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Comments
Tony :shades:
Farout
Farout
I am assuming this is for the 15W-40. For the AST-445 @ 40 it seems a touch high, but the other numbers fall into the same ball park as the other oils I mentioned. You will probably be fine with this oil under all conditions except for really cold days. I cannot tell where that cut off point is. I live in metro D.C. and our winters are generally pretty easy on a diesel. It is rare to see single digit cold and even rarer to see subzero cold here.
As to the ball joints, I have no answer for you on who makes them for DCX but if they are made by MOOG, then they are good ones. I used tie rod ends from them some many years ago and I never had to replace them.
This engine from VM Motori is a really good engine. The basic design and components are first class. It is the add on emissions stuff and injection system from Bosch that makes it appear problematic. There are good injection systems and there are really great injection systems. Bosch makes both and I do not know which one they gave us. Siemens also makes good stuff but I had Siemens injectors on my 1993 Dakota with 5.2L V-8 and six failed in 70K miles. Replaced them with Bosch equivalent and they did not fail. Had Bosch injection on a 1985 Dodge Daytona Turbo and it was flawless. Go figure.
Another thing I'm wondering is cold weather starting. The vehicle will be setting outside at work all day- no place to plug it in- will this be an issue? It can be garaged and plugged at home. Seems like I read that the new pickups have in tank heaters now so fuel stays warm and wont gel up. Does the CRD have this?
Ball Joints- there are only a few manufactureres here in the US. Anything bought aftermarket such as MOOG is only a packaging name. They are forged and assembled by a big name then sold off to companys like Moog or Federal Mogul then they re-pack em under thier name. We now have stiff competion from the global market on this stuff. Very possible the stock units on a CRD could have come from overseas. There are new companys breaking into the market. We have lost several jobs due to thier cheaper pricing, the quality wasn't there, and we have brought some of that work back in. The safety factor does play a major role in the suspension components and the auto manufacturers get excited when failure occurs. I haven't had the chance to look under a CRD yet to see what the cap looks like-- I hope its not one of ours!!
Bob in Mi
Bob
Farout
Tony
It is important to have winterized diesel, but every service station in Michigan (or any other northern state) that sells diesel will be selling winter diesel during the appropriate months. Only an issue if you fill up in Florida in January and somehow make it back here with their winter diesel in the tank. I believe I did have this issue on a recent trip to Colorado, where I bought diesel in the desert and then apparently had gelling up at 10,000 feet in the mountains, but that won't be an issue in Michigan.
I've heard of in-tank heaters for Class 8 semis so that they can avoid the Florida fuel in northern winter issue that I just described. I'm not sure how common it is for them; you can also avoid the problem with fuel additives that don't cost very much.
If you do buy a CRD, I recommend Meijer premium diesel, which is one of the best brands I've found to have my CRD running happily. It also tends to be among the cheapest. BPAmoco premium diesel also works great but the only station with it that I know if is 60 miles from where I live.
Nothing new, ask us old timers from the rust belt. Screw and bolt companies succumbing to inferior products with false rockwell numbers. Wire nails made from soft as lead "steel" that bent if you looked at them. And calls for the end to unions and protection of professional workers earning a decent wage. You asked for your cheap parts and we got them. End users know what they are buying cheap and passing it on. But glad to hear you got some of your business back and I hope it continues for all of us.
As I said months ago, I will pay for quality, I will pay so that someone earns a fair wage. We paid enough for our jeep. No, we didn't get $8,000 off sticker. Tells you how much money(quality?) is in the product.
Yes, it is the opinion of some/many that some auto workers have been living high on the hog even when the lines are down. DCX was the first? to squeeze the suppliers and therein was it also for visteon(ford) and delphi(gm) and how many unknown suppliers.
I have found a Sport with tow pkg down by Detroit- now I need to get there and drive it. Are you happy with yours in all other aspects?
BallJoints again-- Mexico is a major player in the field here- when I said overseas- I shoulda said out-of country. We have a sister plant in Mexico that is stealing work from us- its scary. They use it as a constant threat. Problem with Mexico right now is they aren't up to speed with technology- but are gaining fast. One job we got back was one they couldn't produce with quality.
Has anybody been able to see any kind of name on the ball joint caps- or lettering? All of out products are date coded and and stamped with the "TRW" logo. Lemforder just went out of business not too long ago - they were heavy in the auto end of the joint business. I'm wondering if it was some of thier junk. Would really like to know who made them!
Bob
Anyone interested in some ST's?
Best of luck! LK
The CRD - I have a Sport with towing package. I am fairly happy with it, but not 100%. I occasionally have the shuddering problem, which is a major nuisance. It seems to be fuel related and rarely if ever occurs running on Meijer diesel, but I don't know for sure what causes it (does anyone???). I get the EPA rated mileage or slightly better and am pretty happy with my gas mileage. I have not had any mechanical problems, but the EGR issue makes me nervous. I bought the CRD after having a Civic Hybrid so I was used to a small car with high mpg. I now sometimes wish I had bought something even bigger, but that has nothing to do with the diesel engine or the Liberty itself. The backseat is small for adults and my wife dislikes the grab bar in the passenger side - she sometimes hits her knee on it. I also don't do any serious offroading, so while the advanced 4wd makes it great in the snow, it's somewhat wasted capability for me (it is pretty much unstoppable in bad weather, if that's important to you). I will say that build quality seems very good and I find there is not much gap in usefulness or feeling of quality between my Liberty and what I was used to with two Hondas (04 Hybrid and 01 Accord) before it. That's partly because the particular Accord that I owned was one of the few Hondas made that can and should be squeezed into a refreshing summertime beverage normally served cold, if you get my drift. Basically, if a Liberty is a good choice for you, I would definitely get the CRD instead of the gas version.
I read in one of the forms that someone was going to install zerks into the ends. That is a very bad idea. The triboliogy between the ball's finish, bearing and special grease is very complex and grease one can get a wally world will not work. There are only two company in the world that make the grease used and it was designed for that application, its very expensive. We placed 4.5 to 7.75 grams of grease in a TRE. The boot is what protects the joint, take care of these. The water will cause the grease to fail and the corrode the ball stud damaging the bearing, thus failure.
We also had a plant in Mexico but only did assembly there, they did a good job.
Just FYI The Falken Ziex S/TZ04 - P235/70SR16 load range C is 29.1 inches in diameter the Goodyear ST is 29.3.
I am the one who posted on drilling and zerting them. I have access to the grease. And yes it is some heavy duty stuff. I just seen a schematic on a forum somewhere -it looks like it may be tuff to drill the lowers without dissassembling the vehicle though........
Mexico is assembly only for us now also- cheap labor.
Bob
The 245-70-16 are a closer match than the 235's. I have them on my KJ, good clearance
Specification Sidewall Radius Diameter Circumference Revs/Mile Difference
225/75-16 6.6in 14.6in 29.3in 92.0in 689 0.0%
245/70-16 6.8in 14.8in 29.5in 92.7in 684 0.7%
Cheers! LK
Farout
I just checked my ball joints for play. I have about 0.3mm on the driver side and no play on the passenger side. The manual says 1.5mm is the maximum we should accept. The skirts protecting the spheres are still soft and there is no apparent rust or emulsion visible there. I think the heat reflecting fins do a good job. If we were to go for MOOG ball joints, where would the grease nipple be fitted? It's already very hard to get our fingers in there.
To answer your question about life expectancy of this truck, I would have to refer to a weak element and have found none so far.
While rotating my BFGs I measured disc brakes thickness: mine are now at 26.7 and 26.8 mm within the range of 28 when new and 26 when due for a change. This means I should be getting close to 70,000 miles from the original discs and pads. This is a sign of excellence. :shades:
Being alredy dirty and under the truck, I checked again the reference of my tranny: it's labelled RFE 462. It has the current ratios of the 545 RFE according to specs. Is it different to what you have? You can see the sticker by leaning below the driver's door. I read this tranny was a bit more "beefy" than the 545. Is it really?
Another thing about life expectancy: the body has antirust galvanic protection and the truck is fully coated underneath with a black wax or polymer. I hit a few rocks here and there but there is no sign of damage whatsoever.
I pulled out the airfilter and noticed the folds were black, as usual, but this time they were greasy. My airbox intake port is located above the right hand side headlight, in the crack where the hood curves around the headlight. Where could this oil come from? From outside the body of the truck would be greasy as well, could be from a retrodiffusion of oil mist via the ccv.
A last observation is the intercooler inlet hose seems to remain cleaner (no oil swetting or accumulating there) during summer; difficult to understand when using the same oil all year round. It may also be oil condensing there because of the cold environment during winter and evaporating because of hot summer air. Perhaps crd owners from Alaska and Florida could input on this.
It is difficult to understand because you are over thinking it, Caribou1. My air filter was like yours at the first change - black and partly oily. Also, I had a light dusting of oily soot around and on the front of the engine.
I cleaned and tightened the oil covered intercooler hoses and installed them with the clamps much tighter. I still have oil seeping at the margin between the hose and the intercooler inlet. The oil migrates down the bottom of the hose and eventually up the sides, but it starts at the margin. At 23k miles my air cleaner is still white with a little road dust and there is no new soot on the front of the engine.
I believe you have a pin hole leak (under high boost) somewhere around the front of the intercooler hose and it is blowing soot/crankcase fumes where it can get into your air cleaner. True the air pick up is out front but there is the crack you mention and the drain holes in the bottom of the air box.
I've had several other diesels and still have a Toyota diesel as second car. I usually vacuum clean my air filters but this time it was useless. Concerning tightening of my hose clamps you could be right. When I sneeked under the hood for the first time I noticed the clamps were so tight that one of the connection tubes that fits inside the hose was shaped like a D. I will check again.
When I purchased/took delivery of my CRD, I asked if it was possible to put zerk fittings in the ball joints and tie rod ends. The tech said such was not possible and that the units were sealed. I have looked at all of the joints and the boots are translucent. I can see a level of grease in all of them. That level is about 2/3 full (best guess).
If I ever need to replace these parts, I will buy the good stuff and have the extended warranty pay for the labor, if such is possible. I asked the tech why they removed the zerk fittings and his response was rather surprising to me. He stated "EPA rules". Leaking grease is considered an environmental hazard.
As to the front end on my 1993 Dakota, I never replaced a single ball joint or tie rod end as they came with zerk fittings and I lubricated them every 5K miles with a high quality synthetic grease from Amsoil. Had the ball joints checked at 92K and the were tight like new. Practically no play. The shop was mounting some tires I had mail ordered. They had several of their techs check and they were impressed. They told me ball joints generally fail around 60K on Dakotas' of my vintage. They all attributed the condition of these components to good care and the grease.
I'm glad you are smart enough to know I didn't research the astm's about oil. Should we call you our winter2 the oilguy. I believe an engineer told me that if we go to Canada this winter that we would have to plug the block heater in - .
Translucent ball joint doughnuts? All I know from is black rubber. Dealer held firm on free warranty work and factory replacement parts. The new lower ball joints are leaking carrier oil? that is being absorbed by the cast iron. Caribou1's ball joint picture showed doughnuts with a slight bulge compared to ours. I always suspected our lbj's.
Researched the generals products based on your advice and farout about the failings of gm products I mentioned. (I previewed a post and deleted a reference to tell Dr. Z to get back behind the Rhine some time back). We are hoping that Wagner at GM can keep that corporate raider out and believe if they get to complete the turnaroud at gm we will have to look no further.
We got a free subscription to Petersen's and in this latest issue of the inbox they defend the push rod engine.
Some people (even synlubes?) get 18-24 on their diesel. Why is a push rod so bad.
Thank you winter2 for all the posts.
I keep meaning to write my representatives and express how stupid the 2007 emissions requirements for diesels are in light of $3/gallon gas. Here is an existing, mature technology that could save every vehicle 30% or more on its fuel consumption, but it's being pushed to the very outer fringes by unreasonably tight emissions laws.
As I understand it, there will be a Liberty CRD for MY 2008 with a different engine. The present engine will continue to be made in Europe so parts should not be an issue.
I have had my CRD since May 2005 and absolutely love it. I wish it were a touch larger (longer) but all in all I am pleased to death with this critter.
How often do you change your oil? The first Change I did was at 9,120 miles, and this time it was 8,000 miles. I had to add 1 qt between oil changes this time. I put in the Rotella 5-40w with the Mobil 1 0-40w. It seems to have blended pretty well as far as I can tell. I doubt anyone can tell how well the oil is just by looking at it, mine oil turns pitch black at 300 miles, so who can tell by color? Diesel fuel is $2.90 a gallon here up from $2.64 two weeks ago. I believe your diesel is even more isn't it?
Farout
Farout
I know full well that the VW TDI is a real mess. At least people had a history they could look at. Now we do as well, for some it has been less than satisfactory, for the rest of us we are glad we have what we HOPE will be a good diesel Liberty.
Don't be so hard on those who feel we were taken advantage of, regardless if it was a super CRD and had no problems, DCX should have been clear and up front with the facts!
Farout