Actually, you can. I've done mine twice with nothing more than a borescope to look in the timing holes and a Sprocket Buster to hold the cam pulleys. When used properly the pins are designed to locate, not to hold, so visually locating them is fine. Agreed on the timing belt though. Visual inspection tells nothing.


OK, a mechanic who supposedly specialises in diesels but doesn't have a compression tester is never a good sign. Maybe it's a polite way of saying "I don't want to work on it any more" which maybe also explains his eagerness to put it back together again. In your case a leakdown test is more appropriate. I'd suggest you start to look again for someone who knows what they're doing.

Could a bad crankshaft position sensor cause it to misfire? I am considering telling them to replace that, since it throws that code. Although they think it probably threw the code just because of the engine shaking.

If it had a bad crankshaft position sensor, the computer would not allow the engine to run at all. There are many threads about no-start conditions because of that.

A compression testing kit is $40 from Harbor Freight. I tend to agree with the assessment: He has figured out that he is in over his head, and doesn't want to work on it anymore. People insult me with the assertion that because I do not pay rent on a shop, I am little more than a hack... But I would not tell someone that I was experienced or capable when I wasn't even close. THIS GUY has a great future ahead as a dealer tech - they are happy to lie to people and say they are experienced / certified to work on anything, even changing the water pump on a 67 Beetle. (FYI: That is an air-cooled engine, it has no water pump)

FYI: I don't usually bring it with me, but I have a compression test set. Several, actually.

In my experience, misfire codes can be from the wrong cylinder from where the problem actually is - it is the computer measuring the time of the crankshaft and camshaft sensors and detecting the "wobble" in engine speed. It is not a precise calculation. At the same time, unplugging the injectors or "commanding them off" with some sort of scantool is not always informative either. If the engine was able to run (even roughly) for any length of time, that does suggest that your rockers may still be the cause and that the valves are OK. This is a GOOD THING!

It still needs to be disassembled, but it sounds like he just isn't interested. That is unfortunate, because while I am happy to accept whatever pile of parts he creates and rebuild it into a working engine (and it sounds like he might not have that skill) it would be unfortunate for me to have to travel up there to do the disassembly only to discover a damaged piston and dropped valve. The recovery from that point would be a bit more complicated - but we would know a lot more if the rockers were exposed for examination.

I'm somewhat more confident that the rockers are the cause right now, and I'm here if you want me to come up and do it instead of this guy. But pushing it into the ocean would be better than taking it to the dealership.

Pull the rocker cover/intake and inspect those rockers!!! Doing anything else at this point other than a compression test is a complete waste of time and energy.... You have got to inspect those rockers and valve stems!!!!

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Supporting Vendor and Moderator of LOST
05 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited
Ironman Springs/Bilstein/Shocks
Yeti StgIV Hot Tune
Week's BatteryTray
No FCV/EGR
Samcos/ProVent
SunCoast/Transgo
Carter Intank-pmp
2mic.Sec.Fuel Filter
Flowmaster/NO CAT
V6Airbox/noVH
GM11 Bld.fan/HDClutch
IronrockArms/wwdieselMount
98 Dodge Cummins 24 Valve

i wish you checked exhaust manifold temp at each port ,,,,,, if any is running hot injector is overfueling that cylinder . so anyhow no problem if you did disassemble to check rockers ,thats fine , but take the injectors for testing . there are other tests that can be done but i don't want to you to try them yet . but easy one is to check exhaust temp with IR temp gun. black smoke , rattle noise from over fuel can damage your engine don't run it too long .

i hope you got it going , we need all this jeeps to run happily , not to many left tough ,

Not yet he hasn't - We talked about options and he was all hot to get his CRD back as soon as possible... But then he went quiet on me and has been calling around looking for anyone else that would be willing to jump in on a half-done mess.

Good luck, I'm here if you need me.

Rankom, can you elaborate on this. What temps would expect to see as a normal range and what would be considered "high". Same with the exhaust temp.

For the exhaust manifold testing, how would this be done? I assume get the turbo heat shield off, what next.

Cheers

Chris

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2006 CRD Jeep Liberty / Cherokee - Weeks Stage 1 & 2, GDE Eco Tune, Carter In-Tank Fuel Pump & Provent 200.

correct, heat shield needs to be removed. reason for my suggestion was to see if injector is overfueling , (BLACK SMOKE ) also rattle noise. to test (ENGINE COLD) start it and let it idle quickly grab IR temp gun and point at each exhaust port ,,if injector is allowing extra fuel to one of cylinders you will see temperature increasing faster then rest of the cylinders, you will run engine only 5min, so i don't have correct temperature value for this , back in old days ,didn't have IR temp gun , so we would put some white grease on top of finger and put in on each exhaust port (manifold) so the one that starts to melt faster is the faulty injector . also i done exhaust manifold removal (capping turbo oil feed line) in order to see where the smoke is coming from. but that is lot of work. i know cylinder cut out test with scan tool is not always accurate . 1st he needs to do this steps by step to diagnose this before disassembly top end . and of course i agree with our experts on continuing with more testing , compression test , rockers and valves etc, note : this happened to my CRD and yes injectors not failing easy , but testing them is important and can not be ignored . at least they are on top of the motor , last thing you want to do to tear the motor a part just to discover after you should test them first.