flman wrote:
Tell us your story.
My KJ CRD story is a little long and it involves my first searching for true love with any used 2005-2007 Jeep KJ CRD that had not been ridden hard and put away wet!!!
It's also important to note that I named her "Giddyup" on our very first date (oops, I mean test drive) when I turned the key and heard her cute snort on starting up. I decided to marry her then and there ... a somewhat rash decision but one which I have not yet come to regret.
While I only recently joined LJ, and already posted part of my story in Member Introduction, I will chime in here as well, since both in deed and in fact, I am a diehard diesel driver with plans to maintain and ride Giddyup either until she dies hard, hopefully NOT any time soon, or until I run out of money, which, given the care and feeding she is now undergoing , is much more likely
As I live and work in a more rural and rarefied part of N.California, with poorly maintained roads (or maybe I should call them what they are...a narrow path between otherwise continuous potholes
) as well as plenty of large trees to fall across and block them, Giddyup is basically my UAV (Urban Assault Vehicle) for running town errands (ie getting groceries and seeing doctors), as opposed to using the 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 CTD (her name is "Maya") that is mostly set up for towing a flatbed trailer in order to pick up logs and deliver finished lumber. It's not so much that I mind rowing the diesel truck to town, but riding Giddyup instead is much easier on my left leg, obviously more convenient to park, almost just as fun to drive, definitely yields twice the mpg, and still has room for necessary utility items, like a chainsaw and other traveling tools, in the Winter. I also use her almost exclusively to drive the much longer distances I need to...for example when I go to visit my mother, who lives 650 miles away and who will be a 102 yo this year!!!
So I bought my my well loved and occasionally hated, but also lightly used and gently cared for, 2005 Jeep Liberty Limited KJ CRD back in 2015 from a Mopar diesel mechanic in So Cal. He had purchased her from a startled customer when she was brought into the dealership where he worked with a "no start" condition at 135k miles. When said customer received the $4k repair estimate for the broken timing belt and all associated parts, they balked and simply abandoned her as trade in towards another vehicle from the same dealership and then meandered on their merry way. Meanwhile, Mr Mechanic bought the CRD for salvage from his boss, fixed her up with all new Mopar engine parts as needed, added a CB radio mount, and ended up with another Jeep in his growing car collection. Fortunately for me, within a year he needed to thin his growing herd and thats when I bought her for $7500 in decent cosmetic and excellent running shape with 142k on her
I have done mostly only maintenance repairs since, including lube and filter services but also brake replacement and obviously suspension work, but now having ridden her for close to another 100k, it's time for the half monte TB install, including half a water pump and other crucial engine parts. Unfortunately, and upon removing the IC/hoses, I found substantial oil in them and when inspecting the turbo, I found excessive axial shaft play ...necessitating a Sasquatch turbo install as well more money spent on more Silicone hoses.
Oh yeah, 2 of the OEM 7v ceramic glow plugs had thrown a DTC and I found 2 broken tips upon replacing the set with Bosch 5v plugs.
As they say in the UK, "In for a penny, in for a pound", so after more searching here to gain knowledge of useful techniques for fixing some of my problems, I also decided to do the modded thermostat upgrade and then also a 3.7 V6 11 blade fan install to keep the radiator running cooler while the engine gets to run a little hotter
Anyhows, that's about where I'm at right now... with about 75% of the work complete and the remainder ONLY on the "FINALLY put it all back together side!!!" instead of mostly on the "Dammit gotta tear it down MORE" side.
In fact, I got her test started just yesterday...AFTER some of the various and most important parts were properly bolted back to the block, but BEFORE putting the front timing cover, as well as the rest of many other various important parts, back on. And despite pre-lubing the new turbo, I still needed to check actual oil flow through the turbo supply line, as well as check and adjust final tension on the new timing belt.
Since, for reasons still unknown, cranking the starter with the crankshaft sensor unplugged for many multiple 10 second intervals did NOT show me any oil flow at the loose banjo bolt on top of the turbo, I decided to actually fire her up while keeping the turbo shaft from spinning. In a rare display of common sense, I used needle nose vise-grips on the shaft nut zip tied to viscous heater instead of using my fingers to keep the turbo from spinning up even at idle
.
And so with the crankshaft sensor plugged back in, and the oil supply banjo bolt still loosened on the turbo, I had my excellent helper and daughter turn the key and ... within moments of start up, I witnessed a veritable gusher of oil flowing to the turbo, which resulted in a sharp yell of excitement from me, so excellent daughter immediately shut her down, after which I properly tightened the banjo bolt on the the turbo oil supply line, reset the timing belt tensioner to mark ... and called it a day!!!
Heres the pics to prove it ... just taken this morning, but PLEASE dont notice or complain about the dirty AC condensor...I will scrub it down and straighten out the bent fins once I get the timing belt cover back on.
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This discussion has been going on for several years now. 
