fastRob wrote:
Mark,
Glad you are back.
I understand priorities, family comes first.
If anyone has a spare thermostat housing, still looking for one to send in to Mark for the exchange.....
Reading about your travails, might you be second guessing getting rid of the ol' CRD?
Naaa, gassers are so much better.....anyone getting rid of their bad CRD, let me know.
Mine is running so sweet right now I keep pinching myself to see if this is real.
R
Well, it basically came down to this...I wanted more ground clearance...ha ha. Also, Italian parts are expensive, Italian motor is somewhat overly complex - why do you need a map AND a maf sensor...lol. Anyway, I had NO problems with my CRD that weren't easily fixed, but long term maintenance could have been expensive if things started going wrong. Theres that couppling on the alternator, occasional sensor issues, the poorly designed puller fuel pump system that is prone to let air in, an egr cooler that can clog, occasional egr issues, expensive dyanmic turbo, difficult to get to simple parts on teh engine, and I never liked a timing belt driven water pump or a timing belt system at all. Also have to pay for emission test in Colorado every 2 years. Most modern full sized american diesels don't have as many possibilites for things to go wrong, but I wanted a SUV. The biggest issue I had with the CRD wasn't the motor, and all in all I did have good experiences with it and would recommend it to others. The main reason I wanted a 99-04 Grand Cherokee is I wanted solid axle so I could lift higher and also Grand has a bit more cargo room. My CRD had a Lift, strut spacers in front and 1/2" poly spacers in back on top of the lift springs. Still not enough clearance.
My ideal SUV would be a 4 door CRD Wrangler Rubicon with a good lift and a 6cyl cummins diesel (which doesn;t exist). Unfortunately in the states I can only get a v6 or smaller engine in the 4 door wranglers. I would want at least a v8 if not the CRD. The other issue w/wranglers is the 4 doors still cost 2x as much as my Grand.
The Grand was a perfect comprimise for now. Solid axle, V8, simple, easy to work on, easy to modify, cheap for parts, reliable, powerful, higher tow capacity (due to longer wheel base), more cargo room, more engine bay room. I paid $12k for a $15k book value vehicle that already had about $5k into it with the lift, tires, bumper, etc. I got lucky...despite the few things that needed fixed I still got a $20K vehicle for only 12k. I made $2k off the CRD (sold for $13k with 99k miles on it) when I sold it and so, amazingly enough, I only owe $10k on the Grand. With a payment that cheap I don't care about the gas mileage as much. I LOVE the V8 instant power and solid reliability. I also love how simple it is to get to things like the water pump, thermostat, etc compared to the CRD. It is also a timing chain motor so the chain sould be good to 200k maybe even 300k miles. Same concept with the dodge charger we have, V8 simple, timing chain, powerful, reliable, safe.
My CRD had a fantastic track record, no issues really, ran fantastic, even better with the GDE hot tune, no torque converter issues, POWERFUL torque band, smoothe, nothing wrong with it whatsoever. The guy who bought it got a superb deal, especially since it had a fresh timing belt, tensioner, idlers, waterpump, thermostat, GDE tune, new intercooler and the emissions were passed right before he bought it so it was good for 2 years. They really are fantastic vehicles, just didn't fit my need anymore.
Here's the CRD right after the lift, sat perfect after the spacers, not too low in front or in back:
Heres a picture of the Grand and my friend Matt kindly posing for perspective of the lift and tire size. The wheels on the CRD are 16's w/ factory sized 29" tires. The wheels on the Grand are 17" w/33" tires for a comparison, its a monster 
Heres a Pic of the Grand in garage. Top of garage door is 6'10" for reference and she barely fits. 
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