If ever there was a liar, EVIC MPG is his name !!
The higher the mileage reading on the EVIC, the bigger the lie !!
Do some hand calc'c with the trip meter & gallons used, you'll see. (but promise not to get too depressed)

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Dennis
Considering sound advice, invent your own solutions
CRD

I did my first hwy. run of winter in mine last week.
Before this road trip, I was averaging about 23-24 mpgs on a tank. This would be about 15-20 cold starts, 15-20 warmups lasting 5-6 minutes each, (hell, that's 2 hours right there!) as many cold stiff transmissions, axles, tires... plus throw in the winterized fuel to boot.

Last week was a one day 600 mile shot. 26.75 mpg's, hand calculated. I'm also battling a snug right front brake.. not enough to color it blue, but it's hot and leaving dust on the rim. I think it would give me a little more when I get around to fixing it.

never owning an 'economy vehicle'... it was pretty cool to roll a tic over 500 miles on the trip odo and take just 18.9 gallons to fill, Even better now that diesel is $2.60 gallon.

I didn't have 2 stroke in the tank this trip.. I've seen maybe .5 or a little more gain with it in, especially when running winter fuel. If my tractors are any indication of fuel use, I fully expect at least a 10% improvement in economy when summer gets here! *dang near 3 additional mpgs*
You are in Cali, and should be doing at least as good as me here in the icebox of the Midwest!
I didn't post this to brag, but just to give you what I consider these libs are good for.
Make sure you are getting it shifted into OD, and it's locked up, And check your parasitic drag too, along with other's recommendations.
do not rely on the overhead for your true consumption! hand calc, hand calc, hand calc!!!
edit (additional tips)
ya know, I've found in my country style combat driving, when I roll into the throttle, I try to limit how deep I go. I'll roll into it so the engine revs to about 2500, then I back off the throttle so the rpms really don't climb any higher.. the trans just shifts and next thing you know, you are running 60 mph. Let the trans shift!!! the 'Love that torque' on this thread is there for a reason! holding down on the go pedal only makes the engine rev higher, in a lower gear... burning up fuel.

_________________
2006 KJ CRD, bought 9/11/14, 70,500 miles. Circulating Rotella T6 5w-40
11-3-14 oem stat installed
11-5-14 gen II FH installed.
Sasquatch elbow kit, samcos, GDE eco FT. 11-26-14
80,500 miles, engine is disassembled, awaiting parts 3/18
Budget?? Sure! 'Everything I have'.
New "Pet" name for My Jeep; 'Soul Sucker'

I did the math, the day after my trip: Topped the fuel tank off, and it came out 34.71 mpg. Overall trip average. Back checked the miles on Google Maps just to be sure the trip meter was accurate since I am running 245 tires...
I'm still happy with the results...

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Supporting Vendor and Moderator of LOST
05 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited
Ironman Springs/Bilstein/Shocks
Yeti StgIV Hot Tune
Week's BatteryTray
No FCV/EGR
Samcos/ProVent
SunCoast/Transgo
Carter Intank-pmp
2mic.Sec.Fuel Filter
Flowmaster/NO CAT
V6Airbox/noVH
GM11 Bld.fan/HDClutch
IronrockArms/wwdieselMount
98 Dodge Cummins 24 Valve

Mine is a plain Jane crd so all calculations are by hand not by the on board computer. I am sure it will do better once she gets the tune and a few other things. It is sad that these modern diesels get as horrible fuel milage as they do. My dad owned a 1981 vw rabbit diesel. It was a 1.6 liter NA diesel. Had no power but would get 60 mpgs all the time.

Mine is reporting around 22mpg right now due to the cold and the winter fuel. During the summer I was fairly easily getting 28-29mpg avg.

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2006 CRD - GTB2056 turbo by Dieselguy86, Eco Trans Tune, Lift Pump, Week's, HDS Tstat, Racor Filter, ARP's, OME 790's+Top Plate, JBA 2.5", JBA UCA, Moab's+265/75R16, ARB Bull Bar, 4.10's, TrueTracs

If you were to ever get your jeep into a range similar to a Rabbit (or even a Jetta), you wouldn't be at all happy with it's performance. After all, isn't there a reason you're driving a 4x4 Jeep SUV over a VW? The curb weight of your Liberty is 1000 lbs more than a Golf. (current equivalent of a Rabbit) Also, Jeep has made the decision to not use locking hubs, so even when you are in 2wd you are still turning the axles, diff, prop shaft and transfer case.

I suppose you could strip weight from your Liberty to improve mileage. Remove the back seats, the axle shafts, front diff, front prop shaft. Hunt down a fiberglass or carbon fiber hood. Change to the narrowest and hardest tires you can find. Remove the spare and it's mount....

I have a 90 mile (round trip) commute. All of which is Interstate except for about 10 miles. I run 75mph to keep up with traffic. In a year and a half my averages with a stock CRD have been 21-22 on winter fuel and 23-24 on summer fuel. It improves a little with 20% Bio, but it's out of my way to get it and I won't run Bio in the winter. Bio also makes all of my diesels run quieter.

Some things that I did right after I bought the Liberty (with 145k miles) was replace the alternator decoupler, installed new u-joints, and new CVs on the front propshaft. All needed repair and all three made incremental improvements. Good maintenance makes a difference, even little things like air filter, tire pressure and a good coat of wax.

Another way to save money is to simply slow down. I take regular road trips and when I get off the Interstate and drive state roads my fuel economy jumps to 27-28, just by keeping my speed around 60.

I now have 25,000 miles of experience with my Jeep. It gets better fuel economy than my S10 (similar weight and capability). My gas 4.3l only gets 16-17, and drops to 12 with my little trailer. The jeep tows better and only loses a couple MPG with the loaded trailer.

BTW, I traded a Jetta that got in the mid 30s for my Liberty. I called my Jetta the 'clown car' because it was so small. The Jeep is much more enjoyable to drive on a daily basis.

Well as I stated the rabbit didn't have very much in the way of performance either. I still think it is sad that today's car makers won't make a more economical car when they know it is possible. So the rabbit was a bad example how but the second truck I owned. It was a 1991 Chevy k2500 4x4 diesel. It had the 6.2L NA diesel and a 4l80e transmission. It consistently got 21 mpg driving and about 19-20 towing. It had fair power for what it was and weight substantially more than the liberty. Yet still got ruffle the same mpg. No I never expect to see 60, 50 or even 40 mpg out of this little thing. But I still think it should do much better than a old idi pickup truck. That was a 379 cubic inch v8. And it did almost as well as the liberty and if you look at hp and ft. Lbs. They were almost identical. Hopefully the car manufacturers will pull their heads out of their back sides and start making a better product.

You should be happier with Chrysler then... With the 2015 models the Ram 1500 is up to 29 mpg and the Grand Cherokee is up to 30 mpg. Both use the VM 3.0 ECOdiesel with an 8 speed transmission. Unfortunately they only want to offer it on the upper trim packages, making them both $50k vehicles. On the 1500 you can get a reasonable price if you work out the right options that allow selecting the 3.0. But it requires ordering the truck and a 2 month wait. For example, A standard cab 2x4 with Tradesman trim and a 8' bed I spec'd a 2014 at just under $30k. The same configuration on a 2015 is now $33k.

You still have to wonder though why cars that are available overseas are never certified for US sale. Probably the same marketing geniuses that keep thinking all Americans want big trucks. S10, Ranger, and Dakota.

Hmm, that got me thinking. If you aren't going to do any towing, you might be able to get a little better fuel economy if you swapped the 3.73 gears for the 3.55s that were available for the 3.7l with a manual. (05 and 06) Not sure you could recover the cost, but it would be an interesting experiment. Rough math says it would knock off 100 rpm at 70 mph.

I've just bought a 2006, 80k miles with the GDE tune already installed. Brand new tires. Oil change, new air filter, cleaned MAP sensor (which was shockingly dirty. I figure that someone smart enough to put the tune in would do the sensor clean). Still only averaging 20-21MPG, even with 70% highway driving.

GDE says the rockers could be suspect, although i'm in Delaware and it has been cold.

Anyone else have thoughts?

These are 'freebie' type checks:
I'd suspect winter fuel first. Then I'd pull the Map in a few thousand miles and see if it's dirty again..
Check your brakes to see if dragging, (lol, don't slam on the brakes and hop out to see if they are hot... 'they will be') Check your air pressure in the tires...
When I let her warm up in the morning, 5-10 minutes, that cuts into overall mpgs big time.. That is almost 1-1,5 hours per tank the engine is doing nothing but burning fuel, not racking up miles.

_________________
2006 KJ CRD, bought 9/11/14, 70,500 miles. Circulating Rotella T6 5w-40
11-3-14 oem stat installed
11-5-14 gen II FH installed.
Sasquatch elbow kit, samcos, GDE eco FT. 11-26-14
80,500 miles, engine is disassembled, awaiting parts 3/18
Budget?? Sure! 'Everything I have'.
New "Pet" name for My Jeep; 'Soul Sucker'

Kc-crd, that's not a bad idea. Though if I could find a donor 3.7 manual liberty I don't think I would stop at the axles. A 6 speed diesel liberty sounds way to fun. I just finished swapping a nv4500 into my 94 Chevy diesel, that was a huge improvement over the 4l80e. I will never go back to a auto truck ( even though I know they are making them very efficient now). I still love rowing my own gears.

What I'm about to say is hard for diesel fans to get their heads around but the reality is that the manufacturers are giving the market exactly what it it asking for. With the exception of enthusiasts and niche applications there just isn't much demand for diesel vehicles. If there was our CRDs wouldn't be worth FA on the used market

High fuel prices and government tax incentives were the disruptive force that seeded the growth in popularity of diesel vehicles in Europe in the late 80's and early 90's. It would take at least similar drastic action to foster a shift in attitude over here.

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Share your ideas freely at https://www.facebook.com/groups/libertydiesels/

Well you can keep the high fuel prices where you are, I am happy to see them down a bit, and we do not need tax incentives, just politicians that either have a clue or did not get in with their own agenda.

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2006 LTD Bright Silver loaded with all the needed mods, CCV intact.
Proudly supporting CRD vendors, and their development of quality parts and accessories.
Equipped with HDS thermostat, plenty of heat, faster warm-ups, increased fuel mileage.

I'm not sure I'll agree that Americans don't want diesels. VW excludes TDIs from all their incentives, yet they sell them all. Dodge was completely blind-sided by all the demand for the Ram 1500 Ecodiesel, even though they are predominately stocked in high trim models. A number of other car makers have introduced, or announced diesel cars in the last couple of years. (Mazda 626, Chevy Cruz, several models of Mercedes) I think what we are seeing is risk adverse executives using it as an excuse to not certify new engines in the US. It's the same pattern we saw when hybrids were being introduced.

BTW, another factor in Europe's acceptance of diesel has to do with the oil that they refine. While you can adjust the volumes of various fuels that you split out of the crude, what we refine here favors gasoline production while Europe's favors diesel.