Since our CRDs are now longer made a recent experience with another car of mine prompts me to ask this question.

Are car manufacturers required to supply replacement part for any period of time?

I have a seven year old car with a bad shaft bearing internal to the engine. The design was changed shortly after mine was made and the older part is no longer available, requiring me to replace the entire engine. Not under warranty.

Don't want to go down this road with the Jeep.

Thanks,
Steve

Depends on the manufacturer, benz keeps all sorts of old parts around for 50 year old cars, you need only wait form them to be shipped from germany, but they still have them.


Nissan generally only keeps parts for a little over 10 years from the date of sale, so for us nissan 300zx people the last sales were in 1996, so we are now starting to see a decline in the parts availible, as well as increased pricing.

However the 300zx was sold in japan untill 2000, so all the parts that are shared between the japanese 300zx and the Us 300zx are still availible at the same price untill 2011 or so, then the price and availiblity increases.


Luckily for us the CRD is sold in many other parts so many common parts will still be availible, even if we have to order them from overseas. Depending on the production numbers of the grand cherokee CRD someone way wish to specialize in selling CRD support parts and service, at which point they may be able to get parts NLA in the US from overseas market.


The best hope for our parts availibity is a strong loyal customer base buying parts for them, and a strong customer base buying new CRD grands here in the US.

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http://www.Colorado4Wheel.com
"Its not about what you can DO with your Jeep, its about where you can GO with your Jeep."
Knowledgeable - But Caustic

they are still made .. just not for the US market.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_VM_Motori_engines#R_428_DOHC

I believe ( not 100% that seven years is the required replacement time period)

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2005 CRD Limited
added Mopar plates, snow, mud
Detours backbone (w/lp8500)
Skink super sliders

The VM Motorie engine is not used in the GC CRD, it uses the MB V6 or was going to before the sale of Chrysler, they may switch to the VM V6 engine if they continue with the diesel option.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

Or, dare I say it, the Cummins under Development.

K

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'06 Midnight Blue CRD Sport
Born 5-06
Mopar Skids and Tow Hooks
Deer Killer Mod

That sounds more like a possibility, Chrysler Corp has had a long relationship with Cummins.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

I know the GC is the bluetec, but having someone who will specialize in the diesel GC will also be helpful for our vehicles in building a knowledge base.

Dont tell me having another diesel Jeep in the US in any way hurts our support, we can only benefit from it, and the more diesel GC are sold the better off we are.

That was my point

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http://www.Colorado4Wheel.com
"Its not about what you can DO with your Jeep, its about where you can GO with your Jeep."
Knowledgeable - But Caustic

There won't be another JEEP diesel in any numbers now that DC is split up. Mercedes will probably pull support with the Bluetec and supply themselves with those engines. The Grand Cherokee Diesel will probably be more "rare" than the Jeep Liberty CRD.

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Founder of L.O.S.T.
2006 CRD Sport
Mods: GDE Hot Tune w/ 364#@2000rpm/Air Box /3" Str8 Exhaust/ASFIR Alum Skids/245-75R-16 Cooper STT PRO/OME LIFT w/Clevis & 4 Spring Isos/AirTabs/Rigid 10" S2 LED/4xGuard Ctr Matrix Bumper
Drag Strip:Reac=.1078_60ft=2.224_1/8=10.39@64.8mph_1/4+16.46@80.8mph

Since Detroit Diesel is involved with them I bet we can get parts there if your in no hurry. We replaced a VM Motori diesel in a tractor when I worked for Pacific Detroit Diesel. Was told they had no problem getting parts, but that was a few years ago.

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No one knows as much as all of us.

Anybody tracking on recent rumours of VW supplying TDI motors to Chrysler Group?

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2K9 Space Grey 335d Sport
2K1 Galaxy Blue Jetta TDI 5-sp

They will have to. If they don't make jeep diesels they will lose several markets. Like Europe. Saw my second CRD today here in Italy (I'm here on work). I don't even think the Italians even know about gasoline. It seems every car here is diesel.

I don't think it's a matter of not wanting to. It's a matter of cost and the new Chrysler group having the R&D money to meet the most stringent and dysfunctional diesel NOx regulations in the world, should Daimler not license BlueTec to Chrysler.

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2005 LTD CRD RB1 NAV/Htd Leather seats/Amsoil EA filters
SunCoast Mega Trans & Billet TC/PML pan/Aux cooler
Fuel cooler/Lift Pump/10um Pri/Racor R490 2um Sec Fuel Filters
IronMan Lift/Shocks/Provent/Moog ball joints/ V6 Airbox/Fan/Hayden
Cobalt Boost/EGT/Oil/Trans/Volt gauges/Aeroturbine 2525
Yeti Hot Tune/Odessey 65/Samco's/Michelin Defenders

That's not a rumor. The TDI VW engine goes into the Caliber, Compass and Patriot for overseas markets ONLY. DCX cannot sell the VW engine in the USA due to the agreement with VW on the supply of engines (and also emissions requirements). For the '08MY, DCX will have as an option a DPF engine (Diesel Particulate Filter) along with the regular 2.0L PD engine, but that will be very low volume and also strictly export. It's a shame, as a diesel Patriot with the 6-speed manual and AWD would be a sweet ride.

On that same note, DCX builds a LOT of diesel Calibers, Compasses and Patriots for export. Very popular overseas.

There *IS* a rumor (at least before the sale) of a MB diesel engine that will replace the VW engine sometime around the '09 or '10MY. Now that DCX and MB have largely split up, I'm not sure what they are going to do.

Lastly, DCX and VW have been having a pretty nasty little issue of the TDI engines coming apart. Last picture I saw showed several of the rods through the block.....

I was in Ireland for 3 months on a work assignment and I'd say 60-70% of the cars there were diesel.

They didn't even see a gasser KJ [called Cherokee there]. It used a 2.5 VM engine I think the service mgr of a jeep dealer told me.

Most, if not all of the SUV's there were diesel.

The VM engine has been used in many applications. I'd be surprised if parts dry up anytime soon... However, you may not be able to run down to "Pep Boys" and get everything you need.

Dad

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2006 4X4 CRD Limited Dark Khaki Build Date 03/06 - Her daily driver

Yes I'm old enough to know better

Don't believe getting parts for this engine will be the problem. It's what you will pay to get the parts in the US that will eventually be the issue. This little detail totally blows the economic advantage of this product. Have seen this on some fine quality commercial buses out of Europe. Great vehicles until they break....then you pay 3-4 times the cost to repair them, more so if you have to quick-freight the stuff from Europe.

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2005 Liberty Sport CRD, Lt Khaki, sunroof

Thankful to now be an EX-CRD owner.

I believe that US Federal Law requires that manufacturers of motor vehicles provide parts for 10 years from model year of manufacture.

If you have a source for this it'd be great. I wonder if I'd have any leverage in the following case:

My 2000 Boxster has a bad intermediate shaft bearing after 22k miles. A few months after my engine was made they changed the design of the shaft from gear driven to chain driven off of the crank. In order to replace the bad part I'd have to replace the crank as well, along with its bearings, etc. No gear driven shafts are available. It was cheaper to get a replacement engine. No warranty coverage.

Steve

That's where you got screwed, they upgraded the part and design. That relieves them of the need to keep the earlier parts on hand. If you went with new engine w/o the ugraded part/design, you will still be screwed if you have a failure in the future.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

I think the operative word here is screwed.

Steve

I tried yesterday to get a Wix fuel filter for my CRD at a local Oreilly's Auto Parts. Their system showed the part as available, but that none of their stores actually stocked it. I guess if we can't even get something as simple as a fuel filter without going to the dealership, we are completely at their mercy when it comes to replacement parts in the future. I just hope that my local dealership, which is only 2 miles away from home, isn't one of the ones that gets 'consolidated' in the future. That would leave me driving a lot further to the next nearest Jeep franchise for stupid things like filters. Makes that CAT conversion filter look even better.