Hi this is Ralph and I posted my basic info in the new members post area, I am a newbe, please feel free to inform me of proper procedure.

Mine is a 2006 Jeep Liberty Sport CRD I am the original owner and it has had all known recalls and flashes, it is now up to f38. I have 37k miles and have driven it from Alaska down the west coast, across the southern coast to Key West Florida and up the eastern seaboard, then back across the norther States to Bellingham Washington, and took the Alaska Marine Highway to Haynes Junction and drove back to Soldotna In December of 2006. this was my break in run

Other than the problems listed below it is great fun to drive and yes I have had it on the sand, rocks, across streams and a yearly large doses of snow and ice.

Avg fuel mileage from new thru flash 37 was 19-21 mpg. now with the F38 flash and running 4 ounces of Stanadyne performance additive I am getting 22-24.5 mpg, this is mixed highway and city driving, I understand Alaska Diesel is a very good quality from the reports from Stanadyne and other web Sites.

My vehicle was equipped with the Chrysler auto start which has never worked in cold weather, and my new dealer informed me the Auto Start was never designed for the CRD, according to there records not one CRD unit with the Chrysler auto start will start in cold weather even with the block heater operating, so I paid to have the unit removed.

My CRD from day one has had an electrical problem of killing the battery if the unit sets for 5-8 days. at this time there are no items attached or installed that are not original factory installed. any advice or anyone else who is having or has had this problem and cured it i would be very happy to learn this secret. The dealer has replaced the battery 3 times so far, just about once a year. This might be to drain caused by the Auto Start but I have not been able to let mine set for a few days yet to test it.

My CRD has a very hard shift sometimes at 35mph, the dealer has said this will have to get worse before they can come up with a correction, again any information on this would be great.

My CRD during slow take off and low rpm like driving in a parking lot will feel like it is missing, this is intermittent and applying more throttle pressure and speed makes it go away. the dealer is unable to come up with a treatment or cure.

my speedometer is and always has been exactly -3mph slow. this is confirmed by several gps units and many road side speed k band radar devices as well as highway time travel calculations. again my dealer says they are unable to correct the problem, and yes the factory tires and rims are still in place. - 3mph is according to them whiten operational standards. I could replace the tires with 195/75r/16's and this would pretty much fix the correction, but i would rather go a bit taller and narrower tire for the replacement which will make the problem even worse.

I have tried the orm of unplugging the map both before and after starting but the check engine light does not come on. does anyone have a explanation for this?

One other question is when should the timing belts be replaced?

I am considering the torque converter replacement the transgo shift kit and the InMotion spare ECU tuning, not for performance but for better fuel economy and dependability.

I have probably broken proper procedure by making a book of this first major post, but i hope you all will help direct me to the information I am seeking for correction, This way I have a starting point for my quest.

Thanks

Ralph

Hi Ralph. A couple places to start:

The battery issue may be the symptom of a ECU flash that hasn't been performed. My 2005 (bought early 2006) had the same battery symptom. The dealer ran the VIN, flashed my ECU with a program that properly dropped the current being used and replaced my battery since the bug wrecked the old one. No electrical problems since then.

As for the stuttering, I'd check the fuel system. First, make sure the filter has been replaced either recently or within the recommended service interval. They're not cheap, but putting a new one one may give you some piece of mind. Before you even do that, though, try priming the filter head (with a 11mm wrench on the bleed screw, much like pumping and bleeding brakes). Air in the lines (very common with CRDs based on a multitude of factors) tends to manifest with what feels like strange loss of power or occasional misses, but not always under the same load.

Dan

_________________

2005 Silver CRD Limited
245/75R16 GoodYear Duratracs
Fumoto drain | ProVent CCV Filter
Stanadyne FM100 filter | Cummins fuel pump
GDE Eco | SEGR | BoulderBars | FrankenLift | Frankenskids

Pray tell, any info on what F38 was supposed to address? Can't say I've heard mention of that one, and for that matter didn't receive any notification of it from Chrysler either.

Increased fuel mileage could be due to the engine getting broken in with more miles (common with diesels) and high quality fuel. After my experience with Chrysler TSB's and recalls, I'm highly skeptical of them doing ANY reflash to actually make this beast perform better.

Echo the sentiments on venting/bleeding the fuel filter. Had the same experience when I still had the stock fuel setup. Keeping all the air bled out of the fuel filter made the problem go away, and when it would reoccur I knew it was time to vent the filter again.

Also, fuel filter is supposed to be changed every 24K miles per the owners manual at minimum - some (myself included) change theirs out every year just before winter to preclude any cold weather problems.

Check your fuel heater electrical connection on the fuel filter as well - after you've vented the filter to eliminate all air, unplug the connection and operate the primer pump to pressurize the filter - then look inside the connector on the filter to see if there's any diesel fuel weeping out. If so, that leak will allow air to be sucked into the fuel system when operating, and diesel fuel in that connector can also present a fire hazard when the heater is operating. There is an upgraded version of the fuel filter assembly available from Chrysler if it needs replacing.

There has been a TSB out for at least the past two years addressing the problem of the battery being drained dead after a few days, involving a reflash of the appropriate module. Tell the dealer to check thru the TSB's - sounds as if he doesn't know of it.

Timing belt changeout is listed in the maintenance schedule that came with the owners manual - around 80K to 100K miles if memory serves.

_________________
Mitchell Oates
'87 MB 300D Diamond Blue Metallic
'87 MB 300D - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Sport CRD Stone White
Provent CCV Filter/AT2525 Muffler
Stanadyne 30 u/Cat 2 u Fuel Filters
Fumoto Drain/Fleetguard LF3487 Oil filter
V6 Airbox/Amsoil EAA Air Filter
Suncoast TC/Shift Kit/Aux Cooler
Kennedy Lift Pump/Return Fuel Cooler

I remember people who reported this saying that the BCM (body control module) was the one that had to be flashed. For our guy in Alaska...the BCM keeps track of the speed and helps manage stability control...anti-rollover and traction control (if you've got it).

The timing belt change, according to the manual, is 100K miles. I'm currently sitting at 70K and counting down the miles with a bit of dread.

I'm guessing he either mis-type or mis-remembered F37.

_________________
http://www.Colorado4Wheel.com
"Its not about what you can DO with your Jeep, its about where you can GO with your Jeep."
Knowledgeable - But Caustic

As for the tranny shifting hard at 35MPH. It can be caused by very cold transmission fluid, or also by a very hot transmission, such as after a long slow climb up a mountain which does not allow the torque converter to lockup.

_________________
Manure green 2005 CRD sport4x4, GDE Hot tune, Cat Gut, OE skids, Draw tight hitch, Duramax lift pump, 160K on multiple varieties of fuel, XM radio, Escort live with Redline, fog light mod, GPS, Icom IC7000 all band radio call sign KC9QPF, Grabber AT2s on Soft 8s, FIA grill blanket.

R U using Alaskan gallons or US gallons for mpg\economy determination?

_________________
'05 CRD Limited
Pricol EGT, Boost
GDE Hot '11; EDGE Trail switched
SEGR; Provent; Magnaflow;
Suncoast T\C, Transgo Tow'n'Go switch;
Cummins LP module, Fleetguard filter, Filterminder
2.5" Daystar f, OME r; Ranchos; K80767's, Al's lifted uppers
Rubicons, 2.55 Goodyears
Four in a row really makes it go

_________________
Manure green 2005 CRD sport4x4, GDE Hot tune, Cat Gut, OE skids, Draw tight hitch, Duramax lift pump, 160K on multiple varieties of fuel, XM radio, Escort live with Redline, fog light mod, GPS, Icom IC7000 all band radio call sign KC9QPF, Grabber AT2s on Soft 8s, FIA grill blanket.

Sounds like something a dealer would say. You would benefit from a cheap (or expensive) lift pump. A lift pump will almost certainly eliminate the low load, parkinglot stumbling.

_________________
Manure green 2005 CRD sport4x4, GDE Hot tune, Cat Gut, OE skids, Draw tight hitch, Duramax lift pump, 160K on multiple varieties of fuel, XM radio, Escort live with Redline, fog light mod, GPS, Icom IC7000 all band radio call sign KC9QPF, Grabber AT2s on Soft 8s, FIA grill blanket.

The hard shift @35 has been with me from the beginning. I suspect it will be there at the end also. Going down a hill is the worst. I've learned to live with it.

_________________
2005 sport crd-SOLD No regrets

My 2005 crd has the same hard shift at very light throttle between 2-3. Especially going down hill. Makes me cringe every time. My CRD has 76,000 miles on it. Any new thoughts.

_________________
TWO Identical 2005 Liberty Sport CRDS
#1 CRD, 174,000 miles. Eco tune, Samco hoses. Mobil1 0-40w used since day one
#2 CRD 143,000 miles. Bought used (unknown history) with 100,000 miles. Samco hoses.
Eco tune, new rockers, and 5 volt glow plugs installed at 124,000 miles

Hi all and thanks for the info and help.
lets see US gallons are used in Alaska for mileage determination.
Since my last post I did bleed the air from the fuel filter and then about 4-6 day had to do it again, took it to the dealer again and they found a TSB on air in the filter so they installed the new improved fuel filter housing and heater assembly, that cured the stutter and no air in the system since.
On the dead battery issue, well things have gotten worse, the new addition to my electrical problems are interesting, when driving at night the low beams would turn off as well as the tail and marker lights, also this disabled the door locks, rear defroster and wipers, but in a weird way. If the wipers were on then one could not turn off the wipers, if the rear defroster was on it could not be turned off, high beams still worked and the fog lights still worked so at least I was not totally in the dark.
I took it to the dealer and they replaced the body control module and reprogrammed it , this worked till I got home, the head light would not turn off when I shut off the ignition, and the door locks would not work either with the remote on the key or with the switch inside. After about 30 min the lights shut off.
Next morning had to unlock the door with the key inserted then no low beams or tail lights, both the wipers were on and the rear defroster was on despite them having been in the off position when turning off the night before.
Back to the dealer, they have had the car for 4 weeks now, they have replaced the BCM again no help, reprogrammed no help and now they are tracing wire by wire on some circuit, it seems the BCM just quits communication to the jeep or it has intermittent, as of today I am not fond of totally computer controls, simple things like head and tail lights should just be direct wired as well as break lights and such. The speedometer still is 3mph slow at any speed .
Perhaps I should have a priest come in and exorcise the gremlin from my vehicle, has anyone else has such an event and had it fixed? I sure would like to hear of it and what it was. If the dealer ever gets the Jeep fixed I will let you know or whatever happens to it next.
Ralph

It sounds like you have a wiring harness that is chafed through and causing all kinds of shorts. This has been known to happen. Also, there were defective multi-function stalks which control the lights etc. That also caused gremlins.

All CRDs do the hard 3-4 shift at 35mph under light throttle or coasting downhill. I just drive around it. Always be accelerating a little at that speed and you never feel it.

_________________
05CRD: GDE Hot ECU & TCM tunes, Provent, Cat filter, Facet lift pump, TransGo kit, Florida TC, Samcos, stainless brake lines, HDS thermostat, Renegade light bar,
Bilstein adjustables, Al's Gen 4.5 Arms, 235/85-16 Duratracs, DTT rear, Elocker front, EVIC+TPMS, Turbo timer, McNally pillar gauges, Weeks Stage II kit.

what are defective multi-function stalks? that is a new one on me. I hope the issue is found this time it has had the wiring harness, Main one replaced in the past as well as the ECU the BCM and the relay box the BCM connects to. I hope someday to get this vehicle dependable enough to do the Suncoast torque converter and shift kit and then an ecu upgrade, i was planning on the inmotion tuning but I am open to suggestions. Ralph

Ralph.

On the 06 crd's there's a harness that runs behind the fuel filter head mounting bracket. I think the 06 has the fuel filter highter to make room for the antilock brake motor. There's a rolled over part on the bracket that I think was intended to prevent the rubbing. But the harness is now below the rolled over edge and some have been worn through. If yours is not not cut you can take a 3-4 inch section of 1/4-5/16 fuel line, slit it length wise and put over the filter mounting bracket.
The BCM (body control module) controls many aspects of the jeep's electrical devices and they do not like low voltage. Your strange behavior could be caused by a low battery. Has the alternator pulley been checked? It's a clutch device and they have failed for a few members. I think the voltage regulator for the alternator is in the ECM (engine control module). Air in the fuel can be hard to tract down. Many of us have installed lift pumps and eliminated the problems. Jeep already put in the relay, fuse and most of the wiring for a lift pump already. I think the bean counters said you've spent enough money so no lift pump Look in the Power Distribution Module in front of the battery and you'll see a listing for a "prime pump" along with the fuse and relay. It's wired as far as a connector under the left side of the rear seat. Sounds like your dealer is trying so show him that and ask why the pump is not working??? The Dodge/Cummins pump fits in with the original metal float arm used and half of the locating tab removed to orintate is like the original. It makes a big difference how the CRD runs

Check into the GDE "hot" tune along with the Chrysler Europian CRD's jeeps heavier torque converter. I have the GDE ECO tune with the original TC and am getting 3-5 possibly more MPG's

_________________
Atlantic Blue 06 CRD Limited (his)
Joined by a 2000 XJ Classic (hers)

Welcome to the group, it sounds like you are getting some good advice here, and bad advice from your local stealership.

For example: I have the Chrysler auto-start on my CRD, and it works perfectly. The thing DOES HAVE a diesel-specific program option, the only difference is that it makes the engine wait 30 seconds to start after you trigger it, the non-diesel mode makes it wait about 6 seconds. I have mine in normal mode, and it starts the CRD just fine.

Now, I will say this about the auto-starter: The wiring job to install it depends GREATLY on the skill level of the dealer doing the work. With the stupid anti-theft systems on these things, if a tiny stick-on wire loop comes unglued from behind the key switch, it won't stay running... Just like with a bad key. Ditto with the rest of the tie-in points to the car. Bad connections - The system will fail out. All it takes is a bit of CARE in the install.

I wouldn't leave your CRD alone with those guys, it sounds like they are training themselves on the CRD by using yours as an experiment platform, and following Chrysler's repair guidelines of "always choose the most expensive component to replace first". Of course when they hear hoofbeats, they think Zebras.

Everyone here will give you the info to get your truck working well again... Its the difficulty of getting the stealer to listen to logic. They don't know what that is, most of the time.

_________________
Proud supporting vendor of LOST Jeeps
TRAVELING CRD TECH. I come to you!
Need help? Just ask! I've taken it apart more than most.
Email jeep [at] maincomputer [dot] com - BOARD MESSAGING IS BROKEN
Over 225 CRDs currently driving with my valves, timing belt, rockers, or ARP Studs.
Bad noises = REALLY bad things.

Don't mind geordi, he's grumpy... especially when it comes to stealerships!

Sorry I got on board late here, but welcome. And yes, definitely come here first with your questions/queries. Most of the regulars on here probably know more about our little CRDs than all the stealership mechanics in America, combined!

That said, did we miss any of your questions?

_________________
2006 Jeep Liberty CRD, Limited
GDE Eco Tune, GDE TCM Tune, Bauer 203* Tstat, Amsoil EaA 201 Filter, Clean MAP, Samco CAC Hoses, Magnaflow Muffler #12226.
New Mopar Fuel Filter, K&N Filterminder, Fumoto Oil Drain Valve
225/75R16 Hankook Dynapros

Grumpy? Hey now... I might be under-tall and over-round, but that isn't any way to talk about a guy, especially when you are the "stout dog"!
Besides... I'd prefer Beast. He got rightfully irritated when his stuff wasn't respected... And Belle was so much hotter than Snow White.

Yea, this place EASILY is the CRD Brain-trust of the USA. Just remember the training that all the dealers got (outside of Detroit, who actually have the VM reps in the same city). All the dealers chose 1-2 guys and they got the "training" of a 30 minute video and a short quiz... 5 YEARS ago. With less than 20k CRDs sold in the USA (does anyone truly know the actual number?) and quite a few sadly wrecked due to life and attrition... It is a crap shoot as to whether your dealer has ever seen more than one of these. Toss in a far-flung location like I-can-see-Canada-from-my-house Alaska... And it is a safe bet they really ARE learning about the CRD with your truck.

Yes, I have had my share of bad experiences with dealers... But I have also found that it isn't always the dealer's fault. When the SALES GUY tries to warn me that there is something badly wrong with my Jeep as I drive in b/c of how it sounds... And replies with "Those things were sold with a diesel???" When told that the clatter is a normal sound... Judge the dealer quality for yourself.

_________________
Proud supporting vendor of LOST Jeeps
TRAVELING CRD TECH. I come to you!
Need help? Just ask! I've taken it apart more than most.
Email jeep [at] maincomputer [dot] com - BOARD MESSAGING IS BROKEN
Over 225 CRDs currently driving with my valves, timing belt, rockers, or ARP Studs.
Bad noises = REALLY bad things.