John/Horace

None of mine did and I had no misfire codes. Normally a small dab dielectric grease is put on both contact end to prevent arcing. The coil boots are only few bucks from Rockauto, https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/dodge,2014,journey,3.6l+v6,3300354,ignition,spark+plug+/+coil-on-plug+boot,10150

I changed plugs 2 years when doing oil cooler leak, which is a fair amount of work. Had lower intake etc removed. Plugs by themselves isn’t terrible I agree. How were the coil boots? You can buy them separately, one of mine split apart during removal. If you are getting more misfires after new plugs, maybe some of them got damaged. Coil assembly has new boot automatically included. Misfire moving around cyclinders is sometimes pointing to intake manifold air leaks. The lower intake has O rings that can be changed. Coils don’t usually work and then suddenly not work properly. Plastic intake could be affected by temperature and air flow. Misfires can mess up catalytic converters, not something to let slide IMO.

Yeah the glycol on the pulleys can chirp. Brake cleaner on pulleys to degrease sometimes helps. Alternators on V6 engines are never easy, starters in the same category. Glad you got it done.

Great you got it done. Wish we had Journey diesels over here. I think the pricing issue is the double mark up. VW sells part and marks it up, then Dodge resells it and marks it up again. We have car companies here that put their names on Korean cars that have the same parts pricing problem. Ford has used Yamaha engines on a few occasions, engine parts are almost double if you own one of these vehicles. Good engines, very pricy parts.

Crack could be mig welded if necessary. May only be scale, surface rust.

Looks like it, with an ex centric adjustment that locks against sheet metal lip. Mark where hole is, might need to go back in same spot. Spray penetrating lube into the holes, should run in behind and help free up. Try a cold chisel and tap it behind washer so it starts to separate from bolt.

I wouldn’t worry about reusing axle nut, it’s often done. Use a few drops of blue loctite if you are concerned. Size of bolt influences torque spec, if it’s a 12 mm I think 35 pds is fine. Sometimes I measure torque when removing bolt to estimate the torque, but rusted in bolts throw that off and aren’t accurate enough. I have used sliding hammer and had ball bearings flying across room sometimes. Strut is tuff and designed for load bearing. Sometimes using a coal chisel and hammering into flange shoulder between bearing and hub will break the rust free and avoid sliding hammer.

The vvt screen is possibly plugged so the solenoids may not get enough pressure to operate properly. Some kind of snake oil engine flush additive might be able to clear it out. I wouldn’t pull head off of it for cleaning, head gasket change etc pretty finicky and $. Main bearings etc may already have extra wear. Its the oil pump pickup in the oil pan I worry about the most. Could drop pan and clean it out, paying attention to screen on pick up. There are products on the market for sludge motors, as they call them. Life span may be limited. Do a compression check if you can.

Decent impact gun, vibration helps a lot. If no oxyacetylene, I like yellow MPS gas with regular torch.Wont get cherry red but often will do the job. Looks rusted in. Or break it loose with a big Johnson bar after soaking with penetrating oil. Watch those threads if hitting with a hammer.

I’m thinking traps, Lee valley has good stuff usually. Stay away from paint like you said. https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/home/pest-control/insects/44955-spider-traps?item=AT225&utm_source=free_google_shopping&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=shopping_feed&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6eS258uA7AIVUsDICh0I5AEUEAQYASABEgIHe_D_BwE

Underneath head gasket location, yeah looks like it. Nice pic however. Makes flushing undoable , crap. Two sensors breaking at once seems suspicious. I guess put in a new sensor where broken one is, use engine cleaner on the used intake vvt sensor. With sensor plugged into wire harness and key on but not installed, the solenoid might cycle. Could allow better cleaning if you can cycle it a few times and spray cleaner into sensor openings. Fingers crossed.

I had a John Muir manual and stupidly gave it away. He was a man ahead of his time, former NASA engineer and a hippie, wow. Still have a semi useless Chiltons VW book, like they always are. Never own a 70’s car that talks about the 1949 model in the same book. Generator=no charging over 30 mph, not good.

My battery went down to 4 ish volts and seemed to come back. It’s still in there now and over night voltage is close to a new battery. Lithium also wouldn’t restart car, smart charger ran 4 hrs to revive battery. A fairly new battery sometimes can be revived, although no longer with 9 lives. New is safer bet. I’m just cheap. Sounds like voltage regulator in alternator shot, tries for a minute then craps out, also like mine did. Might be slight electrical burned smell from alternator. It looks like Denso is the factory unit, one of the best on the market normally; even said made in Japan on it. The dealer reman came with a new plastic guard and two new longer studs, instructions and torque specs ! Pricing was also better than local parts guys and they had it in stock; that’s how you get my business. Accepted old unit for recore as well. Had to drop glycol out with the hose in the way; not a terrible job really. Also changed out loud idler pulley, tensioner pulley was already done when belt was last year.

Found another pic, for the turbo 2.0 Cherokee vvt filter, very similar. Could be facing down with a threaded cap covering the cross shaped bottom part. Wish someone had Alldata log in, might show procedure and pics for cleaning/changing out. Mopar oem link for part. https://www.moparpartscanada.ca/oem-parts/mopar-continuous-variable-valve-timing-filter-1028a025

I’m not sure either. I thought it was right below where sensor slid in and could be removed at same time for cleaning. Will check parts sites for better pics, hopefully. These vvt sensors get plugged on Hyundai Elantras and cause problems with missed oil changes. No screens on the Hyundai cars.

Clip from first diy car repair manual ever written in 1969 in New Mexico. Original spiral bound copies a collector item now. My first car was a Bettle, owned a total of 5 including a 1969 rag top, in my teens. I once had a very greasy copy of the book. This Clip was published on Jalopnik site. HOW TO KEEP YOUR. VOLKSWAGON ALIVE Which, sure! The more interesting fact is that Taos was the home of John Muir, who wrote “How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures For The Compleat Idiot,” first published in 1969. That book was one of the first—if not the first—repair guide in a genre—“How To Do X For Dummies”—that didn’t even exist yet. Combined with illustrations by Peter Aschwanden, “How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive” became a phenomenon among VW owners and sold millions of copies in the decades after it was published, updated frequently, even after Muir died in 1977. Here’s a representative snippet: “How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive” is full of stuff like this, both of its time and timeless. These days, spiral-bound versions sell for hundreds of dollars on Amazon but you can still get a paperback version there for around $25; alternatively, PDF versions aren’t hard to find on the internet if you go looking.

There is a recall on the power steering return line. Call dealer with your vin number, it’s no charge , I had mine changed on a 2014. Not sure about your year, call. https://repairpal.com/recall/16V273000

Running a battery flat once won’t necessarily kill it. Put it on a charger for a few hours. Then start up car and see if alternator is putting out enough charge. Leave the fuse out of trailer harness until you have things sorted out. Its not a short agreed,but it could be a constant power draw from harness. I went with a dealer reman alternator, best deal I found.

Alldata is $20 for 1 year or $40:for five years with coupon discount. All vehicle models and constantly updated repair data, tsb’s etc. There is a phone app apparently as well. Lots of commercial shops use this for reference. Someone sign up and post info for the rest of us. Someone with an expense account.? https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiU5KalwfrrAhXDVc0KHX2wBMIQFjADegQICBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgivingassistant.org%2Fcoupon-codes%2Falldatadiy.com&usg=AOvVaw1r-dWC2UdTsKKD5d1awKYf

Doesn’t necessarily mean dealer replacement, diy is often doable I think. But the theory of longevity means they aren’t thinking of it ever needing replacement, so much harder to replace assembly in lots of cases. Aftermarket options for replacement is probably limited unless car is popular model. The cost is probably raising car accident repair costs quite a bit; lots of $500 ++ tail lights now. The lower power consumption is the big upside; with electric cars gradually taking over. Affects range capability.

I had same routine when my wife’s alternator died a few months ago, I posted about it. It was an oem Denso brand , one of the better manufacturers. Around 100k miles on unit. Trying putting battery on charger for 2 hours, see if car will start back up. Then do a load test with a multi meter and car running, turn on high load stuff like electric seats, hvac fan on full. Should be 14-14.3 under load. Sometimes they don’t just fail, but get weak. The sequence was car seeing battery losing charge, shutting off accessories, trying to keep critical stuff going, limp mode on tranny being last resort. Cooling fan would still have been left functional to protect engine. I like trailer short idea as well, something is dragging battery down.

I’ve seen the warning on a 2012 and 2014 Canadian model Journeys. Locks still worked and push button start, just warning until battery remote changed out.

If there is oil sludge, it might be preventing it to slide out. Yeah thread a bolt into it and pry out with prybar, maybe spay into gap around sensor a bit to help it slide out. If pulling straight out too difficult, try spinning it clockwise and pulling at same time. Use magnet it hole after it’s out to pick up any pieces that could have broken loose.

Heat makes plastic brittle. Isn’t the stuck piece plastic. You need to use a self tapping metal screw and thread it into the broken off piece. The pic is the part that did come off, correct.

Also buy fresh silicone rtv rated for oil use.Make sure sealant sits for 24 hrs before putting oil back in tranny. Tranny shops have special sealer that is driveable in 30 mins, not sold in regular parts stores. Degrease the sealing surfaces with non greasy solvent like lacquer thinner or acetone, not varsol. You may be able to lower only one side for clearance to bolts.