Considering a 2005 CRD

[JDMcQ]

Hello all,

I have been lurking about this and some other forums the past week or so. I am considering purchasing a 2005 Liberty Limited CRD with 66,000 miles on it. I briefly had an '05 3.7, but it lost a cat 2 days after purchase and was returned to the dealership as they did not want to pay to fix it.

I have looked around and there is quite a lot of great info here on the CRD, but I could not find exactly what I was looking for. As a potential buyer, what can one expect from CRD ownership as far as reliability and cost of ownership? By cost, I mean just regular running about bone stock. What kind of reliability issues is one to expect? What should one look out for when purchasing?

Thanks in advance.

John

 

[rockymountain]

I would go over to lostkjs.com. I secretly want a CRD, but I would probably loose patience with it. That's just me though. There are many things you can do to make them reliable. all that is over on lost and you could read for days on it.

 

[JDMcQ]

Thanks, I have been over there and actually posted the same thread.

When you say "There are many things you can do to make them reliable", what do you mean? Are they not reliable in stock form?

 

[rockymountain]

From what I've read over on lost, NO they are not reliable out of the box. I think the first thing you should be thinking is a Green diesel engineering (GDE) tune with the EGR delete. I only know that from reading. Like I said, I'm a closet CRD wanter. I'll never have one though.

 

[JDMcQ]

I understand. Thank you for your input.

I really liked the gas Liberty that I briefly had, the thought of added torque and economy has me thinking of an oil burner. I don't, of course, want to get into something that will beat me up with additional maintenance and repair costs.

 

[rockymountain]

Yeah, I've had the fortunate occasion where a CRD was in front of me and it simply kept pulling away from me WOT. Awesome site really to see one of these go that fast.

As for the 3.7 you had it could have been a warranty issue since cats are covered for 8 years I think with emissions warranty. Anyway, I've seen many CRDs for sale that already have a GDE tune. You just have to look.

 

[JDMcQ]

The 3.7 had 101,000 on it already. The engine got wet, from the dealership detailing and a day later two of the coils stopped firing while I was driving it. This caused a backfire in bank 2 and shattered the substrate in that cat. I was just as happy to give it back, I think that trans was acting up as well, it hesitated for at least a full second before going in to drive or reverse from neutral/park.

 

[rockymountain]

The 3.7 had 101,000 on it already. The engine got wet, from the dealership detailing and a day later two of the coils stopped firing while I was driving it. This caused a backfire in bank 2 and shattered the substrate in that cat. I was just as happy to give it back, I think that trans was acting up as well, it hesitated for at least a full second before going in to drive or reverse from neutral/park.

:freak3: :shrug:

 

[JDMcQ]

Exactly.

 

[JDMcQ]

Well...There is a silver 2005 Liberty Limited CRD sitting in my driveway. I love it so far, very comfortable, plenty of power. Thank you all for your help. I will continue to be around, I look forward to seeing you all on the forum.

 

[Billwill]

Well...There is a silver 2005 Liberty Limited CRD sitting in my driveway. I love it so far, very comfortable, plenty of power. Thank you all for your help. I will continue to be around, I look forward to seeing you all on the forum.

Main thing with the CRD...as you will have seen on Lostjeeps....is to make sure the cam timing belt is properly replaced every 100,000 miles.

Then look at the GDE tune for the ECU and look at getting rid of the oil that gets pumped into the CAC hoses by the PCV system and using SAMCO hoses when your existing standard CAC hose blow.

 

[Lancer]

There is nothing basically wrong with the reliability of the CRD - it is as reliable as most vehicles in stock form - depends on how it's been driven, maintained etc. Or course there are a number of things you can do to improve it from your viewpoint or to adapt it to better suit your requirements - and the Samco hoses would be my first step if I were you, and check that things (esp the timing and serpentine belts) have been changed at the appropriate intervals. Everything else - Greendiesel tune, armour, OME etc - just improves the vehicle or suits it for your requirements.