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Everything posted by John/Horace
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Deductible is a big issue with warranty claims. It is approx 2 hours in labor and then the approx $200 part. Good idea to change plugs while in there, if they haven't been done, I think 100k mile recommended change interval. Sometimes a bad warranty is better than no warranty. Could get independent no insurance quote first; keep that under your hat and see what warranty guys come up with. Weasel clauses with warranty coverage can be an issue. At least parts supply issues from covid mainly over now.
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Fix glycol leak on engine first. Water pump leak would be passenger side of engine, I mistakenly said drivers side. Aluminum engines like the 3.6 don’t respond to over heating, get wrecked fast. If low glycol rear heat won’t work. Don’t add quick fix sealer additives, they can plug up heater core etc, find source of leak. Like 2late4u said. Remove top beauty cover and shine light down around oil filter housing on top of engine. Should not see any red glycol sitting between the cylinder heads. Most of time the oil cooler gush oil on failure; but glycol is possible because two of the bottom ports in pic feed right into cooling jacket of engine. In theory you could just replace the bottom set of o ring seals (new unit comes with new seals installed) on current cooler. But better move is to replace with a whole new aluminum made unit. They were not available when mine failed in 2018 so I used an oem plastic unit. These coolers are used on Jeeps, rams and lots of other 3.2 and 3.6 engines. It’s one of the few flaws on a decently reliable engine. Aluminum oil cooler assembly is around $200 taxes in shipped.
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Start driving with a jug of coolant in vehicle so you don’t get stuck in the cold. Keep the reservoir at half if possible until you get leak fixed. You might have more than one problem going on at once. The leak is the main priority, clearing code permanently is second. If water pump weap hole is dripping (bad main shaft bearing seal) it will drip right at the front of the engine, so drivers side coming down. Milage is a little low for that, but it’s possible. If you have rear heat there is a plastic tee fitting in the large 1.5” hose that will feed rear heater core. Leak would be high up at front of engine, right around the middle. If fitting snaps you won’t be able to drive anyway, system will empty in mins at most. Most likely leak is the oil cooler heat exchanger assembly. Mine failed at 100k miles, bottom oil seals let go. It’s mounted between the vee of the cylinder heads, on the top of engine. Usually they gush oil but glycol is also possible as it heats/cools the engine oil flowing through it. Plastic get brittle and/or o ring seals let go under pressure. Most people switch to an all aluminum style unit, they don’t seem to fail a second time. The units with black are the plastic units. Engine oil filter is part of the assembly. It’s located under the plastic intake manifold, so hard to see. The two screw in sensors are oil temperature and pressure. https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/dodge,2017,journey,3.6l+v6,3434428,engine,oil+filter+housing,12429
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Yeah real snows are a much better than all seasons. It’s not just snow, it’s handling and braking on icy roads. I also have a set of all weather tires, snow flake symbol but can be used all year round, Cooper Discovery A/TW, US made tire. Also much better than all season, a little more money to buy, but only one set of rims make them worth considering (nice having tire sensors working). Not as good as a top level snow/ice tire; but way better than a no season radial. Have had dozens of different sets of snows (Hakapalita, Nokia, Toyo, Michelin) some very expensive; and the reasonable priced Cooper measure up. Rubber ages out and tires get hard, start to crack, tend to get really loud. If you don’t drive a lot, separate summer/winter tires don’t work out as well, the tires have lots of tread when cracking makes them unusable. Steel rims handle salt much better, fewer rims leaks from corrosion than aluminum. So use up the winters, then look at all weather tires next. My 2 cents.
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Have you checked the fuse in passenger side kick panel. Probably HFM hands free module or similar. If Bluetooth module goes bad it kills battery fast, people often yank fuse as temp solution. There is a guy on this site who referbishes the pricy module for a decent price. Flashes firmware etc. Use search.
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2012 SXT 3.6L starter change: nightmare job ?
John/Horace replied to danyboy's topic in Electrical, Battery & Charging
I hope you are trouble shooting things. Journey starters rarely go. Make sure you check fuse in passenger kick panel for pushbutton start before attempting a large expensive repair. It's a small plastic micro fuse, 10 amp I think. Car won't engage or try to start if blown. Mine blew once several years ago, fine since. -
Soft brake pedal, bad ABS unit?
John/Horace replied to Nelson's topic in Brake, Chassis & Suspension
Yup, rear calipers can be an issue. They start to not fully retract after parking brake used. Can tap back so no gap is there, spring doesn’t seem strong enough. Pic is with parking on, gap should completely disappear when released. Freeing up with cycling doesn’t really help. Cross direction bleeding works best on Journey, longest line first. Passenger rear then driver front etc. If no pressure bleeder, just a 2” piece of clear tube over end of bleeder screw helps. You see clearly when no more air bubbles coming out. Light taps on caliper can be helpful. -
2012 SXT 3.6L starter change: nightmare job ?
John/Horace replied to danyboy's topic in Electrical, Battery & Charging
It's very similar to a starter on most V6 engines if you have changed one. Awkward for sure but there are worse repairs. I haven't done one yet, but several people have said from below with motor mount removed it's doable with patience. Close attention to how it comes out, then copy for install. Jack stand for support with no mount. I think Dean H on this site may have changed one. Or have decent input. -
Welcome to the site. Was a new decent brand oil filter like Wix or a factory filter used last oil change? Should immediately change oil and filter and see if it helps. I stick to the 5w20 oil if the engine has minimal consumption. The pressure sensor is in the heat exchanger between the cylinder heads, below plastic intake manifold. Could be bad sensor. Even damaged wiring to sensor can be problem, although you still are showing some pressure. Code probably causing limp Bizkit mode so engine sluggish, or vvt cams need proper oil pressure to function. Low oil pressure will rapidly wreck an engine, 5rebel9 had to replace oil pump on one of his fleet of Journeys. He is familiar with the repair, hopefully he responds. It's behind oil pan, a fairly expensive repair unfortunately, if that turns out to be issue. Trouble shooting needs to be done.
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From the Google.....most conventional fuel systems with a regulator, run at around 3 bar or 43.5 psi base pressure, while most returnless systems run at around 4 bar or 58 psi. Not sure if journey is return set up, number of lines from rear sending unit will tell you that. When car is running , the actual guage number is probably what it needs to normally be, so that's your bench mark. It's the potential drop you measure when the delayed slow start is occuring, that will be interesting. Regulator is there so there should always be a negligible difference. My understanding anyway. E85 fuel is one thing that can probably mess up a regular gasoline run fuel pump set up. Cause premature failure. They have special material used for all O ring seals on the vehicle. Maybe viton or something similar. Running a vehicle out of gas often can also shorten fuel pump life. Since gasoline is what lubricates and cools the in tank pump. I wonder if dealer can monitor what pressure regulator is doing when car is running, Using their special two way scanners. Question for licensed tec currently working in the trade...which I am not.
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There are so many things that can cause extended cranking on a warm (not hot start) start. They need at the 20 min slow start point to figure out if it fuel or spark related (compression and timing obviously ok). You have played along and paid for possible unnecessary services ( like 5rebel is saying, platinum plugs good for 100k) ...helping them out. Its only matter of time before it turns to a full no start condition. If free towing is included in warranty period it can be a useful tool for pressuring dealerships at the expiring point of warranties. Used it on wife's Hyundai about 10 yrs ago. They were resetting an intermittent sticky electronic throttle body ETB like your 2.4 engine has by unhooking battery for 5 mins. Car then started ok for few weeks but warranty was in last month's. A very long distance expensive flat bed tow ( free to me) motivated them to replace the $1,000 etb. In tank electric fuel pumps on most cars rarely fail now. They did first 5 yrs they came out. I would even put your ETB as a higher probability than the fuel pump. By 100k most people with a 2.4 engine have changed it, especially if a city mile car. Yeah happy new year.
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Is the big tee fitting under hood that sends the glycol to the rear core getting quite hot, big hose probably 2" diameter. Tricky to bleed the air out of a two heater core system. Try another air bleed from the plastic bleeder screw on the thermostat housing under hood. Don't over tighten, plastic is fragile and can be damaged.
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Sounds frustrating, haven't heard of someone experiencing this before. How many miles on vehicle? Hard when no codes come up, if you can wait for part to actually fail you can avoid expensive guesses. It's a hot soak issue, occurs when engine is still warm to hot. Which is how fuel pumps fail sometimes (happened to a ford van I had years ago). Internal pump clearances increase when it's hot/warm and pump produces less pressure. Loosening gas cap or remove it when slow start happens ; then try starting would eliminate slim possibility of intermittent vapor lock being cause. Evap and cannister issues would most likely set a code if this was the case. Most vehicles if there is low fuel pressure would probably set a diagnostic code. Measuring actual fuel pressure when engine stone cold and then heated up might give some useful information. Need an analogue dial fuel guage with an adapter that attaches to fuel line, a dealer should have this. Surprised they haven't done it. If I was doing an educated guess I would start with a cheaper one, like the CPS. OEM part is only around $35, installs in 15mins, on the 2.4 they usually start to act up by 100k miles anyway. Crank position sensor if it's getting flaky could cause extended starts, but once again usually a code. My next guess would be the expensive fuel pump in gas tank, if it was showing around 5-10 pounds of pressure drop. Good luck, free advice worth everything you pay for it.
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It's an egr code. So sticking unit and possibly bad gasket on the egr adding to the noise. Flow runners in the old intake manifold were often bad for creating codes.
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Battery Replaced - 10 Year Later
John/Horace replied to Armando G's topic in Electrical, Battery & Charging
Welcome back to site. I got almost 10 years from that same factory battery, looks like Johnson Controls maybe. Hard to beat Costco price, sometimes the warranty is down a little on coverage time (or free replacement component). But $ savings still make it the best option. Costco switched away from JC batteries a few years ago, north of border. I can't believe how clean your wheel well is. Salt belt cars are such a mess on this type of work. Even with anti rust spray used. Some people are going with more pricy AGM batteries now. Way slower discharge when sitting, faster recharge by alternator, much better vibration resistance. Lots of Lexus and other high end cars use them as OEM standard for this reason. Handles the all the extra elect crap on the newer cars better. Around a $100 more for agm, and several good USA made options, Deka etc. -
Running battery dead on a lot of cars seems to create a few weird issues sometimes. Easiest thing to try is pulling main power for a few mins and see if that corrects anything. The sound system has a large rear amp with a separate sub power supply. Think mirror shaker module. It's even possible there is a blown fuse somewhere. If you have a multi meter and no how to use it. Start inspecting and testing continuity on fuses in passenger kick panel. Electrical specialist shops always better than mechanics for fixing and troubleshooting this type of thing. Even though alternator and battery swaps are typical mechanic repairs. Our journey has the alpine system, if you crank it there is decent power. Sub woofer is important part of it.
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I assume SWC is steering wheel controls. Was that one of your non working problems as well? Heated steering wheel control is another feature my wife would not want to lose. It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a decent plug and play option from a very big seller with hundreds of happy customers around. Or at least I haven't seen one yet. But I think this is a problem swapping OEM displays on lots of current vehicles.
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Yes, merry Xmas happy new year everyone. I hope Santa is good to you...no coal in stockings, maybe some Jack Daniels or other appropriate beverage. Cheers.
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Might be worth swapping flex coupling with the shaft off vehicle, if it's getting ratty. When part ships with threadlocker, you know it's a good idea. Somebody on site had their coupling bolts come loose. Not sure of inch pound torque spec, no one has posted back after an install. Mitchel on line with a login would have it. 2010 DODGE JOURNEY 3.5L V6 Drive Shaft Flex Joint _ Shop Now at RockAuto
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I would guess soak in PB Blaster or penetrating oil, let sit a while. Cut away most of the hanger bearing support sheet metal that is in the way. Use cold chisels or metal wedges,crow bar etc and slowly inch out the shiny reinforced shaft end from bearing. If reasonable force won't move it, go to yellow cylinder MPS gas and heat it up a bit, then see if wedges will move it. If that all fails...get a zip blade and a grinder and go all medieval on the bearing assembly...cutting away as much as possible without damaging turned down shaft area that needs to slide into new bearing. Heat from cutting might free things up enough half way through anyway. Could also bring shaft assembly to a mechanic you trust with the new hanger bearing. See if interested in a small cash job, doing a repair like he would on his own vehicle. Not swapping out an entire driveshaft. He might even hand it off for an apprentice to do. Amazon link to part would be helpful to other's. Cheers.
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You are saving big bucks. Got an amazon link, search shows several options .? How many kms on the shaft, curious.
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Curious where you got carrier bearing and support. Original poster didn't follow up. The Cordone shaft listed on Rocka is a reman shaft. So somebody is doing it somewhere. I was able to rebuild shafts on jeeps I had years ago, but beefier designed u joints and easily changed.
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Forgot to respond to this post. Yes put a saddle on your Journey...and have "more happy rides on it". Hilarious. Wonder what happened to robo Johan. Did the moderator or admin nuke him? Before AI bots take over the car forum world they will have to figure out the difference between sitting in or on a vehicle, among other things. Although if it's just about activity generation of any sort; then it's mission accomplished. Maybe they can repurpose robo Johan into a better search function for the site. That would help boost traffic imo. Backing out to use the Google gets annoying.
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Glad it helped…but it’s not really fixed. Just a bandaid to help keep car going with two wheel drive only now. Wrapping end of wire harness plug with electrical tap to protect from corrosion would be a good idea. If stuck a bit, could plug back in to maybe help get back on paved road. The banging can damage flex coupling and other awd components. Some rear diff mounts have even been sheared off. If you come cross a auto recycler with a good used viscous coupling there are posts on this site on how to swap it out.
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Help required ETC warning light on dash
John/Horace replied to grahamcook's topic in Electrical, Battery & Charging
Always start with checking for codes. Lightning symbol is major electrical fault detected. At times it turns out to be elec throttle body. Mainly on 2.4 engines at over a 100k miles.