CRD Auto Lost Power - Front air flow problem?

[SharpWraX]

My CRD auto has been awesome since new in 07. I was cruising back from short country trip. VERY hot day and traveled about 150km. Almost back via freeway, the JK just lost power and would not go faster than 80km with 0 acceleration. The slightest hill was a drama that needed hazard lights on as I was down to 60km.

My first thought was blown turbo pipe as sudden loss of power felt like what others had described to me. Main temp gauge was on 12 o'clock as normal.

Made it home. Next morning I arranged to take to dealer. Started fine and couldn't identify pipe issue. Dealer also couldn't find any turbo pipe drama. Put JK on workshop computer. All fine.

Got me thinking about the possible impact of air flow into main grill due to large spotties, PP winch and ARB hoop bar. I also have vertical grille sections in main JK grille to portect cooler. All up possibly a bit of a barrier.

See pic. Could this be the reason for such a power loss?

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7346/img0491g.jpg

[COMPTONX]

its your turbo pipe. better if you get aftermarket steel pipes

[Stevil]

Yes those spotty aren't doing you any favours !, I had my first exp of what you've described on Sat on a long steep hill at speed, notice my speed had come back to 100kmh and my temp had gone over 1/2 for the 1st time ever in 3 & 1/2 years even thou I've driven in much hotter conditions.

I pull the top cover off and I've got too many grass hoppers in there !!. I've organised to have both radiator and intercooler pulled out and cleaned. Intercooler will be internally cleaned of the oily crap also as I've done almost 180,000kms.

other potential is the fan, is it working all the time ? I be getting mine tested also

Steve

[glend]

Sounds like a classic case of 'Sensor Confusion'. I had the same thing happen to me climbing out the back of Jenolan Caves. Lost power, no progress possible on the climb, it had all the appearances of a turbo hose gone. Luckily we had a Jeep mechanic with us on the trip and he came over to have a look. He looked at the shaking engine, checked the injector wiring, and then told me to turn it off (which really worried me because I thought it would not start again). He said turn it back on, and bingo it started up like nothing had ever happened. Sensor Confusion he says, apparently it happens now and then to the VM engines, and the fix is to reset things by powering off and restarting. There you go. BTW, it never happened again (but I switched over to the GDE ECO tune flash software shortly after that trip so maybe that has had something to do with it).

Now it could also be the tranny overheating, the TCM can put the Jeep into limp mode. Maybe the Jeep guys should have looked at the TCM memory, if they did but didn't find anything then it probably comes back to sensor confusion. If you don't have a transmission temperature gauge get one, everyone in Oz with an Auto should have one, and you probably need an auxiliary tranny cooler as well (B&M make some nice ones available from Rocket Industries here in Oz). The engine temperatures rarely change in a CRD, they manage their heat load very well, but the transmission is another story. You can significantly prolong the life of the tranny and protect the clutches and seals by watching the fluid temp and adding another cooler to shed heat. I have two (one is the KJ CRD original equipment, and the second is a B&M plate model with a 12V switchable fan on it). On a really hot day I can see a drop of 20-30F across the coolers (I run two gauge sensors (into a single Prosport gauge via a switch) that I can switch back and forth to see what sort of cooling effect the coolers are having). One sensor (hot one) is in the pan and the other in the cooler return line (cool one). In city traffic or when crawling off road the booster fan really helps get the heat out. Don't forget that the Air Con condensor is dropping heat into your coolant stack (AC condensor, tranny cooler - if equipped, intercooler and radiator) up front and turning off the AC (no matter that is creates comfort problems) is one way of getting rid of heat from that coolant stack.

Good luck

[Yom]

if you have mesh or flyscreen acting as bug protector you should remove it immediately.

[Dr Phil]

If it was was actually overheating the temp gauge would have spiked to the max. At 120c the red flashing temp light comes on. If it is the Auto/Aircon giving the high temp reading you would also feel the aircon go from cold air to hot air pretty quickly.

You said it was a hot day. Did you have A/C going and did it start blowing warm air?

[SharpWraX]

air con on and still cool air.

[Bluey]

Sharparte I have had the same problem for some time and thought it was the driving lights or winch blocking the air flow. I removed them and it made it better but i still have an overheating issue. On the week end i towed our horse float and when the engine temp hit about 105 dergrees up a slight long hill but with still no movement on the temp gauge the boost pressure dropped from about 21lb to 15lb, this does not sound much but takes alot of power out of the engine. I have a clean booked in for tomorrow and if this does not fix it i will chase up some one to make up a larger radiator. I am hoping they find the radiator blocked and a good clean fixes the problem.


The overheating only happens when temp above 35 degrees and after a steep long incline or a lessor incline with a horse float on, even empty.

[tdwrangler]

I've noticed my truck gets EXTREMELY sluggish in hot weather with the A/C on. Never budges on the temp gauge, but sometimes it feels like its gonna stall when taking off in 1st unless I give it a good rev. And I really have to wind it up through the gears to get anything close to normal acceleration.

[Yom]

The JK CRD we get has some challenges with cooling I think.

The J8 with the same CRD makes do with no front mount intercooler (also has less power and torque though)

If you have been anywhere near mud or you are not the first owner of the vehicle it would be worth pulling the FMIC and radiator out for a proper inspection/cleaning. You can hose it while it is in the vehicle all you want, you will not be able to get all the mud out.

Also, use low pressure from a tap!!! Do not use high pressure hose to clean the fins.

[SharpWraX]

My advice re SS turbo pipes was that lack of pipe "flex" is a problem.

[Yom]

a good kit will use either rubber or silicone joiners to allow flex when the engine is running.

[Bluey]

The JK CRD we get has some challenges with cooling I think.

The J8 with the same CRD makes do with no front mount intercooler (also has less power and torque though)

If you have been anywhere near mud or you are not the first owner of the vehicle it would be worth pulling the FMIC and radiator out for a proper inspection/cleaning. You can hose it while it is in the vehicle all you want, you will not be able to get all the mud out.

Also, use low pressure from a tap!!! Do not use high pressure hose to clean the fins.

Yom, I am hoping it is just a blockage but not not confident this is the case, but if I need to i wont bother jeep with it, will just have some one like PWR make up a new higher capacity radiator. I will post next week the results.

[otomix]

Yom, I am hoping it is just a blockage but not not confident this is the case, but if I need to i wont bother jeep with it, will just have some one like PWR make up a new higher capacity radiator. I will post next week the results.

Had the EXACT same problem with mine, Mate. On the way from picking it up in QLD, and driving back to Canberra (also the CRD etc) and mine had the transmission cooler jammed in front of the Intercooler, then the AC/stock tranny cooler and then radiator

up the hills near newcastle the AC started to get warm, and the needle moved to 3/4, so i backed off the throttle, turned off the AC and the temp went down.

Since then, I pulled off the the tranny cooler that had been fitted, and in turn fitted the B&M tranny gauge. The temps are always spot on, towing and all... I haven't seen the need for a cooler yet. That said, after it was removed, I soaked the the IC, Radiator and Condensor all with degreaser, and left it for 10, gave it another spray, then hit it with some pressure outta the tap.... The amount of mud and bugs and feces that came out of the thing was AMAZING!


If you manage to find someone to do a decent radiator for the VM diesel's, and for how much, let me know. I'm 100% keen on getting one too.

You're not alone dude! :)