ttxi475

There's no gasket because fluid isnt supposed to be in that spot.

It's hard for me to say. There's a lot of scenarios where the electronics controls the front/rear torque bias. Given that it's already clamping hard with it plugged in, it might just still stay clamped if you unplug it. You can always drop the driveshaft like I did. About 10 bolts in the front, 3 in the middle, and 3 in the rear.

That's correct. 7 bolts only. You can get it done very quickly.

Looks like mine. Most likely cause of our issues is that the seals inside gets busted and it leaks all the fluids out. get a new unit and replace it.

It has fluids in it. The term viscous means it's using the thickness of the fluids to control front/rear power. From my research when I had this issue, there was no way to rebuild or refill these units.

I hope this information helps out others. Good luck to the other people out there!

Here to report back. The noises are gone. She drives smooth now. AWD is engaging. Tested it by turning hard right and left from a dead stop to wide open throttle and all wheels engaged with no noises. I'm blaming this as faulty seals inside the rear viscous couplers causing the fluid to leak out. I did notice that the two couplers had a different design on the inside. If there's anyone that can chime in on it, please do. I've attached video of the two couplers. The first one is not spinning freely (seals are good, fluid in place) and the second one spins freely (busted seals, fluids leaked out) PXL_20210528_203254772.LS~2.mp4

New coupler is in. Driveshaft is back in. Going for a test drive now. I'm really hoping this is it...

The replacement coupler fits. One thing I noticed was that when mounted on the diff, the old coupler would spin freely by hand (grab the 3 bolt flange and spin it). The replacement coupler has A LOT of resistance if spinning it by hand.

The old rear viscous coupler is out. When I loosened the 4 bolts, fluid poured out. Also when spinning the new coupler, you can feel fluid resistance in it. The old coupler spun freely and in thinking it's because all the fluid leaked out. New on the left. Old on the right.

I did test it out by spinning the front wheels on 1st gear and have been driving in the rain and so far still no lights.

I did leave the plug on the rear viscous coupler connected though. Maybe as long as that's connected, it wont throw any error lights.

No dash lights came on. It has been driving like normal so far.

The rear unit has arrived. Just 4 bolts to take off the rear viscous unit. It's pretty dirty but hoping it works.

Hello all, We purchased a 2015 Dodge Journey R/T with 73,xxx miles a couple months ago. At the time we purchased it, we did not hear the noise it was making. In my quest to fix this issue. I am documenting my findings here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 Dodge Journey R/T - 75,xxx Miles Symptoms: - Hard left and right turns causes binding (metal creaking noises (tick tick tick tick tick)). The noise can be amplified by applying more throttle on these turns. - After the turn is completed and when the car upshifts, a loud thump/clunk is heard from the rear (driveline stress is unwinding during the upshift) When accelerating hard from a dead stop in a straight line, no metal creaking noises are thumps were observed. I believe the metal creaking noises are from the clutch plates inside of the rear viscous coupler slipping. I did not observe the binding being unwounded through the tires. I believe the rear viscous coupler is not 100% locked up since enough driveline stress will eventually slip the clutch plates and not unload it on the tires. Possible Causes: The rear viscous coupler is always engaged, not allowing the front wheels to spin freely from the rear wheels. When making hard turns, the rear viscous coupler is locking the front + rear wheel engagement. This does not allow proper rotational speed variation of the front and rear wheels when making a hard left or right turn, causing the driveline to bind. Something inside of the rear viscous coupler is broken and does not allow slippage. I am not sure what exactly is broken. To test my initial thoughts out, I removed the center driveshaft that connects the transmission in the front of the car to the rear viscous coupler. This changes the vehicle to front wheel drive and will confirm if the issue is related to the front or rear part of the vehicle. To remove the center driveshaft: 1. Remove the 3 bolts on the rear driveshaft that connects to the rear viscous coupler. 2. Remove the 8 bolts that connects the driveshaft to the front of the transmission. 3. Remove the carrier bearing holder in the center of the car (2 bolts to remove the heat shield, 2 more bolts to remove the carrier) 4. With a flat head screw driver, pop off the driveshaft from the rear viscous coupler and lower the driveshaft. 5. Tug on the driveshaft from the rear of the car to pop off the driveshaft from the front of the transmission. After removing the center driveshaft and taking it for a test drive, all the noises observed earlier was gone. Since the rear differential is an OPEN differential I do not see any issues that it would be causing. I am still leaning towards the rear viscous coupler. I found two different parts for the rear viscous couplers listed below. One is listed for $1200: https://www.moparpartsinc.com/p/Dodge__Journey/BDORCVISCOUS-UNIT-KIT-Rear-axle-36L-V6-24V-VVT-Engine/61611628/68058066AB.html?partner=googlebase_adwords&kwd=&origin=pla&partnerDevice=c&userLocation=9019545&gclid=CjwKCAjwy42FBhB2EiwAJY0yQuJJSLp6nANUHqmbAuLoyrQhEwk5Wi7IjwAUJ8L4utfbCFJ96eciEhoCGUkQAvD_BwE Another one is listed for $450: https://www.moparpartsinc.com/p/Dodge__Journey/BDORCVISCOUS-UNIT-KIT-Rear-axle-20L-I4-Turbo-Diesel-Engine/61587188/05146768AC.html?partner=googlebase_adwords&kwd=&origin=pla&partnerDevice=c&userLocation=9019559&gclid=CjwKCAjwy42FBhB2EiwAJY0yQoFBJgcZUL9wUijUBfc7KOa_fC9kPj2Jdjt3IfK7Hkq8kZpEpIEa7xoCRboQAvD_BwE I believe the $1200 unit is the correct one, but the $450 also looks correct but it lists it for a 2.0 Diesel model only. However, both the pictures look alike. I decided not to purchase either of those and went with a used unit from ebay that included both the rear viscous coupler and the rear differential for $450. In the event it is a failing rear diff, I would have another unit to replace it with also. I am now awaiting for the unit to arrive. I will post more when It arrives.