$4000 in repairs on CRD

TerryZ91 · **Joined:** Mon Sep 23, 2013 4:21 pm **Posts:** 38

I bought the 2005 CRD with 95,000 miles for $1000 back in 2013. I got it for that cheap since the car would intermittently turn off and would not start back. I traced the problem to crank position sensor thanks to this forum. After replacing the CPS, the symptoms were almost resolved but still occasionally it would have trouble starting. I traced the problem to air in the fuel head, I had a first-generation fuel head which was leaking fuel and letting air in. The car sat most of the years and I would drive it maybe once a month or so around the block or just locally since it wasn’t completely reliable and I had no time to work on it with having 3 jobs and going to school at the same time. I have no background in cars. I work in healthcare as a Paramedic and critical care nurse. This is my first diesel and I have learned a lot from this forum. I finally completed my Bachelors in nursing and had a little time this summer until I pursued my master degrees so I decide to work on it. Originally, the plan was just to do the timing belt service, thermostats, glow plugs, new fuel filter head and Samco hose. But of course, that all changed when part of my glow plug was stuck in the head which turned in to me taking the head off to remove the glow plug. So, after over $4000 in parts alone, she’s finally done. It took 3 months since I only worked on it once a week due to school and work. I have my other car that I drive.

Here is the breakdown of the cost:
Timing belt, timing belt tensioner, timing belt idler pulley, timing cover gasket kit, new water pump, new lower radiator hose, new upper radiator hose, new fuel filter with 2nd gen filter head, Serpentine belt, idler pulley, serpentine belt tensioner, valve cover gasket, cam seals, new glow plugs, glow plugs controller, injector washers and o rings, Exhaust valves, intake valves, valve seats, valve keeper, valve springs, valve seals, new exhaust manifold gasket, new turbo manifold gasket, driver side and passenger side engine mounts, and new oil cooler coolant hose, head gasket, CCV hose, Hayden fan clutch, all new gaskets, Litens alternator pulley $2800
ARP studs: $300
Samco hose: $280
Rocker arms: $370
Weeks winter start kit: $650
Machine shop for cleaning the head, installing new valves and cleaning the intake manifold/valve cover: $400
Geordi for sharing his knowledge: $300
Total: $5100

Working on the liberty wasn’t too bad. You just need to be patience and work slow. It was easy for me since I had other vehicles I can use so I took my sweet time. I have saved a lot of money on labor by doing all this work myself. I was quoted over $2400 just for timing belt and head replacement not including all the other stuff I did along the way. The money I saved on labor went towards the Samco hose, intake/exhaust valve and weeks winter kit. I still have money left over that will go toward gauges and GDE tune that I will purchase later. Since I did everything myself I also covered and labeled the wiring harness. I also redid the corrugated plastic tube that goes over the harness. I did the two piece fan shroud mod and secured it with brass hinges for easy and quick installation and removal. I have everything wired up for my turbo gauge and oil pressure gauge. I just have to connect everything in the cabin that I will do it later. I also bought another 3.7L liberty limited ($300) that I will be swapping parts out of. I have already swapped out the airbox but will swap out leather seats and most of the interior and cosmetic stuff. That will be next summer project along with torque converter and transgo for the transmission.

Pics of the project.
https://photos.shutterfly.com/story/id/10105276137

First start:
https://youtu.be/yixujJaSedU

Final start:
https://youtu.be/MKfTMMbhU_0

thesameguy · **Joined:** Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:24 pm **Posts:** 652

Man, I feel you!

I didn't get quite such a good deal but (knock on wood) mine wasn't in quite such dire shape. I paid $3000 for the car, have $2200 in parts bills (includes $400 in tires, and $200 in core charges I will get back) and am still about $1000 in labor and $300 in parts from Reliable Daily Driver.

Personally, I always prefer to approach cars this way because rather than having bought a $6000 CRD that may yet need some parts, I know I have a $6000 CRD with pretty much every common failure addressed, from ball joints to torque converter. It's not the easiest way to motor, but considering I daily drive a 30 year old Merkur with 300,000 miles on it and have fewer tow truck calls than my friend's brand new Mercedes (Her: 2, Me: 0) it's a solid, solid win.

Happy to replicate the formula on another oddball like the Jeep.

weeks101 · **Joined:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 3:29 pm **Posts:** 747

TerryZ91 wrote:

I have no background in cars. I work in healthcare as a Paramedic and critical care nurse. This is my first diesel and I have learned a lot from this forum.

Well done!

:JEEPIN:

geordi · **Posted:** Sat Oct 29, 2016 5:30 pm

Talk about burying the lead... You bought a Limited CRD for $300??? :shock:

Very good work! You've come in under my purchase number by quite a bit.

What was wrong with that one / what is left on it that didn't need to be fixed? (the still-good list might be shorter?)

TerryZ91 · **Joined:** Mon Sep 23, 2013 4:21 pm **Posts:** 38

Other than the fuel head and crankshaft position sensor, the liberty drove fine. The timing belt, rocker arms and and most of the other stuff was maintanace related since I had no ideas if the timing belt was ever changed. Nothing else was broken and the timing belt looked pretty good with no real crack and all the rocker arms looked good also along with the intake and exhaust valves. I replaced about 80% of the parts to avoid any headache in the future.

The $300 liberty that I bought for parts is a v6 3.7l model. It had a frozen ac compressor pulley that I bypassed with a shorter belt and there is some issue with the transmission with delayed shifting but other than that, the engine runs great and everything else works.

Bushman5 · **Joined:** Sat Jul 11, 2015 11:05 am **Posts:** 278

to the OP....

try living in Canada and repairing one of these, everything is 3 - 5 times the cost, esp in BC, and the exchange rate is about $1.45 CDN to one (1) USD.

bought mine for $7000 CDN with 187,000 KM's on it.

then the valves fugged up and the rockers broke off.

my timing belt and cylinder head rebore and rockers/ valves was $7000 CDN. Labour was $125 hour. Due to lack of parts available up here, the jeep sat for three months in the shop waiting for parts from the US.

the recent idler (x2) , alt pulley and tensioner replacement was $600 CDN, not including labor costs (dad)

I priced out everything you had done to your vehicle so far.....it would be approx $17,000 to $19,000 CDN to get all that done up here.

you USA CRD owners should count your blessings on how cheap it is to for parts and labour down there.

hellishly exspensive up here. :banghead:

sparky123321 · **Joined:** Sun Nov 06, 2016 9:01 am **Posts:** 30

I was talking about the CRD yesterday with the two service writers at the dealership while scheduling my 3.7L for service. I told them I'd love to find a low mileage CRD because I've always been a diesel fan. They both shook their heads and said "no you don't". They said the last 2 that were in for service left on flatbeds for the bone yard. They said any major engine issue these days normally leads to the junk yard, due to the inability to find a decent used motor and the $10,000+ price tag for a new one if they can even find one.

I'd still go for the right one, if it came my way. I have no problem pulling and rebuilding a motor myself. Nothing beats the low end torque of a diesel.

flash7210 · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2016 10:50 am

sparky123321 wrote:

I was talking about the CRD yesterday with the two service writers at the dealership while scheduling my 3.7L for service. I told them I'd love to find a low mileage CRD because I've always been a diesel fan. They both shook their heads and said "no you don't". They said the last 2 that were in for service left on flatbeds for the bone yard. They said any major engine issue these days normally leads to the junk yard, due to the inability to find a decent used motor and the $10,000+ price tag for a new one if they can even find one.

I'd still go for the right one, if it came my way. I have no problem pulling and rebuilding a motor myself. Nothing beats the low end torque of a diesel.

Do good maintenance on the vehicle.
Fix all known problems.
Drive it like its a diesel and not a gasser.
Dont take it to a dealer for service or repair (they are clueless)
Do all this from the beginning and the chances of catastrophic failure are significantly reduced.

Unfortunately, any used CRD that was not owned by a LOST member probably has not been treated well.

Yes, the engine is rebuildable and the parts are very expensive. But in some cases good used parts can be sourced from England for much less.

Chances are that those "major engine issues" were not so major had the tech spent some time diagnosing the real problem.
But then why waste time diagnosing when you can just throw parts at it.

mass-hole · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2016 2:09 pm

sparky123321 wrote:

I was talking about the CRD yesterday with the two service writers at the dealership while scheduling my 3.7L for service. I told them I'd love to find a low mileage CRD because I've always been a diesel fan. They both shook their heads and said "no you don't". They said the last 2 that were in for service left on flatbeds for the bone yard. They said any major engine issue these days normally leads to the junk yard, due to the inability to find a decent used motor and the $10,000+ price tag for a new one if they can even find one.

I'd still go for the right one, if it came my way. I have no problem pulling and rebuilding a motor myself. Nothing beats the low end torque of a diesel.

Except the low-end torque and high end horsepower of a gtdi. The more I own this and the more times I hear about $4000 repair bills the less desire I have to own another diesel. They sound cool on paper but I'd rather eat the gas bill. Hell fords new 3.5 ecoboost and 10 speed is rated to get the same mpg's on the highway as my Jeep does now.

geordi · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2016 2:44 pm

I wouldn't trust a dealership monkey to properly diagnose which day of the week it is without being given 6 chances.

The real reason those two CRDs left (sadly) for the boneyard? The dealer monkeys are CLUELESS and think that everything leads to a new engine and they talked the owner into buying a new vehicle so they get profit margin and can just wholesale the vehicle they don't know how to fix.

I know of one person that brought their vehicle to a dealership while it was turning-but-not-starting... And the dealership gave it back to her with the block frozen and totally destroyed. She ended up with an $8000 bill, but that included a new engine and $4000 of upgrades that should have been done in advance.

If you are looking for a good CRD, I have a zero-mile engine with ALL THE MODS already done that I have been driving around (runs amazing!) for sale. $10,000 buys it, and I'll even deliver it anywhere in North America for the actual travel cost with a flight back.

rankom · **Posted:** Sun Nov 13, 2016 7:18 pm

well sad Bushman , for us in Canada this think is a headache , you are right its pricy and yes somebody posted that he want to switch from 3.7 v6 libby to crd and service writer at Jeep dealer told him , NO you don't , because it is simple it is true you need to have cash flow in order to keep this think , that why our friends in USA are so happy with it because its cheaper for them . but to be honest , thats why i don't drive it is a toy and it didn't cost me any money sitting in the garage , well i do drive it around the block every weekend LOL .

TKB4 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 02, 2017 1:27 am

you need is a lift pump lol!

thermorex · **Posted:** Mon Jun 05, 2017 7:17 pm

mass-hole wrote:

sparky123321 wrote:

I was talking about the CRD yesterday with the two service writers at the dealership while scheduling my 3.7L for service. I told them I'd love to find a low mileage CRD because I've always been a diesel fan. They both shook their heads and said "no you don't". They said the last 2 that were in for service left on flatbeds for the bone yard. They said any major engine issue these days normally leads to the junk yard, due to the inability to find a decent used motor and the $10,000+ price tag for a new one if they can even find one.

I'd still go for the right one, if it came my way. I have no problem pulling and rebuilding a motor myself. Nothing beats the low end torque of a diesel.

Except the low-end torque and high end horsepower of a gtdi. The more I own this and the more times I hear about $4000 repair bills the less desire I have to own another diesel. They sound cool on paper but I'd rather eat the gas bill. Hell fords new 3.5 ecoboost and 10 speed is rated to get the same mpg's on the highway as my Jeep does now.

You ford fan boy! Lol. I guarantee that if you put offroad tires, offroad bumper with lightning and lift the ecoboost, it will go at least 3mpg over the crd. Plus, with the 10 speed and being a newer vehicle, with longer wheelbase (more comfortable on drive), you'd probably be tempted to drive it faster than the jeep. Side my remarks, diesels are are more complicated and not for everyone, especially the new ones. I have a hunch though you might like a Cummins 2500 or 3500...

joe_ · **Posted:** Thu Jun 08, 2017 4:39 pm

His is a 2014; I don't think the 10-speeds are available in anything older than a 2018 (which aren't available yet as far as I know).

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Fri Jun 09, 2017 11:33 am

Let's sort this out;
buy a Jeep CRD, spend 6 to 10k for a good used one, then spend an additional 2 to 4k for mods and parts to get it into good shape and get rid of all the bad factory things and make it where it will be reliable and long lasting.

or

go buy a new 4x4 diesel powered (or gas in some incidences) truck or SUV that most cost starting about 50k and then go up from there depending on packages!

:juggle:

Jeep CRD seems better and better!!!!

ps: If you have not done so, go to one of the manufacturer's web sites and build a truck or SUV like you would like and get a price; be prepared for sticker shock!!!

As the old saying goes: "A fool and his money are soon parted"!

mrhemi · **Joined:** Tue Dec 08, 2015 10:46 am **Posts:** 182

WWDiesel, well said. I have an 06 that I did just that with. Came from British Columbia (relatively rust free for Canada). I have put 50000 miles on it in a year and a half, using it to get work. Project work, across North America. I can pack everything I need into it and head across the continent. I put 700 miles on it a week right now. With the correct tires, they are great through snow and ice. My wife liked it so much when she drove it for a month, I had to get her one too. Same program, only hers doesn't rack up the miles. So, I now have two nearly identical daily drivers with about $10000-$11000 into each one. Keeps the maintenance parts to a minimum being common. There is a $60000 '16 Cummins Ram 2500 sitting in the driveway too. Which do you think gets driven the most? As long as I can keep on with the self performed repairs and maintenance, the bang for buck is there. I agree though, these are not for everyone.

$4000 in repairs on CRD

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