TheStewie

I am making a file to print out re the various solutions and dates re ticking and vibration on the car since our service manager has dismissed any information I bring to his attention saying "it is all hearsay and third party" and can't be trusted. If there were not so many with the same issues over various models I might agree but the compliation of fixes here cannot be ignored. So if any Chrysler Tech manager or support staff are reading these reports and comments.. it is about time you get on the ball and tell your dealer service managers to start listening to us and reading these forums!!. Or we all will turn in our cars and leave your customers wondering why you have so many of the "no 1 selling crossover" sitting on your lots for resale and go and buy some other manufacturers products.

don't let them put the same crap pads on. get ceramic pads instead and if they want to charge get them done elsewhere. they last much longer and no dust. I have heard in California as posted in another part of this website that you can get grooved rotors from a third party. Expensive but apparently much better. Why let them cause you more grief and another visit at 20k or less?

quite a history! Our 2009 R/T has 50k and has had very little trouble except small parts due to recalls and the brakes. We put ceramic pads on at my business garage since they were past the 20km warranty. had them 30% longer so far with no indication of faliure again yet. We do have off and on an annoying vibration you can feel i nthe floor and sometiems in the steering wheel. Not as bad with the 19 inch tires but i feel it up my legs while driving at higher speeds. It is an annoying thing that the dealer claims doesn't exist. Other than that it has been a good car so far. With that being said, we are seriously thinking of handing it back shortly due more to dissatisfaction with the dealer dimissing our ongoing complaint.

Any resolution for the ticking from the engine? ours is an 09 bought in 08. in the last few months on cold starts it does tick loudly and never did before. So if they found a solution I would like to hear oit of you can post it here. Thanks

for the person who was told they were fixing a switch and a power steering issue, those wre found i think in very early 2009 or latet 2008. the switch was bad and the power steering reservoir was a bit shallow causing noise when yuo made a right turn i think. the temp fix was to put xlightly more fliud in untilthey could change the reservoir. look bakc under TSBs it it there.

In another thread here someone found that the plastic grill below the wipers would also warp and cause noise on the highway. So if the muffler fix does not work have them check to see if it is loose or warped. It was sometime ago but look back and you might find it.

I found it interesting that someone found 3rd party rotors for the Journey. We had my companies garage do them since they were past the 20k ih Canada. He put on the best ceramics he could find but had to buy Chrysler Rotors because at the time last summer, he could not find any 3rd party rotors. Someone asked earlier re durability. We changed all of then around 23k. we have 50k on it now and have absolutely no issue with sound or vibration etc. they work wonderfully. If the rotors go again i will have him search out the 3rd party ones. We paid the same for the ceramic pads and rotor job as we would have paid at the dealer for the same standard crappy pads. TheStewie.

Our 2009 R/T with 50k is in the shop today for vibration also. This has been an ongoing issue for some time. We like the car but the vibration in the floor and at the wheel is annoying at high speeds and on long trips. Had the wheels balanced several times, Tranny checked etc all with out any problem found. The engine had ticking now on a cold start as well. After reading this post today, I called the service rep and told hin about the carbon problems. He didn't sound surprised and told me they had a new Avenger in for the same issue. So finally they are going to take some time and hopefully fix it. It is a good thing we have the 100k warranty and if this keeps up yes we will probably not buy another Chrysler. As for gas we always go to brand name stations that are very busy. There should no bad gas at these stations. TheStewie

curious as to where you are because we went elsewhere after being told they were not covered.. pads and rotors that is, but if the calipers caused the problem i want some of my money back!

We had our front pads and rotors done a couple months ago at about 22000km. the dealer would not cover them after 20000km. So we went outside and had ceramic pads put on at less cost than the standard dealer pads. We found out that there was a run on the brake pads and rotors and that the rear rotors were back ordered for at least 2 weeks. There is obviously something major wrong with them and next week we are getting the rears done by the same people with the better pads etc. I am not going to pay the dealer for something that should have been covered and get crap again... The Stewie

I read with interest the whole chain regarding vibration. We are in Ontario and have an RT. Last fall i noticed minor vibrations in the steering wheel at speeds similar to those talked about here. I took it for a ride with a service manager and he said it was the snow tires..they were a bit rougher ride so i let it go. We put our 19 inch tires back on and of course the vibration was still there. I asked our corporate mechanic to take it for a ride and he said there was an issue with the third gear causing problems and to get it fixed soon. So i took it in. They tested the tranny and said it was to spec with no error codes. I took it home and when out tested it at various speeds on different roads, the vibration could still be felt in the wheel at 2000rpm when the gears were changing. Recently we had it in for an oil change. while there they swapped out the reservoir, changed the brake switch and...adjusted a torque converter nut all re bulletins. Now it idles very high and rough as if skipping, the vibration now can be felt through the floor up my leg and the vibration in the steering wheel is very pronounced.. taking it in tomorrow as we planned a trip out of town.. Hopefully they will undo that adjustment and get it back to where it was. The car is not riding as smooth nor as quiet as when first bought.. that vibration is an issue for sure. The Stewie

It has been a long while since I've visited and I miss seeing the latest on the Journey and taking recall notices to my dealer before he sees them!. Glad to see that it is still moving ahead here. Just had our Journey in for an oil change and they finally did the brake switch, fluid reservoir and also adjusted some nut on the torque converter all due to recall.service bulletins. Funny thing is it now idles very rough as if skipping, there is vibration through the floor and steering wheel that didn't exist before.. so I'm going to look over the forums to see if someone else has dealt with this before i take it back. Glad to be back!! TheStewie

20,000k in Canada? I better get them to check them now since they are squeaking.. either water or the wear bars are telling me something!! we have 19.5k on the brakes now. The Stewie

I haven't posted in a while for all sorts of reasons but here is an update. The Blizzak tires work great. There was still some vibration so we took it in and by the time we got to the dealer it also sounded like we were bouncing on a brass bed while hitting bumps. They replaced the lower right ball joint and the noise went away for about a month. It is now back again. At higher speeds there is still a very slight vibration but the tires work great. We are taking it in tomorrow again. If those sealed joints are so bad I hope there is a newer more durable one coming down the line. I'll post under suspension after I check to see if anyone else has the same issues after 19k. The Stewie

We went through the first nasty storm yesterday with whiteouts, deep snow , ice etc and idiots on the roads, while still using the 19 inch all seasons. Never had a problem but I don't want to wear them out so we put the 16 inch Mopar factory steel rims on with 225/70/R16 Blizzaks. Took it for a couple of short rides but we will find out how much different they are over the next few days with the next big storm coming. The factory rims fit much better as well. The spacers caused a gap around the hub of the after market ones. The Stewie

225/70/R16 Blizzaks w the mopar rims. after market rims need spacers. tried em and had vibration. The Stewie

No mud bogging here. It is possible the nuts were coming loose as there is less bolt to fasten them too. We had them rotated and balanced several times but nothing helped. We put the 19's back on and the vibration went away. One of the young guys working at the tire place put the spacers on the balancing machine by themselves one at a time to see what would happen. He found one of them had warped a slight amount possibly causing the vibration at higher speeds. After reading about possible ball joint and bolt issues while using spacers I ordered 16 inch steel rims from our Dodge dealer. They will be in tomorrow am in time for the 6 inch to a foot of snow coming this weekend. When I asked if they had the rims he told me they were standard on the base Journey. The tire dealer had said he called Dodge and couldn't get any.. possible but I think he makes more money on the aftermarket ones he uses. I hope the problem is solved tomorrow ( actually today now!!) if not that means something is possibly wrong with the suspension. But it has run very smooth so far. I'll let you know if the problem is resolved with the factory rims. I hope they work but if not there is a nice set of Pirelli 17 inch winter tires sitting in his shop waiting to be bought... only 300.00 plus per... The Stewie

Still there today for sure. I can actually see cracks in the plastic but it is very hard to feel with a finger across it.

That hard shifting problem you have, the first journey we road tested a 6 cyl sxt that had the same problem. You would step on the gas and almost get thrown out of the seat it was so bad. We took it back in and said you have some sort of transmission problem with the demo. They said the cars all had been washed underneath and a connector must have gotten wet causing the problem. Well when we tested the R/T the salesman drove it didn't have the problem so obviously a certain number of them had some sort of transmission control issue. It would have been made some time in the first 3 months of '08. Also when we talked to the account guy about rustproofing etc he told us he bought one for his wife that electrically died several times. It turned out the wrong radio/mygig system had been installed causing a deficiency in the electrical system. Hope you have the problems fixed. The Stewie

We are in Hamilton. Window problems here too. I think the rubber seals are sticking to the glass. They are frozen together and after a bit of warm up while driving the car they work well. No cowl noise though. We had the same issue with our old Pontiac Transport van. The windows would freeze shut and work after the vehicle warmed up. But We do love those heated side mirrors and seats!! The Stewie

That is interesting about the after market rims. We could not get 17 inch tires so went with 16's 225/70/16. Had yokohoma's but the next day the tire shop called to say that he had sold them the night before and needed them back because the customer freaked out. So we put on some Blizzaks instead. Now we get a vibration once we hit 90 to 100kph that wasn't there with our 19's or the Yoko's. i suspect a bad tire but he is saying the Blizzaks rarely have bad tires.... Tire pressure is fin and they have been balanced twice. Could it be the spacers on the rims? We had no noise or vibration or control problems using them with the Yokohoma's. I am taking it back in tomorrow and perhaps I should ask for a different rim without the spacers? Any other suggestions re the vibration? The Stewie

I was driving our R/T today and saw what I thought were dirt streaks or scrapes in the plastic over the right gauge ( tach I think). When I rubbed it I found that there are several near vertical cracks in the plastic cover that spans across all of the gauges. Has anyone else seen this yet? I looks like possible stress cracks. No weight or any other pressure has been applied by us to this plastic cover. I'll be taking it to the dealer next week to have a new one ordered. The Stewie

I'm curious about the control. Our R/T has the three buttons above the driver but I've never used it yet since we do not have a garage opener. Are you saying that the buttons are missing also or that they are there but the actual electronic part of the system is not installed in the car?

Yep, i set the alarm off somehow on the car once and it wouldn't shut off. Had to use the key to open the back hatch and crawl in to stop it. a learning experience for sure. The Stewie

As in the previous posts we took the note to the dealer when we had the brake fluid sensor replaced and although he scratched his head and asked where we got the info, he topped up the fluid as instructed in the star note and the noise has been gone for a week. such a simple fix!! Thanks!! The Stewie