CRD 15 mpg

canonoch1 · **Joined:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 2:59 am **Posts:** 77

Got a 2006 CRD wife 3rd owner bought a month ago under 70K. Wife is getting 15mph in town. does the factory reprogramming affect mpg that much?. I'm gonna check the map sensor tomorrow.Any other idea?

ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 4:56 am

A GDE eco tune would help. Not knowing where you're from, I dont know if you are running a winter blend of fuel. I am currently averaging 25 mpg on winter blend, mostly highway average 70mph, and on 245/70R16 Firestone Winterforce. Also, what is her drivingg style? Does she rush up to stop lights and then brakes hard or does she let off early knowing the light is red ahead?

By the way, welcome to the forum.

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Hoosier CRD · **Posted:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 5:18 am

First off, welcome to the forum and the CRD Owners of the World!

On to your concern. There are really a LOT of factors that go into fuel mileage, good nd bad.

I can only assume that you have "run the traps" so to speak in that you have verified that your tire pressure is up to 33 PSI (cold), you have clean air, oil and fuel filters and that the front end alignment/ front tire wear is even, etc.

As Choo Choo stated, the MAP Sensor, is a great place to start. As well, read the NOOB guide from Sir Sam. HIGHLY recommend a Green Diesel Engineering (GDE) Full-Torque Eco-Tune. Make sure that the Check Engine Light functions and check for any stored codes that may indicate a sensor failure. Finally, make sure that you don't have a brake caliper dragging. If all else is good, 15MPG in town does seem a bit low, even with the stock ECM programming. Hope this helps.

racertracer · **Posted:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 7:47 am

canonoch1 wrote:

Any other idea?

Unplug the MAF sensor and run with the engine light on the dash, you should gain about 2-4 MPG.

flman · **Posted:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 8:45 am

With 15MPG, I do not think modding would be a good start. Should really try and get it up to stock mileage 1st, then do the modding after you found the root of the problem?

Unplugging the MAF is the only good idea to prevent EGR failure.

I am thinking if it runs OK, you have sticking brakes or some kind of other problems with resistance? With the CRD these types of things are not easily detected.

Of course, none of us know how it runs? :ALONE:

If you put it in neutral and push it, does it roll OK? Jack up each wheel and see if there is resistance?

naturist · **Posted:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 9:56 am

There are a number of things that affect mileage greatly. In no particular order, these include: cold weather, short drives, winter diesel, time spent idling at lights, driving style (hard on both go-pedal and brakes), tire pressure, failed thermostat, failed temp sensors, clogged filters, bad drive shaft speed sensor causing odo to not record miles traveled, sticking brakes, and there are others.

15 mpg even in town is low, I'd expect at least 20 even with several of the above being bad. Since this is a new-to-you ride, it may take a while to sort it out. But something isn't right.

I'd start by checking tire pressures. 33-36 psi cold would be a good start. The engine temp gauge should read just a hair left of center when warmed up, and if that isn't so, your thermostat has failed and needs replacing. It seems to take a quart of fuel to start and warm up the engine, and if the engine doesn't warm up because of the thermostat, it'll kill mileage. These engines also work best for longer trips. If she's driving 3 miles and shutting down for a couple hours, the engine never will get good mileage because it'll never be out of the warm-up mode.

Dragging brakes will also cause this problem. Easy test: drive it a couple miles and coast to a stop. If any wheel is warm to the touch, you might have dragging brakes.

Keep us informed what you find. There are lots of folks here who can help you find the problem.

fish1 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 10:17 am

Im only getting around 15-16 mpg i have GDE eco tune. Winter fuel and short trips. In the summer i only get 18-21 city/hwy mostly city driving! Not real happy with my mpg it was about the same before GDE tune this is my first winter with it.

flman · **Posted:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 11:08 am

One foot on the brake and one on the gas, I cant drive 55!!!!!!!!

I have 54K on my 06 LTD and still have original factory pads and rotors, a good start would be how many miles do you get out of brakes on previous vehicles?

canonoch1 · **Joined:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 2:59 am **Posts:** 77

I live in SW Oregon. Wife doesn't slam the brakes last minute nor does she ride them from half a block away. I'd consider it normal braking.We put it in neutral and it pushes easy in fact easier than the 94 LeSabre she used to have. I pulled and cleaned the MAP sensor today it looked pretty clogged up though not as bad as what has been posted in the tech forum. Air cleaner looks good though i think I'll replace with a K&N here soon. And i'm thinking on replacing the muffler with a better one to relieve the Back pressure from there.

naturist · **Posted:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 3:52 pm

Personally, I wouldn't use a K&N on a CRD. There is nothing to be gained (unless, of course, your air filter is clogged up already), and plenty to lose, as the K&N is known to not remove as much dust as the stock paper filter. Just replace the stock filter frequently.

And it may well be that your brakes aren't dragging, nor does your wife ride the brakes or apply them excessively when coming to a stop. Winter diesel, cold weather and short trips can do a real number on your mileage.

I currently have an issue myself with the abs and dash brake warning lights coming on when I hit the right bump. When that happens, the odo stops recording miles driven, although the speedo continues to function normally. Since this happens fairly frequently (and yes, I intend to repair it as soon as possible), I wasn't too surprised to get only 19 mpg from the last tank. I discovered the lack of odo bit on the tank before, when I burned 15 gallons and the odo showed only 110 miles, although I knew for certain I'd done at least 250 just on the last leg of the journey.

Before the sensor on the differential got intermittent on me, I routinely got in the mid 20's around town, and had gotten just over 30 before GDE ecotune, and 34.75 since then.

I am sorry to hear of folks not getting such good mileage on their CRD. These should be capable of much more than 15 or 16 around town -- heck, I've gotten that much towing a full-height, 5,000 lb travel trailer, which has all the aerodynamic advantages of a brick wall. Getting low mileage says there is something not right somewhere.

As for the brakes, my rears wear out faster than the fronts. I get about 45,000 miles out of the rears and about 80,000 out of the fronts. If you are at 54,000 on the original rears, they aren't the problem, either, unless they've just started sticking.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 5:09 pm

canonoch1 things to consider for what they are or are not worth:
1. winter fuel - some report better mpg with a winter fuel additive
2. air filter (I agree stay with a good paper with lots of pleats like WIX or NAPA) and MAP sensor cleaning that you already know about..
3. air in fuel - bleed fuel head per Sir Sam's NOOB guide video and replace 1s gen filter head with 2n gen if you have a 1s gen
4. brakes - fronts can hang due to swollen boot on sliders or bad brake hose from hard line to caliper. Rear parking brake (drum inside disc) is known to fall apart from rust and drag.
5. tire pressure, tire rolling resistance, tire weight
6. is your mpg based on EVIC or hand calculated. If the former it's wrong and if the latter it's wrong unless odometer error is GPS corrected. How wrong? could be 5% or worse or maybe not
7. drive distance, speed, terrain, lead foot syndrome, etc.
8. bad tstat costs 10% mpg - if your temp gauge does not get to a hair left of vertical your tstat is failing or failed open and your engine is running cold
9. muffler replacement won't hurt but won't do much good at least it did not on stoutdog's 06

Pre-GDE tune a 9 mile one way commute on basically flat roads lots of traffic lights no speed higher than 45mph average more like 20mph I usually got an honest 18mpg or so (hwy ca. 27mpg) post GDE EcoTune same situations 23 and 32 mpg respectively. Bad tstat cut a demonstrated 10% in town. Now that I'm retired and drives in town tend to be shorter and much less frequent and running the turbo tune I'm getting like 20mpg in town but that jumps right back up to 23 mpg if I do more normal in town driving.

Drewd · **Joined:** Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:24 pm **Posts:** 902

(1) How are you measuring fuel economy? You can't just fill it until the fuel pump stops as diesel fuel foams considerably and you'll get inconsistent fuel economy readings.

To get an accurate measurement, fill tank up until you see fuel at the filler cap. This technique is called "venting" by TDI folks and requires a little patience/time to get the last 2 gallons into the tank. When fuel pump stops, wait a minute for foam to settle down and then slowly add more fuel until it is seen at the filler neck. Drive and repeat fill up with this method and you'll discover your fuel economy is much better.

Fuel foaming varies among stations and mainly related to pump pressure and flow rate.

(2) What type of city driving? Short 3-5 mile trips are hell on a diesel and fuel economy will suffer because the viscous heater will be drawing a load on the engine the entire time and engine will NEVER get up to temp where it achieves best fuel economy. Diesels are by nature designed for highway driving and not short city trips. I'd unplug the viscous heater and give that a try to see how things improve but you wife may not like being cold longer.

Good luck.

Drew

PS Check/change oil to a good 5w40. If vehicle hasn't had oil change, its possible previous owner may be running 15w40 which could hurt fuel economy in winter driving but is ok at 5k OCIs in summer as long as you do turbo cooldown each and every time.

canonoch1 · **Joined:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 2:59 am **Posts:** 77

Well we're just doing the standard fill up @ the pump and record mileage. we filled up this afternoon the went on a 100 drive on freeway and mountains even picking some scrap firewood. had to use 4 wheel drive a little bit and filled up again and got about 21mpg. The fuel type is 2D diesel. We'll go the week no on to and from work driving and we'll see what it gets. I need to figure out what type.of fuel head we have.
On the engine cover was marked 40W SYN. oil sticker indicates last oil change was done @ a mopar dealership.

Tire pressure was right on. I think the previous owners did not know about the little things that need to be done. We're loving the little jeep. We named it sage. BTW what size tires can I put on it without a lift kit? Although someday I what to put an small lift on it like an OME 1 3/4 - 1 1/2. But first want to get the MPG up and get a trailer done for our camp gear. We belong to a middle ages recreation group and pack a portable yurt

flman · **Posted:** Mon Mar 11, 2013 8:13 am

canonoch1 wrote:

Well we're just doing the standard fill up @ the pump and record mileage. we filled up this afternoon the went on a 100 drive on freeway and mountains even picking some scrap firewood. had to use 4 wheel drive a little bit and filled up again and got about 21mpg. The fuel type is 2D diesel. We'll go the week no on to and from work driving and we'll see what it gets. I need to figure out what type.of fuel head we have.
On the engine cover was marked 40W SYN. oil sticker indicates last oil change was done @ a mopar dealership.

Tire pressure was right on. I think the previous owners did not know about the little things that need to be done. We're loving the little jeep. We named it sage. BTW what size tires can I put on it without a lift kit? Although someday I what to put an small lift on it like an OME 1 3/4 - 1 1/2. But first want to get the MPG up and get a trailer done for our camp gear. We belong to a middle ages recreation group and pack a portable yurt

21MPG is not bad for mountains if every thing is stock?

dirtmover · **Posted:** Mon Mar 11, 2013 8:24 am

racertracer wrote:

Unplug the MAF sensor and run with the engine light on the dash, you should gain about 2-4 MPG.

This is rubbish. On an otherwise properly functioning vehicle you will not get any discernible mpg gain by unplugging the MAF sensor.

canonoch1 wrote:

We filled up this afternoon the went on a 100 drive on freeway and mountains even picking some scrap firewood. had to use 4 wheel drive a little bit and filled up again and got about 21mpg.

Based on this I suspect your city driving is the killer. Too many stops and starts and not enough time to reach optimal operating temperature. 21 highway mpg is not too far out of the ballpark for this time of year but I'd still look for a couple of mpg missing somewhere, brakes, thermostat etc. as others have suggested.

As Drewd points out you'll get unreliable results simply filling up until the pump stops. There's simply too much variability in the level of fill that you get. If you're more concerned about the trend than spot measurements then averaging over 3 or 4 fill ups is a good compromise.

kjjet · **Posted:** Mon Mar 11, 2013 8:54 am

15 MPG in around town is not that bad. These CRD's don't do well starting and stoping. I do alot of that with mine. I would make sure you have a clean Air filter, Fuel filter, run some diesel fuel additive, Clean engine oil, correct tire pressures, and make sure the emergency brake is not stuck on. (this is common)

If you can get it closer to 20 your good.

ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:33 am

canonoch1 wrote:

Well we're just doing the standard fill up @ the pump and record mileage. we filled up this afternoon the went on a 100 drive on freeway and mountains even picking some scrap firewood. had to use 4 wheel drive a little bit and filled up again and got about 21mpg. The fuel type is 2D diesel. We'll go the week no on to and from work driving and we'll see what it gets. I need to figure out what type.of fuel head we have.
On the engine cover was marked 40W SYN. oil sticker indicates last oil change was done @ a mopar dealership.

Tire pressure was right on. I think the previous owners did not know about the little things that need to be done. We're loving the little jeep. We named it sage. BTW what size tires can I put on it without a lift kit? Although someday I what to put an small lift on it like an OME 1 3/4 - 1 1/2. But first want to get the MPG up and get a trailer done for our camp gear. We belong to a middle ages recreation group and pack a portable yurt

That isn't all that bad. I am getting about 25 mostly highway with the GDE tune.

I believe you can go 235/75 or 245/70 without a lift. I am running 245/70. Some guys are running 215/80 as they are the tallest you can run.

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canonoch1 · **Joined:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 2:59 am **Posts:** 77

flman wrote:

21MPG is not bad for mountains if every thing is stock?

Everything is stock on this rig for now

checking on the fuel head now. The GDE Eco-Tune looking real favorable lots of benefits such as disabling the EGR and less use of the viscous heater. Need to get an extra set of wheels to swap street for trail tread with.

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm sure with the help around here I'll make this a great get to work and hit the woods machine over time.

I'll post a pic of it soon in the pics area got a short vid of its first shallow stream crossing as well on street tread none the less

canonoch1 · **Joined:** Sun Mar 10, 2013 2:59 am **Posts:** 77

update for this.

Started having it filled slow and topped off - did not matter much

So I did some work - all by myself :SOMBRERO:

I changed the air filter and installed a V6 air box

I changed the MAP/Boost sensor - i read an article the noted if the boost sensor gets weak it can read 1-2 psi lower therefor killing your fuel economy - see my posting on Replacing CRD MAP/Boost sensor ~CHEAP~ for replacing yours cheap

and I replaced the U-Joints - as there is/was a person that found out it was his U-Joints that was killing his Fuel Mileage

so less than 100.00 later 15 mpg went to 18+ mpg

i still got to replace the t-stat yet and save for the eco-tune

Drewd · **Joined:** Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:24 pm **Posts:** 902

Surprised no one yet stated the obvious: in-town driving = early diesel death..get that thing on the highway!

Some folks have had issues with brakes dragging. You may want to check that out sometime.

CRD 15 mpg

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