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I finally finished the left side! I had to make a new special receiving cup for the top, and also modify the clamp so it would fit into the cavity.

Went back at it yesterday. I managed to get the old one removed and the new one half way in. The shallow receiving cup that goes on top does not fit properly inside of the knuckle cavity. It does not go in deep enough, so it actually acts as a stop for the ball joint rather than clearance. I was only able to press it in half way before this happened. I am making something that will have a cutout on the back so it can go in far enough to receive the top of the ball joint.

I would be a little more willing to remove the knuckle to make the job easier IF I intended to replace the hub assembly. I don't NEED new ones and I feel like it's just stupid to tear it down that far and not replace them. Really, I think replacing ball joints on this vehicle warrants replacing EVERYTHING on the suspension because you have to disconnect everything anyway IF you remove the knuckle. I really want to give this another go without doing all of the extra work, and I've seen others have successfully done it, so that is what gives me hope.

Well I started and abruptly stopped. The press kit from the parts store is way too big for this knuckle. I took the nut off the stud and removed the retaining ring but that was it. I held everything up from the kit and it's simply too bulky for itself and the adapters to fit. I put the nut back on and the retaining ring back and try I'll again another day with a new approach.

I ordered Carquest Premium ball joints and I'm picking them up this afternoon. Also going to rent the tool. MOOG was literally only $1 more each but they only had one in stock. Everything else I replaced on the suspension was with CQ Premium so no big deal. A lot of people have said they bought CQ in the past and they were actually MOOG parts in the box anyway. Planning to get this done tonight.

Is it a pain to get the ball joints in and out of the knuckle? I've seen there's a mini press tool but others have complained about how it fit. I might be doing this job this weekend now that I know I shouldn't have to spend so much more than I was originally thinking.

Ahh I see, that makes sense. They're backwards to the GMs I had, or rather, upside down! Thanks for the reply! So are the control arms I have probably fine, or should I replace them?

My 2017 Journey GT AWD is in need of ball joints at 108k. I've already replaced inner and outer tie rods, end links, and front struts, and now I really notice the ball joints. Going on uneven road causes it to wander all over, the steering wheel feels sloppy in relation to the actual steering response, I get shaky vibration at 70+mph, creaking when stopping fast or going into/out of driveways that "bump up", and all around unpleasant cruising. I feel like I often NEED two hands on the wheel to continuously correct the course as I'm driving. I see the ball joints are most commonly sold separately, and the control arms often are being sold WITHOUT ball joints in them. In the past I've always replaced the whole arm with pre-installed ball joints because bushings are rubber and rubber wears out. In this case should I track down arms with ball joints already installed and replace the whole thing at once, or should I rent the tools and JUST replace the ball joints? Also, does anyone have any suggestions on some decent, affordable aftermarket parts?

I've driven about 1.5hrs yesterday and this morning and so far it's still running great! The CEL went off on its own yesterday. It's running better now than it did before the misfires started. When we went to remove the injector it was loose/wiggly. The other two were nice and solid. My buddy says too much pressure may have been building up behind it when it wasn't working, which could have started pushing it out some. Thanks for the help guys! Off topic question: what engine/trans mount typically fails on these cars? I know I have at least 1 bad one because the engine shifts forward/backward shifting, and while driving it will jerk left slightly if it shifts too hard.

Just finished replacing the #3 injector. Also replaced the o rings on 1 & 5 while the rail was off. Ran smooth at idle and was good on a test drive. But then again it was the other day too, so we'll see. As for the coil I got, it's a Blue Streak from Advance Auto. Made in Poland if that makes any difference. The injector I got was a Carquest Remanufactured, which was actually a Mopar part. I'll update when I have some results.

3.6L. I previously put Champions in but my buddy laughed when he pulled one out. I replaced them with NGK per his recommendation. I checked the gaps and they were all correct. I did add an octane booster and 5 gallons of premium the night I started having issues in hopes of "sprucing" up the alleged bad gas. When I got down to about 1/4 tank I put in a water remover. If it really is bad gas wouldn't I have issues with ALL cylinders, all the time?

Last Wednesday I stopped at my local gas station and put $30 in the tank. 10 minutes later I noticed the idle was a little rough, and later that evening getting off the expressway it started shaking badly, making a strange sound under acceleration, and the CEL started flashing. 10 minutes later it was back to running smooth. I checked the code and it was P203 and P303. The light went off on its own the next start up and it ran fine for a couple days, then Saturday it started misfiring horribly for about 5 minutes and then smoothed out again. The same codes as before plus a P202 this time. Got it home and replaced the spark plugs and Cylinder 3 coil on Sunday. Ran really smooth and idled steady at 625rpm. Drove it yesterday for about 20 minutes with no issues. I started it up this morning and from the get go it was shaking, sputtering, and overall really rough. I backed out of the driveway and pulled forward just a few feet before deciding it wasn't going to stop so I pulled back in and parked it. At the very beginning i swore it was just bad gas and I even talked to the owner of the station a couple days later and he said no one else complained, and if his gas was bad he would've voluntarily shut down. My buddy who has worked on dozens of these engines said the P202 was likely only caused by cylinder 3 running so rough. He said if the plugs and coil didn't fix it then we would likely have to replace cylinder 3 fuel injector. He also recalled changing that exact injector on a lady's caravan after plug and coils didn't stop her misfiring. I can't afford a shop bill, and we can tackle the injector in the driveway no problem. My question is does this really sound like the issue? I still have an 1/8 tank of that gas so that's still a factor, but I'm not seeing issues with the other cylinders (besides what I stated above). Can the injector cause misfires for a short period of time then go back to normal for one or more days? If it's plugged, it's plugged. Shouldn't come and go from what I'm thinking. Could it be electrically failed and cause this? We've played with the wires and they don't change current run conditions at all. My buddy also noted how clean and like new the valves and seats looked, so there's that FWIW. I was not able to pull the codes this morning, but I imagine they are the same. Fwi, the spark plugs I just replaced only had about 10k miles on them. I replaced them last spring.

Here is the old fluid. The jug is 1 gallon (4qts) and is nearly full. I'm thinking of unplugging the battery and resetting the TCM so it can learn new shift points. I understand it's supposed to be adaptive and relearn on it's own, but I feel like that's not really possible when it sets the points too high. It will always be waiting for the rpms to be about "x" before shifting, even if I want it shifting much lower. Like it would really need to "unlearn" instead of relearn.

Thanks! I have the pan still in the garage. I'll transfer it into the gallon jug later and post couple pics. I went with 5.5qts because it's what I found was required for a drain and fill via several online sources.

My fluid level was at almost the exact same spot as in that video. So I must've been low? I'm going to recheck it later today and see if it's up in the hot range.

I'm pretty certain I marked it correctly. It went pretty far down in there and I DID get fluid on it. See attached picture.

Finished up tonight. Everything went smoothly as far as I can tell. I'll be driving it in the morning to work. I couldn't get a good reading on the dipstick when I started, the level was way off the mark. So either I didn't get the stick all the way in our the fluid was really low. I put exactly 5.5qts back in though. Attached is a photo of the filter and magnet. The fluid was very dark, like a deep red/black color.

I was actually looking to get Super Tech but the Walmart website isn't showing it. Only regular ATF and motor oils. Should I unplug the battery and let the trans relearn shift points, or just leave as is and let it correct them as I go? I will report back my findings sometime this weekend.

I'm going with Valvoline ATF +4 Full Synthetic, Carquest filter, and a Fel-Pro pan gasket. Any tips or additional info I might need? I looked up how to mark my oil dipstick. Looks like I just need to drain, change filter and fill? I see online the trans holds 9qts but you can only drain out a little over 5qts. Is this why some people recommend doing the job twice consecutively?

I'm actually picking up everything today to change the filter and fluid. You're right about it being the cheapest option and I have a strong suspicion that the filter is plugged. As for a CEL, no it's not on nor have I seen it on since I bought it in the spring.

Here is a video of it shifting through all the gears as I drove this morning. Steady acceleration, no stopping, just shifting from 1st through 6th. You can see how high the rpms go before it shifts, and also the hesitation before going into gear. You can also hear how loud it gets. Sometimes I'll even hit 4500rpm before going into 5th gear. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HX9x8NjhaSG6PvrQdAVNDlZdJlDglVSb/view?usp=drivesdk

What I meant was put the cheapest ATF 4 fluid in and drive for a few miles then drain it and put in higher quality fluid for the long haul. That's IF I needed to do it. I know I'm due for the fluid and filter change now, and I don't think bad mounts would delay my shifting into 6th great as I stated earlier. For those reasons I think I should just change the fluid first and foremost. I would actually love to have it checked out but I'm not looking forward to trying to make a claim on the warranty because of the horrible reviews I've read. I don't want to get stuck paying thousands of dollars because someone tore it apart to look at it.

I just watched a video on this. I will go ahead and do it myself. My only concern is the level of fluid. If I use my oil dipstick to check the level before and after, how do I know I have the correct levels? Shouldn't it be a set amount like 5qts just the same as motor oil? If I am for some reason low to begin with and I only put that much back in then I'd be low after as well. Also, if I decided to do a change, drive, change again to flush it out, could I use a cheap fluid for the short period of time and then put the correct fluid in the second time?

I've seen others in the forum talk about changing the fluid themselves and using some sort of makeshift dip stick. Kinda scares me. Is this a difficult task to do? What materials would I need?

That's quite a bit different from mine. I don't know if I should get my fluid changed or just have the trans looked over. I have an extended warranty through WYNN but I've heard they're not good when you actually try to make a claim ?