Help and Newbie

PSYCHOFREAK3 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:43 pm

Hello everyone,

Been searching through the forum here for a couple weeks and I need to get my wife a new car. I drive a Dodge CRD 2500 and she wants a Jeep Liberty well I want a Liberty CRD but I know near nothing about them. I am going to look at a couple this weekend what should I look for. I am looking in the range of 20k to 60k miles, anything specific I should walk away from? Give me all of your opinions. 05 or 06 years, does the trim make a difference with the motor or common issues, i.e. sport limited?

I know most of you guys are pretty knowledgeable about working on these things, I am barely a weekend wrencher is that enough to take care of any major mods that need to be done? I know I want a GDE tune, for now clean the MAP sensor and check the turbo hoses, but any other pertinent info that you guys wish you would have known before you bought your first CRD would be great.

Thanks in advance
Steve

GreenDieselEngineering · **Joined:** Sun Jun 07, 2009 5:10 pm **Posts:** 1111

If you can find a leather interior with heated seats...go for it. The cloth seats get dirty and stain easily if anything is spilled on them. Either year is good, the main difference is that ESP is only on the 2006. This is helpful if driving in snow, but can be a hinderence if you want to spin the tires or are doing off-roading. You may want to run a VIN report at a dealer for the vehicle yo uare looking to see all the service fixes that have been completed.

happy shopping

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:26 pm

Curise is nice and not all had it. The 06 model year has ESP (traction control, braking assist and more) that has 7 different functions that I like. For whatever reason owners of 05 model year seem to get better MPG but I'm not sure of this.

The seats in my 06 Limited stain with clear water and the foam in the left side of the driver's seat is showing signs of going bad and it has not turned 30k yet and I only weigh 162 pounds :shock:

Window regulators can be a problem too. Mine were jerky going down when wet. The dealer fixed it under warranty and it even included new glass :roll:

Look around the engine oil drain plug for leaking. It is very easy to strip the threads by leaving the copper washer off. There's a taper on the plug that centers the washer and if it's left off the taper messes up the first two threads and there's only 4 or 5 total in the pan. It won't leak till it's removed then it will strip going back in :cry:

Many have installed Fomoto drane valves :wink:

PSYCHOFREAK3 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:00 pm

Awesome that is the type of info that I'm looking for. I was trying to find a limited for the leather seats because the cloth in my 06 Dodge Ram are horrible (I'm assuming same seats.) Ok so look at the MAP sensor, hoses to and from turbo, and oil drain plug. If the threads were damaged is there any way to fix it or are you just getting a new Fomoto drain valves?

I hear people hating the ESP but that's just because they're trying to offroad then? My wife driving could use all the help she can get :roll:

Thanks for the replied, please anyone else with any more info I would greatly appreciate it.

geordi · **Posted:** Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:14 pm

Most of the wrenching is made a LOT easier by the level of genius available on this board. Ditto on the cloth seats, they will stain if you look at them wrong. BUT a light misting spray of clear water will evenly cover the entire seat... And when that dries, the seat will be a normal color again. I've heard that the spray version of oxyclean will also clean the seats, but have never tried it. If you can get a dealership to give you the VIP reports (you will need the last 6 of the vin number) that should show you what work the dealers have done to the truck. I wouldn't worry about the mileage too much, it IS a diesel after all. If you can find one that hasn't had the F37 done to it (2005 only) BUY IT.

Other than that... Good hunting and welcome to the group!

mikey1273 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:46 pm

I just got mine in August..... what an adventure. I ended up buying the first one I drove after looking at 2 others... an 06 sport and an 05 limited. the sport had cloth seats and I was not so fond of them, the foam on the seat was worn arleady at 35k and the seats were stained up..... still they wanted as much as I ended up paying for my 06 limited. the 05 limited was great and a great deal I would have bought it if it had all the features I wanted.

I recomend a limited with leather. the heaters in them work a bit too good on high.

I did't look at much different than any other used car. check all the fluids, drive it on several roads and highway if you can. with the ac off so of the way. listen for anything that doesn't sound right. check the 4 wheel drive opperation too.

Im not that confident with doing major repairs myself but I am good enough to do routine maintance and I plan to install my provent when it arrives. I already changed my oil, oil, air and fuel filters myself.

the stock tires suck in the rain so if you buy anything with under 40k you will want to replace those with something better if they were not replaced already.

geordi · **Posted:** Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:25 pm

Tires on a stock CRD... 215/85/16 BF Goodrich Commercial T/A highway tread. Awesomeness for mileage and will move you though most surfaces without problems. You can get highway or traction treads, I've got the highway tread and they are nice and quiet on the road.

mikey1273 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:58 pm

mine had goodyear wrangler silent armor 235/70r16 i think that was an optional up graded size. I replaced them with Hercules terra trac AT in 245's

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:08 am

geordi

ALL 05 & 06 CRD's PRODUCED for US CONSUMPTION WERE SUBJECT TO THE F37 FLASH that reduced torque and shift points:shock:

THOSE MADE BEFORE NOVEMBER 05 ALSO GOT A DIFFERENT TORQUE CONVERTER with one that would not self distruct in as little as 3k miles:!:
SOME (not all) that got replacement TC's also got a new front pump and cover

It was discressionary who got the pump and cover

So a lot of 06 models got TC's too

Just trying to stop the confusion about F37

linewarbr · **Posted:** Thu Nov 12, 2009 9:43 am

Check the inside of the driver's door (port side) for the build date. Based on what I have learned here, I would go for one that has a build date of 12/2005 or later. Sometime in mid 11/2005, Mopar started installing a slightly modified torque converter assembly that holds up better than the first ones. A CRD with a pre-11/2005 build date may have the upgraded converter, but it would have been a replacement and who knows what happened with the old one before replacement?

On the flip side of that, though, if you get one with a pre-11/2005 build date that is still under warranty, you could take it and then run the piss out of it to hopefully necessitate the replacement of the torque converter with an even newer one used in the European CRD Wrangler. A few on this board have it already, and are reporting good results. If you're mechanically inclined, then you could plan on replacing the TC yourself instead of under warranty with the Euro TC - it is about $200 + shipping.

I love mine, and do not regret buying it at all. Just watch out that you don't end up wanting to drive it more than your wife. . . with the GDE tune, this little tractor can fly!

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:38 pm

GreenDieselEngineering wrote:

If you can find a leather interior with heated seats...go for it. The cloth seats get dirty and stain easily if anything is spilled on them. Either year is good, the main difference is that ESP is only on the 2006. This is helpful if driving in snow, but can be a hinderence if you want to spin the tires or are doing off-roading. You may want to run a VIN report at a dealer for the vehicle yo uare looking to see all the service fixes that have been completed.

happy shopping

On my 06, I have shut mine off when I towed a 1971 VW bus I used to own with a tow bar. I never had to when towing any trailer.
You may want to shut it off when you are doing any off roading, but don't get too crazy or you may crack the front differential.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Thu Nov 12, 2009 10:02 pm

You need to be comfortable wrenching on your ride.

The biggest problem from day one has been lack of technicians who understand the Diesel

if you're comfortable working on it - there's a lot of information and help here

but if you have to pay someone else.....the learning curve is expensive.

PSYCHOFREAK3 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:12 pm

Awesome thanks again guys for all of the responses, going this weekend to check a couple out then hopefully going to get one by next wee or next weekend. They're just hard to come by.

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