5rebel9

OK the saga continues. I decided to leave my friend alone for the weekend (so that we might remain friends). Have spent hours searching and getting all kinds of complaints with FEW actual success postings.. Also went and tore into the center dash again and took out the battery and had it tested, It was good but only at 55% charge, understandable as it was not put on a charger, but it's back in and on a 2amp trickle charge with the neg unhooked from the body point. Now what I found were many complaints of radio not shutting off with door open and a number of them said head unit itself(4.3 screen).YUP with the radio left on mine does the same. UNFORTUNATELY I did not find any successful end postings. And some threads were from this forum and on other forums with members from here responding. I guess as a former "tech" that I was using too specific wording for searches. My game plan is to go see my friend on Monday and pull the complete 4.3 screen and lower control panel and the CD player box along with the BCM of the "twin". So as to recap symptoms our Journey has is that all things function normally until parking the car. It shuts down and then restarts the head unit and gage cluster. The push start button NEVER turns off and remains lit in the center and showing the OFF setting. Can any of our senior members here that are aware of this problem PLEASE post me some links to threads here, hopefully with what the FIX likely was?

Go0nna go pull the BCM and gage cluster from the "twin" tomorrow. and quite possibly the 4.3 screen and attending module. Dash is easy enough to work on to try, the BCM is in one heck of a spot in the A pillar behind the glove box!

Well it's not the push switch..... ;( Your 2nd part response does make some sense as I did repair drivers door broken wires for sensor unlock in the door handle at time of purchase. as it was giving message on dash to service key(?) Have not had any "messages appear since. ALL those systems seem to be working FINE. Also we would routinely leave fob in the cubby(on dash)at home with no problems before this happened. I'm still wondering "old school" about faulty latches that may not have the micro switches working properly in the latch assemblies.

WELL, that's one thought about the situation! SORRY, but that's not an option. Car is in too good of shape overall to let go less than a year after getting it being a Maryland (Southern car) that was brought up to our Northern rustbelt area. This is so far not costing me in $$for this problem and previous repairs have been dealt with quite fairly. Just my time and effort...which gives me something to do, AND learn about these new fangled highly computerized systems. Remember, I'm not the average car owner. I used to do this for a living, but retired about the time all this BCM controlled stuff came along!

After thinking about this as I drifted off to sleep last night....... I'm going back to "old school" diagnostic thinking. the car is 10 yrs. old and 185k miles. 2 items that are involved with this concern have switches that get a LOT of use/wear. First being the drivers door latch that has switches for lighting and door close, BUT those function. SECOND being the push start switch. I'd noticed that this lights up first closely followed by instrument cluster and then the 4.3" screen. THIS item has me strongly wondering about contact wear causing the problem. Just "throwing this out" for anyone following here and may have thoughts.......

Found a couple saying BCM and one that said no help. Found a couple said it was in the instrument cluster pod, one was from Dodge dealer shop foreman. BUT alas NO DEFINITIVE resolutions found as of yet. Have access to inst. cluster pod and BCM, neither are "5 minute quicky" removals, and rains are in the forecast for the next couple days and have to work outdoors! Any help appreciated, and YES all things function normally other than this problem.

after working for 4 hrs. with my buddy that I got this DJ thru ... A complete scan of electrical and BCM functions showed it a code for the headlight switch not being correct. We swapped one from a "twin" parts car and all was good for codes. Still having the instrument cluster and 4.3 screen WILL initially power down(off), BUT within a minute it comes back on and stays on. Right now I've disconnected the 2 ground wires from the strut post to save the 1.5yr old battery. Found on various google searches that a BCM power glitch OR even the instrument cluster to be the culprits, we are both doing searches at this time trying to get a handle on this situation.

2011 3.6 AWD with 4.3"(?) small screen. Instrument cluster and infotainment screen staying powered on. NOT door latches as dome lights go off after proper set timer. Not glove box light as it's off. Play around with push start and things turn off for about a minute then turn back on. It did this once about a month ago and I thought that son had not fully closed the Drivers door. It just did this to me after a short drive with it and after an hour the inst. cluster and infotainment screen are still on. WHAT TO DO?

To answer a wonderfully worded account of FAILURES..... I'm surprised that NO MENTION of checking battery(LOAD TEST) and alternator output was done or mentioned. ALSO being a BMW tech, he should know that car batteries today do NOT LAST much beyond 4 years now. NO MENTION again of battery, which provides the "juice" to spin the starter motor.

I had a similar situation with one of my Chys. minivans that I bought well used... Turned out a mouse had built a large nest in the fresh air pick up in the cowling beneath the wiper assembly. The van could not draw in fresh air for the fan to move it thru the vents. Worked OK on recirc. mode. I've not "dived into" such with out DJ...yet to be able to say about HOW to go about checking/clearing that possibility.

With the symptoms you describe, the most common fault is internally collapsed front brake hoses. A quick way to check is when the pads are binding up to crack open the bolt at the hose to caliper and see if the wheel then spins.

Are you a DIY'er? First thing to check is the shift cable end out on the trans for wear where it connects to the trans selector rod. The range "sensor" is inside the trans, and I THINK can be reached by removing the FRONT cover and "solenoid" pack. NOT hard, BUT must be careful(not a novice job).

08 G6gt Sedan 04 T&C minivan (factory tow package) 98 Avenger es (currently stored) SOON to arrive....2010 Buick Lucerne cxl

Normally a very dependable motor. That said with flashing CEL did you also try and pull codes from the computer? Being a VVT motor there could be a problem with that system making timing not correlate with other sensor inputs to the computer. Yet more questions for you...how many miles on it and what kind of maint has been done in the recent past to the engine? There are many possibilities as to just what may be the cause to your particular concern, but background info offered is very thin to go into specific suggestions.

Please don't take this personally, BUT just what size engine is under the hood of your DJ? Better info can be offered when members don't have to start out with the 20 questions game. LOTS of new members seem to do this,.

Nice job! I've replaced similar bulbs for dash cluster lights in many dodge vehicles, but not in HVAC controls to know what they used. Also I'm to new to the Journey to have been working in the dash stuff yet. I don't even have a cheap Haynes book yet for ours, like I usually get for each of my cars.

Sorry, I must not had enough coffee in me yet that I missed that. But I still believe the alternator to be OK along with the rest of charging system controls( the ECM also plays into charge rates). I do believe the battery to be the culprit being 5 tears old. As for my posting of "do what you want"....I think you have just gone a long and overly involved process in reaching your same conclusion.

Well, voltage readings are a FAR cry from what you posted of 14.5v earlier! AND in your area, 5 years on a battery is a LONG time and would definitely be on the worn out side. Do what you want, it's your vehicle......

This may not apply to you directly, BUT also a good way for an emergency delivery of some of that GOOD Canadian beer that we can't get in the States due to the higher alcohol content. I was deployed to CFB Bagotville for "cold weather operations training" USMC air wing back in '79. And man was it COLD and REAL SNOW amounts! Our CFB host squadron people were the BEST and taught us "gyrenes" how to really enjoy the liberty time! And I thought that Buffalo NY got cold and snow.........

Nope, that's a proper alternator output. Best wat to load test is at "normal" state, NOT fully charged and the test.

Do you have the "big screen" audio with nav/bluetooth/ and all that stuff? I've heard many cases of such not shutting down properly and killing batteries in short (2-3 days). Also you really should have the batteries properly load tested with meter that shops and parts stores use to properly determine battery health. Most will do this for FREE.

They should have but you don't say who the "they" were that did the work. to have checked the ball joints properly(it's not just a visual check). And because of the way they are mounted are a bit more of a difficulty level to replace. I'd go back to the "they" people and ASK if they did properly check them for a start to finish getting rid of the clunking.

Front end? For all that(and for age probably needed them all), But the Ball Joint mounts into the steering knuckle pointing ball stud down(opposite of most other vehicles) and are tricky to diagnose for wear. Not stated by you, so I'll suggest they be checked (and properly).

Passenger side FRONT or REAR?

Agreed, but further postings led me to think there was more going on than that and what I had started out with. Spark Plugs are actually EASIER to do than the battery maint on the 2.4 motor, and just as important. Without specific answers to my questions, it's hard to give real help and not just conjecture. I hope people like this don't treat their family doctors with giving health concern/symptoms info to get good health treatment in return. NOTE: This last statement is not meant directly to the OP.....there are a lot of "members" that post similarly.