Hi everyone; my name is Tim and I have an '05 CRD with 152,000kms. I live near Ottawa, Ontario. Time for a timing belt change soon. I don't have the time to do this myself due to business commitments, and I've had really bad experiences with Jeep dealers (plus they are REALLY expensive!). Can anyone recommend a garage to renew the timing belt? It seems like independent garages are reluctant to do the job and even more reluctant to "improvise" making the special tools. Also, I've read a lot about changing the water pump at this point. Apparently it's a Chrysler recommendation but not a VM Motori recommendation. Anyone have an opinion? Some are saying change the pump at the second timing belt change, 200,000kms. Thanks; Tim

Howdy Tim, welcome to LOST!

I did the job myself, because I feel the same way (no trust) and like to do things my way. BTW, I follow the TB change interval as stated for US vehicles. Does not make the least bit of sense to go metric, I figure it's only a way to make people spend more! So, 160000km for 1st change, next should be at 320000km. If water pump turns OK, wait for 2nd TB replacement (or just replace the pulley, I believe there were few mentions in the forum).

My only "good" experience with a dealer was South Bank Dodge in Ottawa. Dean Martin was the service advisor I dealt with, very professional and courteous, actually! Thing is, as with pretty much any other dealers, their lack of knowledge of the VM Motori engine reflected in my Jeep spending almost 2 months there! On the bright side, I figure the mechanic who worked on it must have gained some experience, as I know he also spent a lot of time working in conjunction with Chrysler Support ( ), trying to figure out the problems.

If you are the least bit inclined in performing mechanical work, I strongly suggest you find time to do it yourself, far more rewarding (and less $$$), and really not that complicated, especially considering the wealth of valuable information provided by this excellent site

Good luck!

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RIP 10/31/2012
Green Metallic 2006 CRD Limited
GDE Hot tune ~ Pre-F37 TCM ~ Transgo shift kit ~ MagnaFlow ~ Homemade Provent ~ OME 2" lift & Airlift ~ Samco ~ Euro TC ~ Lift pump ~ Nylon fan blade & Hayden clutch ~ Etc!

Tim - I understand time issues but if you rent the Miller tools from GDE (I assume this can be done cross border without too much hassle) and are moderately mechanically inclined the job, excluding water pump, can easily be done in a day (5-6 hours). It does help to have a second pair of hands and eyes though. While there are mixed feelings out there IMHO the various pulleys and waterpump do not need replacement unless the bearings are loose and/or weaping grease. Unfortunately you won't know the condition of those bearings until you get the cover and the timing belt off. Once in that far if they need replacing then, unless you have parts in hand, you are looking at some down time but of course even the dealer is unlikely to stock those parts and in fact the water pump is apparently no national back order.

Lots of good writeups are available on the forum although most of them only deal with the belt, not the water pump. The post at http://www.beesvillebeefarm.com/jeep.html does include the water pump. While I don't know for sure I'd guess including the water pump would add another 5-6 hours to the job.

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Sold to LOST member my 05 Ltd, GDE Stg II turbo + TCM tune, SunCoast TC w. Transgo kit, Steiger window regulators, Samcos, Fumoto valve, 2nd gen filter head with Lub. Spec. bleeder, Hayden clutch & 11 blade fan, inverted spare, P-1 battery, BF Goodrich Long Trail TAs, Etecno1 glow plugs, timing belt at 50K miles/8 yrs

Nice find! Thanks for the link.

This is interesting because my experience with this dealer was the complete opposite. I bought mine from them and they delivered it with the CEL lit! One of the CAC hoses wasn't clamped sufficiently and I noticed the air leak first time I drove it. It took their service department two visits and best part of a week to figure it out. On the first attempt they just reset the CEL and told me that the air whoosh on acceleration is "normal for a diesel". They also tried to tell me that it's normal for the passenger air bag light to be lit when the seat is not occupied. I argued with them over this pointing out the section in the owners manual that describes how it should function. They had the audacity to tell me that the owners manual was wrong! I took the vehicle to another dealer in town and had the seat re-calibrated and it's functioned correctly since.

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As you noticed, I inserted the good mention between quotation marks! The Jeep still spent almost 2 months there, though I picked it up twice, only to have original trouble and/or CEL re-appear, and back to the dealer it went... Generally speaking, I feel dealerships are not up to specs when servicing this vehicle is concerned. At least, South Bank had excellent service, while in Gatineau, Baillot is the complete opposite. You get bad attitude and no accountability from service tech, which pretty much resulted in my appreciation of them: morons who deserve bad publicity. And I never miss an opportunity when it presents itself to badmouth, with good reason, this joke of a dealership...

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RIP 10/31/2012
Green Metallic 2006 CRD Limited
GDE Hot tune ~ Pre-F37 TCM ~ Transgo shift kit ~ MagnaFlow ~ Homemade Provent ~ OME 2" lift & Airlift ~ Samco ~ Euro TC ~ Lift pump ~ Nylon fan blade & Hayden clutch ~ Etc!