I'm just looking for some help with my CRD. It was taking up to 5 seconds to start when the weather was warm, 20C and above. It generally started better after the engine warmed up, 1-2 seconds. Now it is having a lot of difficulty starting at around 8C temps.

It started perfectly fine at 0C and -3C recently but at 8C I cranked it over several times and it almost starts, as in there is combustion, but it doesn't keep going. So, I bled air out of the fuel head which didn't seem to make any difference.

I hooked up a battery booster pack to the main battery and it started up fine.

My current battery was tested at 85% original capacity and it's a 850CCA battery which is 4 yrs old.

Does that make sense that it's just the battery? If so why would it start better when colder? This is all without plugging in the block heater. Hopefully someone who's an expert diagnostician can help me. Thanks.

I've owned this vehicle for 2 months. It has 232,000 original KMs (144,000 miles) on it.

UPDATE: For non metric people = 0C is 32F, 8C is 46.4F, 20C is 68F

Possibly air in the line. Have you bled the filter housing?

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2005 Crd Silver Limited- arps, rockers, 7v etechno's, egr deleted, v6 airbox, metal cac's. Yeti's stage 2 tune. Euro TC, Ram tcm, pml transmission pan, facet lift pump

I mentioned in the original post that I tried that and it didn't make any difference.

Ah sorry. That's what I get for reading while driving. Are there any codes? What glowplugs do you have?

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2005 Crd Silver Limited- arps, rockers, 7v etechno's, egr deleted, v6 airbox, metal cac's. Yeti's stage 2 tune. Euro TC, Ram tcm, pml transmission pan, facet lift pump

No codes. It shouldn't be the glow plugs if it works better when colder. That's why I mentioned it was a strange issue. Seems to be electrical related but the battery turns it over quite well and the voltage stays about 10-11v during cranking but also electrical shouldn't work better colder unless the CRD uses starting electricity differently at 8C and at 0C.

Ugh.
You guys and your metric system.

What year is your CRD and is it a 2.5L or 2.8L?

Usually, if it's hard to start when hot and it's not an air in fuel problem, it's the crankshaft position sensor.

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U.S. Army Retired

ok slow down ,,, this is jeep crd you need to be patient with it , first you need to lots of reading , research , etc , this motor and its behaviour can drive you up to no good ,GP system for US market is no good > so we have people that can help with cold starts , just see webasto install procedure . and yes it starts no problem.

By "you guys" you mean the entire world? .. I can talk metric or standard. The year is in the subject and it's a 2.8L. I'm in Canada if that helps. If you read my original post it starts good when hot and better when cold and not so well around 40-50F.

I wasn't aware I was speeding. I'm very patient, and I have a backup vehicle so it's not the end of the world if I can't get it figured out right away. I've read volumes so far, I am a detail and technically oriented person. I think it's electric related but I wanted some expert opinions if it could be something else. I'll do a search for this Webasto thing you mention.

Thanks. That helps a lot.

So it starts good when hot and cold?
But somewhere in between hot and cold it doesn't?

I think it's a fuel system problem.
Either air in fuel or you need a new fuel filter.
But check all your electrical connectors. Maybe you have a intermittent loose connection somewhere.

BTW, I live in Florida where 20C is a bit chilly

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U.S. Army Retired

There haven't been enough cold days yet around freezing for me to test the starting more, but at least twice it started great at freezing when it wouldn't at 8C but did fine at 20C+

Yes, 20C is not hot, but I'd consider it warm not chilly. It gets up to 40C or 104F sometimes in the summer here.

I'm quite good at diagnostics and that's why I've mostly narrowed it down to electrical since after trying for a few minutes with multiple tries to start at 8C I connected a booster battery pack and it started immediately. I had done this before when it was over 20C and instead of taking 5 seconds to start it would start in 1-2 when first started. There are no issues once it's started it runs fine, no issues with fuel supply, acceleration etc. Intermittent issues aren't easily duplicated and I so far have duplicated the booster battery pack making the starting easier. I had a similar starting issue with my 2002 ZR2 gas truck and it turned out to be the fuel pump was delivering 50psi instead of 55psi and that was enough to make the starting difficult even though a booster battery pack made it start easier.

Sounds like it might just be a bad battery then.
Wouldn't hurt to get it tested.

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U.S. Army Retired

If you switched from Celsius to Fahrenheit, it should start easier.

I'm a big fan of the Racor 245 fuel head with an inline Kennedy lift pump to eliminate air in system.

I had glow plugs go bad on me without a check engine light being illuminated. If your glow plugs are 3-4 years old, they may be weak.

I never got a battery to last longer than 3 years. Battery would be fine until it started getting cooler and starts became harder. This is despite driving mostly highway for at least an hour each way to/from work.

I mentioned in the original post that I had it tested and it was 80% of 850CCA, actually it was closer to 85% it was 728CCA does anyone know if that's good enough? And again, why would it start when freezing if it was the battery unless the CRD has some different starting method electrically at different temps.

So I just have to move to California or Florida.

My fuel head is the replacement one and as I mentioned the air doesn't seem to make much difference with the problem.

Doesn't it have to be cold for the glow plugs to come on like below freezing and as I mentioned it started right away at freezing but not at 8 degrees above freezing.

I've had batteries usually lasting 5 yrs in gas vehicles, this is my first diesel but as I mentioned the battery was tested at 85% and it started better when it was colder than warmer.

Do you know what glow plug system exists in your vehicle? Such as 5V vs 7V, and if 7V which system?

Some have mentioned the "upgraded" Bosch steel 5v system is uniquely odd since they have Lower operating temps, higher current requirements, and less effective heated surface area than either of the 7V systems. Also the ecu programming may have variable 1-0-1-0 cycle duration depending on ambient temperature, which could explain why it starts better at or below freezing.

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'06 Lbrty Sprt CRD 150K

Sasquatch
DSS Turbo
CAT-elimntr
Weeks Stg1&2 EGRfix
PV-200
BLING
vent gauges

IDParts
head
cams
rockers
Timing set
ARP studs
eTn1 GX2123 5v GPs

YETI Custom Tune
Flowmaster 8325508
Carter P76611M
GM 12611872
Hayden 2986
GM 15976889
PATC Custom Billet
2010 Ram Hemi Trans
Sonnax 44957
Transgo kit
Cooper 51770

I don't know what the vehicle has, I would assume the factory ones. I would also assume factory ECU programmings since the previous owner wasn't a technical guy. I've bought a USB to OBD2 adapter and I'll be looking at the programming soon with it.

It doesn't appear that the glow plugs come on at all if it's above freezing. Even below freezing I've only seen the light for them stay on for a second at most. It hasn't been more than a few degrees below freezing so far so I don't know how it will perform when it's even colder.

If it starts easier with the booster then it would seem that the problem is battery. Right?

Actually, none of your symptoms make any sense. So who knows.

The glow plugs turn on every time you turn the key on to start the engine. How long they stay on depends on how cold it is. But if its warm enough you can unplug the glow plugs and the engine will still start.

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U.S. Army Retired

It would make more sense that it was the battery if it had more trouble starting the colder it got and the battery booster was always necessary to start it. I've only seen the glow plug indicator come on for a split second when it was warm and 1 second at the most when freezing.

A new battery might help but I want to eliminate other causes before spending the money. With my gas truck and it's starting issue a new battery helped a bit but the main cause was 10% low PSI on the fuel pump.

When starting the crd you need enough battery to power the glow plugs, starter, and ECU.
There is no electric fuel pump (unless you added one).

Maybe the problem is with the starter?

Again, none of this makes sense.

Edit:
I see that your battery is 4 years old.
Without knowing the type and brand, I'd say its time for a new one.

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U.S. Army Retired