rancherman Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 Hey guys, I've been sniffing around, looking for a 2005-2006 liberty for a couple weeks now, and settled on one I found in Texas. Flew my son down there yesterday to drive it home.. He's really happy how much power this thing has. I can't wait to get my hands on it... He says it sounds just like a 12v cummins at idle, but soon as you roll into the throttle, it smoothes out. It's a vm 2.8 CRD, uses bosch injectors, and the CP3 injection pump. I could relate his experience yesterday, but It would not be possible to put it into words.... Just think of a rural country boy, being dumped into the lions' pit of Texas... and combating his way from San Antonio to Dallas... at 3 pm. He said this was NOT the way for 'learning' how to drive a new vehicle! He said the 70 to 90 mph bursts needed to stay alive on this freeway was effortless in the little diesel.. He spent the night with buddies from his Marine Corps. days in OK city last night. He really dodged a bullet! last night, San Antonio got dumped on and is experiencing floods!! I'll get pics soon as the jeep gets 'home'.! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mopartechnician Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 I got to play with one of those jeeps pre production at the training center in kansas city. Pretty cool little rigs. Know of a guy that used his to haul hay bales on a trailer with it. Took a couoke transmission out before we could get it through his head that you couldnt use it like a 3/4 ton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilikeoldfords Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 I had no idea they offered a diesel in the liberty!! That seems like it would be a handy little rig. What kind of mileage are they getting? I am assuming they are turboed, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MnTom Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 Will, THIS ARTICLE will tell you all about the diesel Liberty. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilikeoldfords Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 Wow... I had no idea!! I kind of want to find one now too. I really wish they had left the option for the 5 speed manual but I guess you win some and lose some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancherman Posted September 19, 2014 Author Share Posted September 19, 2014 5 speed, but it's automatic! 545 re, but all 5 gears are enabled... I guess when it's in the Dakota, it's neutered to 4 speed only. No manuals here in USA.. but very popular in Europe and Australia. Chrysler even stopped shipping their gas engine equipped (3.7) mid year, and only offered the diesel. for 2007 onward, Mercedes got the job of supplier, but they went into Cherokees only. (here in USA) overseas, you could get the diesel in anything.. even the Wrangler. Son said his first tank of fuel pencil'd out at 28 mpg, next tank was 26.5 All running 70-75 average, with the ac on. Rob plugged in the scanner to watch on the trip home.. Boost is about 10psi at cruise, and jumps to 20-22 on full power. Yep, it has an intercooler too! You can just hear the turbo spooling too. I drove It about 5 miles after he got home, man! I cannot believe it's only 2.8 litres! Quite snappy for a 4500# vehicle. It got cut from the herd when it failed epa for 2008. What is this Country's malfunction??? When the sun comes up tomorrow, I'll snap some pics. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mopartechnician Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 Epa can only see the trees. Not the whole forrest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancherman Posted September 19, 2014 Author Share Posted September 19, 2014 (edited) Wow... I had no idea!! I kind of want to find one now too. I really wish they had left the option for the 5 speed manual but I guess you win some and lose some. Same here... 2 weeks ago, I was totally unaware of them. I've always liked the 'look' of the Liberty, especially the 2004-2008? years I searched several sites, Autotrader, searchtempest, ebay,.. Last week, there were 122 of these for sale on Autotrader.com alone. They are out there! Prices range from 6500 up to 14,000. Mine has 72k miles, I paid 10,500. LOL< this is still pretty fresh in my mind (all the searching).. There are several on the front range area of Colorado in the $12-13k range.. Very popular in that neck of the woods. It appears I'm not the only one in 'here' with one! dennhop has a '06 too! Edited September 19, 2014 by rancherman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Wild and Free Posted September 20, 2014 Moderator Share Posted September 20, 2014 I had an 03 Liberty Renegade for about 6 months, awesome little rig but mine had the 3.7 V-6 which is why I only had it for 6 months, traded it in on my wifes 03 TDI Jetta. 15-16 mpg with a little jeep up to 45+ mpg with the jetta. I looked for a liberty diesel before we traded on the Jetta but I couldn't swallow the 20K plus price tag of the then used ones at that time yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MnTom Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 As a side note, Bill, On my son's 2006 Jetta TDI he said he got 48 mpg out of his last tankfull. I put a small piece of aluminum blocking the EGR flow for a test and he even said it has more power. According to VCDS the MAF is used to measure flow for the EGR so no code or light! Now back to your regularly scheduled programming......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer223 Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 i to have been looking into the jeep thing for some time.. i 've found one... http://flagstaff.craigslist.org/rvd/4673941658.html i'm test drive it tomorrow. makes me wonder., do they make deletes for chips for them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diesel4life Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 Just beware the VM engines utilize a timing belt with 100k mile service intervals. I had a friend with one and he chose to do a little PM while he was in there and found out just how expensive them little engines were! $250 for a water pump, roughly the same for the TB kit, $60 for the stat, $200+ for the serpentine belt and tensioner. This was 4 or 5 years ago and he used all OEM parts, so the prices may or may not be the same but at the time it was an expensive little engine to maintain and parts were hard to come by for them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancherman Posted September 20, 2014 Author Share Posted September 20, 2014 i to have been looking into the jeep thing for some time.. i 've found one... http://flagstaff.craigslist.org/rvd/4673941658.html i'm test drive it tomorrow. makes me wonder., do they make deletes for chips for them? greendieselengineering.com (GDE) sells a reflash for these CRD's and VW's TDI's, some Mercedes too. This VM engine uses EGR, AND at the same time runs the crank case vent back through the turbo. Oil and soot, as you may suspect, really love each other! It'll pack the most unholy sludge and tar into the intake manifold. The GDE 'tune' will keep the egr closed 100% of the time, without throwing the CEL. Sure, blocking plates do the same, but what happens then, the computer will not 'see' the expected exhaust in the intake... and will throw the code. They have ECO tune, Hot tune, and even a turbo upgrade tune. I'm going with the ECO tune (which restores full torque) and just reroute the CCV to the atmosphere.. Which will make the turbo hose live a LOT longer without the oily mix going through! The ECO tune gets HP up to 180, Hot tune is good for 200. They don't say what the 'turbo upgrade' kit is running... "whole nother sport" is mentioned... hmmm Our Libbys were dealer 'detuned' "service F37" after torque convertor shudder problems arose. Simple fix.. put the European export TC in the vehicle! Nope! Chrysler decided to limit torque at cruise speed (@ lockup).. sheesh. I'm going with the Mopar TC. But I'm going to wait to see if it really need it for now. Yep, there are other 'module' boxes for increased power, but they don't address the egr problem. 500 bucks for their reflash is a little spendy, but keeping a clean MAP sensor, and unsooted/tarred up intake has benefits too! along with the extra pep, 3-5 mpgs to boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diesel4life Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 Malone makes tunes for the Liberty CRD and while I don't have any first hand experience with them in the VM engines they would be my first choice as they are very well known and respected in the VW TDI world. I know a guy who runs their economy tune, he experienced +2 mpg improvement. The tune also came with dynamic EGR and dynamic idle, meaning the idle automatically ramps up when under a certain coolant temp. This is a great feature because the TDIs are so efficient they will NOT warm up at idle and actually have been problematic when left to idle at cold temps. They do also make performance tunes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancherman Posted September 20, 2014 Author Share Posted September 20, 2014 Just beware the VM engines utilize a timing belt with 100k mile service intervals. I had a friend with one and he chose to do a little PM while he was in there and found out just how expensive them little engines were! $250 for a water pump, roughly the same for the TB kit, $60 for the stat, $200+ for the serpentine belt and tensioner. This was 4 or 5 years ago and he used all OEM parts, so the prices may or may not be the same but at the time it was an expensive little engine to maintain and parts were hard to come by for them. IDparts.com shows a oem timing kit for $399 Not too bad I guess. (far cheaper than a bunch of bent valves, smashed pistions...etc) I think 'today' parts are fairly available... back when the engine was 'new', I hear it was a nightmare waiting for parts to come from Italy. I guess I'll find out how this plays out in the future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diesel4life Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 IDParts is a great place to order from, I've used them to order everything for the TDI. Much better quality then off the shelf aftermarket stuff IMO. Does the kit come with everything I listed above? If so that is a great price compared to what it was 5 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancherman Posted September 20, 2014 Author Share Posted September 20, 2014 IDParts is a great place to order from, I've used them to order everything for the TDI. Much better quality then off the shelf aftermarket stuff IMO. Does the kit come with everything I listed above? If so that is a great price compared to what it was 5 years ago. yep. http://www.idparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2721 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISX Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Brother had one and got rid of it after not wanting to do the timing belt thing. Seemed nice, I didn't like how it felt behind the wheel but maybe I'm not used to these newer vehicles. We raced and my jeep blew it's doors off lol. My jeep could also keep up with my dodge You can get a lot of headway with a long 3.07 rear and 5000 RPM's at your disposal compared to my dodge's 3.55 and 3000RPM. I can do 60 in 2nd in the jeep. 105 in 3rd (according to tire/gear calculations). My jeep gets a consistent 18-22mpg. Pretty happy with the POS haha. I do love it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancherman Posted September 21, 2014 Author Share Posted September 21, 2014 I hear ya! short wheel base, higher center of gravity, It seems a little on the oversteering side of the bubble.. It's gonna take some time to get used to. ... who the heck drives a jeep cause it's known for it's road carving ability? lol. Good to see you around Ryan. Funny story about this jeep... I only got it because the last guy who wanted to buy it... backed out because he didn't know it was a diesel.. and said the engine sounded terrible... *yep, I would too, if I was expecting the 3.7!* This vehicle I think will be a fun little 'tinker toy'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISX Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 My gripe was that the steering wheel seemed off center. It seemed like it was mounted an inch off center so when you turned, the steering wheel traced out some oblong shape. I think it was just the shape of the steering wheel but it drove me nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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