Jeep Liberty 2.8L turbo diesel

Joined
Aug 15, 2015
Location
Orillia
TDI
1999.5 jetta tdi
Does any one know anything about these jeeps? Thinking about getting one. What attracts me to it is the 4x4 and it being only a 2.8l diesel engine. I currently drive a 1999.5 jetta tdi and love it. But I'm also planning on moving to Prince Edward Island. The winters out there are pretty bad. In my opinion a 4x4 would be a must have.
 
Joined
Aug 15, 2015
Location
Orillia
TDI
1999.5 jetta tdi
Also if any one has one, how many km are on it? I'm wondering if you can get 500,000 plus km out of that engine. I see a few on kijiji with about 260,000 km.
 

turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
I would think 500k km should be possible. Please tell me you are the North Pond hermit. :D
 

crazyrunner33

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2006
Location
NC
TDI
'10 Golf(bought back)
My parents had two, got rid of them at 160k and 230k miles. The torque converter are garbage, Jeep detuned the engine to save the converter. So keep in mind the cost of a converter from the European Wrangler, or the Suncoast upgrade. The interior quality and comfort is comparable to an upscale prison cell, Diamler went the El cheapo route on it. But the body is solid, it looked brand new after never seeing a garage through most of it's Michigan life. They're solid vehicles if you know their limitations.

The fuel system is bullet proof, it has the much desired CP3 with a built in lift pump on the CP3. Sometimes it'll have a hard start issue, but that's usually just air in the system, it's super easy to bleed the fuel filter when that happens. The turbo is a Garret VNT of the same generation as the one used in the ALH, a GT2052v, so expect the same turbo issues on the ALH. Otherwise, you may have some actuator corrosion issues. Vane sticking issues are also common, but are avoidable if you give it full throttle to red line a few times a week. My dad's Jeep with 230k saw redline every day and ran a lot better than my mom's with 160k, the fuel economy on his was 28-32, my mom's was low 20s and drove like a dog.

These also have the same EGR issues as the ALH, disconnecting the MAF is a must, it'll keep the intake clogging and help prevent the turbo vanes from sticking. MAP sensor needs to be cleaned periodically. The real interesting bugger on this is the unique control arm/wish bone on the rear, it's not shared on too many platforms, as a result it is pretty expensive to replace when the bushings fail.

I hope that gives you a clear expectation on the little guy. It's a solid vehicle with some quirks here and there.
 

Chris B

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2001
Location
N. central Illinois
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon 5 spd
I owned an '05 CRD and dumped it happily when it was just past 100K. Leave it to Daimler/Chrysler (at the time) to take a perfectly good engine and totally FUBAR it in a complete POS. I've never had a vehicle self destruct so quickly. I had to fix more things on it in 100K than I've done on my TDI in 300K.

Sticking brakes, bad u-joints, bad rear control arm bushings, bad motor mounts, blown intercooler hoses, leaking injector seal, it ate EGR valves every 20K and the intake FCV ("throttle" motor) every 40K.

They had the EGR rate turned up so high the thing was choking on it's own sh!t all the time. Finally I installed a "cheat" box to disable it and it made it into a whole new vehicle. It quit blowing black smoke all the time, got better mileage, ran better, oil quit turning to goo after 5000 miles from soot loading, and obviously the EGR was going to last a lot longer :) .

That said, I loved driving it. Yeah, seat comfort was prison cell quality, but it was a fun little buggar. I just got really sick of fixing it. I would have kept it as a "hobby" car but it just wasn't in the cards at the time.

Chris
 

Kevinski4

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Aug 31, 2007
Location
Nebraska
TDI
.
It's sort of like a mini 6.0 Powerstroke Excursion. Once you've dumped $5k into making it reliable, it will run a long time (tq converter, shift kit, tune, new set of lifters, head studs, CCV reroute, new fuel filter assembly that doesn't leak or start on fire, ect).
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
It is a decent engine that unfortunately found its way into a typical craporific ChryCo product. In the same vein as the Cummins powered Rams, in my opinion. So same crappy brakes, suspension, HVAC, paint, interior trim bits, etc.

I am a closet Jeep fan, so I'd probably own one if I really wanted/needed one I guess, but I would have pretty low expectations from it.
 
Joined
Aug 15, 2015
Location
Orillia
TDI
1999.5 jetta tdi
Wow thanks for all the replies sorry it took me this long to send out a reply. Didn't know how to use this site properly. Well needless to say I stayed away from that jeep. And just bought a nother vw . Went from a 1999.5 alh TDI golf with all the bells and whistles to a 1999.5 Jetta TDI basic lol. No electrical problems with this one.lol
 

UFO

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2007
Location
A mile high
TDI
2001 Beetle
I owned an '05 CRD and dumped it happily when it was just past 100K. Leave it to Daimler/Chrysler (at the time) to take a perfectly good engine and totally FUBAR it in a complete POS. I've never had a vehicle self destruct so quickly. I had to fix more things on it in 100K than I've done on my TDI in 300K.

Sticking brakes, bad u-joints, bad rear control arm bushings, bad motor mounts, blown intercooler hoses, leaking injector seal, it ate EGR valves every 20K and the intake FCV ("throttle" motor) every 40K.

They had the EGR rate turned up so high the thing was choking on it's own sh!t all the time. Finally I installed a "cheat" box to disable it and it made it into a whole new vehicle. It quit blowing black smoke all the time, got better mileage, ran better, oil quit turning to goo after 5000 miles from soot loading, and obviously the EGR was going to last a lot longer :) .

That said, I loved driving it. Yeah, seat comfort was prison cell quality, but it was a fun little buggar. I just got really sick of fixing it. I would have kept it as a "hobby" car but it just wasn't in the cards at the time.

Chris
I had the same experience with mine. The engine and fuel injection is top notch, but Chrysler screwed up the implementation.

Aside from the non-engine related stuff (lost the power steering rack, AC fan, power window), it has the strangest issues.

-The CAN bus interface is too busy, so an OBDII device like a code reader or scangauge cannot be used reliably. A symptom of this was the automatic transmission refusing to shift gears.
-The fuel system feed is suction only, and the smallest air leak will accumulate in the fuel filter, causing the filter heater element to be exposed and burn out. There is a replacement filter head available, but the air leak is not solved. This results in extreme sensitivity to filter plugging. I cannot count the number of times the vehicle shut down on the road due to low fuel pressure at the CP3 pump (ECM shuts the engine off at the worst times). A lift pump can be installed either in or out of the tank, and should have been standard equipment.
-The EGR system is programmed with way too much exhaust flow. If something was not done (I disabled mine at 40k miles) before 100k miles, I guarantee you that intake is completely clogged, and it is not easy to get to (way worse than an ALH).

Other than that, I loved the vehicle, but I'm glad I sold it before I was in too deep.
 
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