11, 2014 12:21 pm

Anytime ANY person owns a limited production vehicle, you are pretty much left "on your own" to learn and keep it running yourself. If you are the type that requires someone else to maintain your vehicle then you are a person who needs to own a vehicle that there are a million copies made thereof.

The CRD is an "odd duck" and as such (and when your dealer stated, "didn't know we made a diesel"), you should have turned on your heal & left !!

My suggestion is that YOU dig into this forum, figure out what personal course of action to do, yourself, and fix the mess your "dealer" created for you.

Read, read, read, buy the tools necessary for this engine (as you need them), get some gloves, and do the work yourself.

ibedonc · **Joined:** Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:40 pm **Posts:** 236

May I ask which dealer , not that I goto dealers anymore

Geordi did my belts , on both of my CRD's

really would not let anyone else do them

I am in Thorndale

irwinr · **Joined:** Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:34 pm **Posts:** 11

Dennis MacGyver wrote:

Anytime ANY person owns a limited production vehicle, you are pretty much left "on your own" to learn and keep it running yourself. If you are the type that requires someone else to maintain your vehicle then you are a person who needs to own a vehicle that there are a million copies made thereof.

The CRD is an "odd duck" and as such (and when your dealer stated, "didn't know we made a diesel"), you should have turned on your heal & left !!

My suggestion is that YOU dig into this forum, figure out what personal course of action to do, yourself, and fix the mess your "dealer" created for you.

Read, read, read, buy the tools necessary for this engine (as you need them), get some gloves, and do the work yourself.

First off, I never said the "dealer stated" that. The dealer said "We work on these CRD's all the time, I know exactly how to fix it." It was the other mechanics I went to after losing faith in the dealer. I asked very specific and pointed questions before letting the dealer work on it, including asking them about the timing belt procedure before letting them do it. They knew the procedure and had the right tools. I should be able to assume that the dealer for any vehicle should know how to work on that vehicle.

Second, what was the point of posting this? Just to show how narcissistic and condescending you can be? To sum up your post you're saying I'm now allowed to own a CRD because I don't have a fully stocked diesel repair shop capable of tearing down and fully rebuilding the engine? That's the most asinine thing I've ever heard. And "ANYONE" with a "limited production vehicle"? You realize that they produced over 10,000 CRDs for the US market in 2005 right? That's more than the Porsche Boxster and about the same as the Porsche 911 in 2005. So I'm not allowed to own one of those either unless I can do a full engine rebuild myself in my garage? There are countless other vehicles that were produced in fewer numbers and not every owner of one of those vehicles does every bit of repair work themselves. And to expect every CRD owner to own the $800 timing belt pulley holder? Come on...

"If you are the type that requires someone else to maintain your vehicle then you are a person who needs to own a vehicle that there are a million copies made thereof"

A million copies? I'd like to see evidence that there are a "million copies" of any particular Jeep model in the US. There were roughly 166,000 KJ's sold in 2005. Of those about 10,000 were CRD's. Which means one out of 16 are diesel. That's not exactly impossibly hard to find.

And not to mention this isn't a "limited production" vehicle anywhere else in the world. It's just not common here which makes it a bit more difficult to find someone to work on them. But as you've seen, it's not impossible. I came here, I asked, and I got help. So why do you have a problem with that?

irwinr · **Joined:** Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:34 pm **Posts:** 11

ibedonc wrote:

May I ask which dealer , not that I goto dealers anymore

Geordi did my belts , on both of my CRD's

really would not let anyone else do them

I am in Thorndale

I took it to Mac Haik Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram Georgetown.

Dennis MacGyver · **Posted:** Mon Aug 11, 2014 4:25 pm

irwinr wrote:

Dennis MacGyver wrote:

Anytime ANY person owns a limited production vehicle, you are pretty much left "on your own" to learn and keep it running yourself. If you are the type that requires someone else to maintain your vehicle then you are a person who needs to own a vehicle that there are a million copies made thereof.

The CRD is an "odd duck" and as such (and when your dealer stated, "didn't know we made a diesel"), you should have turned on your heal & left !!

My suggestion is that YOU dig into this forum, figure out what personal course of action to do, yourself, and fix the mess your "dealer" created for you.

Read, read, read, buy the tools necessary for this engine (as you need them), get some gloves, and do the work yourself.

First off, I never said the "dealer stated" that. The dealer said "We work on these CRD's all the time, I know exactly how to fix it." It was the other mechanics I went to after losing faith in the dealer. I asked very specific and pointed questions before letting the dealer work on it, including asking them about the timing belt procedure before letting them do it. They knew the procedure and had the right tools. I should be able to assume that the dealer for any vehicle should know how to work on that vehicle.

Second, what was the point of posting this? Just to show how narcissistic and condescending you can be? To sum up your post you're saying I'm now allowed to own a CRD because I don't have a fully stocked diesel repair shop capable of tearing down and fully rebuilding the engine? That's the most asinine thing I've ever heard. And "ANYONE" with a "limited production vehicle"? You realize that they produced over 10,000 CRDs for the US market in 2005 right? That's more than the Porsche Boxster and about the same as the Porsche 911 in 2005. So I'm not allowed to own one of those either unless I can do a full engine rebuild myself in my garage? There are countless other vehicles that were produced in fewer numbers and not every owner of one of those vehicles does every bit of repair work themselves. And to expect every CRD owner to own the $800 timing belt pulley holder? Come on...

"If you are the type that requires someone else to maintain your vehicle then you are a person who needs to own a vehicle that there are a million copies made thereof"

A million copies? I'd like to see evidence that there are a "million copies" of any particular Jeep model in the US. There were roughly 166,000 KJ's sold in 2005. Of those about 10,000 were CRD's. Which means one out of 16 are diesel. That's not exactly impossibly hard to find.

And not to mention this isn't a "limited production" vehicle anywhere else in the world. It's just not common here which makes it a bit more difficult to find someone to work on them. But as you've seen, it's not impossible. I came here, I asked, and I got help. So why do you have a problem with that?

irwinr, I sense your frustration and I feel your pain of dealing with hack mechanics. Do the work yourself, you'll be better off $$ wise and you'll know the job was done right.

CIMARRON13 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:49 pm

Have you tried Jeep Masters on South Congress? I don't know how many CRDs they may have worked with but they do good work. I have brought all my Jeeps from the past there.

geordi · **Posted:** Mon Aug 11, 2014 11:57 pm

After the quality timing belt job on yours? I'm hurt! :mrgreen:

I understand, the commute is just a killer to have me do the work for y'all in Texas-land. I'm glad I was able to help as many as I did back in April.

CIMARRON13 · **Posted:** Tue Aug 12, 2014 8:57 am

geordi wrote:

After the quality timing belt job on yours? I'm hurt! :mrgreen:

I understand, the commute is just a killer to have me do the work for y'all in Texas-land. I'm glad I was able to help as many as I did back in April.

Ha. I'm sure many people are bummed that you aren't local. You bring up a good point. Many, including myself, would not hesitate to pay the travel costs to get you to work on their CRD.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Tue Aug 12, 2014 8:54 pm

Well - Jeepmasters changed a Torque converter for me a few years back - so they've seen a diesel
but at the time they hadn't seen many KJ's at all, so not sure if they have done a timing belt
but I'd sure call and ask.

back when I had extended warranty I paid my deductible and kept going back to South Point until they got it right
the mechanic was Cummins/Sprinter and he pulled the CRD head twice and got it back together so... pretty good
and then.....he left to go work on Corvettes.... new guys sounded clueless..

if I need work now - I'd do it - but I have a spare car to drive.
although if Geordi circles by next year.....

synthetic-oil · **Joined:** Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:03 pm **Posts:** 144

CIMARRON13 wrote:

Have you tried Jeep Masters on South Congress? I don't know how many CRDs they may have worked with but they do good work. I have brought all my Jeeps from the past there.

X2. If you are unable to do the work yourself this is where I would take it. I'm a member of the Austin Jeep Club and we get a discount there. If there is every anything I can't do myself this will be my first stop.

galatron · **Posted:** Sat Aug 23, 2014 9:44 pm

Hey I can help you out. I've done timing belt change, glowplugs, front end rebuild. shocks, struts, bushings, springs, rockers and lifters, steering bushings, hubs, front diffs, etc.
give me a buzz, I'm in NW Austin by the BMW dealer.

CRD mechanics in/around Austin, TX?

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