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It's a satellite equipped antenna. I always wash the car by hand and have never gone through a car wash. I got it replaced at the local mechanic. Thanks.

Just a couple of days ago I noticed that somebody had busted my radio antenna. It's basically broke from the base, so the antenna mast needs to be replaced. Is the antenna easy to replace? it's a 2009 dodge journey SXT. Thanks.

Since my dipstick broke near the top, I was able to get it out by drilling a small pilot hole and then put a small screw in there and then pulling that out. the trick is to do it while the engine is hot since that is when it is the most "stuck" and you will have no worry of accidentally pushing the dipstick further down the tube. Then after you put the screw in, you wait until the engine cools down. Then pull on the screw and the dipstick will come out easy. It is important not to drill all the way through to the other side as there is a possibility of getting plastic bits into the engine oil. You just need to drill enough so that the screw threads catch onto the plastic. When I put in the new dipstick, I was surprised at how much more "loose" it was when pushed all the way in. I haven't done this yet, but I bet that it would have no problem being pulled out when the engine is hot... maybe they changed the diameter of the plastic due to all the broken dipsticks.

Thanks for all the information. I will probably continue to check the engine oil when cold. I usually do not fill to the top of the full line but to the 3/4 line instead. Thanks to Fred for confirming that this problem is not unique to my engine.

This is probably the first vehicle ive owned that has a dipstick that would not come out while pulled. So the natural reaction would be to twist it slightly while pulling to get it moving. Since you have a 2011, I don't expect you to understand... Maybe try uncorking a bottle of wine the old fashioned way and observe what you're doing, your probably twisting while pulling. Now, after doing a Google search it seems like other dodge vehicles have this same problem. So I'm guessing that for the 2009 3.5L engine, it is normal for the dipstick to be stuck when the engine is hot.

long story short, the POS plastic dipstick broke when I tried to pull it out to check the engine oil after a 20 min drive. Here's where I'm confused, do you check the oil when it is hot, warm, or cold? All my previous cars I've checked it when it was cold and had no problems. for some reason, I decided to check it hot this time around, but I found that the dipstick does not come out so I had the stupid idea of twisting it out, and that's when it broke. Is it normal for the dipstick to not come out when the engine is hot?

I'll have to check when I get back to the car. If it is a stuck caliper, then it seems that both sides are stuck as they are both consistently hot.

Actually no I don't do any of that. I've been through a couple of dealer brake jobs due to the undersized brakes so i know they are weak. As such, I try my best *not* to put myself into a situation where heavy braking is required under normal circumstances. So I coast to stops instead of stopping at the last second, I gear down when descending hills, etc. etc. You could say I baby the brakes more than I any other car I've owned.

I don't get any pulsating feeling when braking. I just notice that when I get out and walk towards the front of the car, I can feel the heat coming from the front wheel. So I stop and place my hand near the wheel and can confirm it's damn hot. I don't notice this from my other car. Just curious if this was normal or not. Maybe I'll go out and buy one of those IR thermometers and check the temp but even if I do I don't even know what a normal reading would be.

Just wanted to confirm that after a somewhat long drive (1/2 hour), the front brakes get awefully hot. What I mean by that is when you put your hand close to the brakes, you can feel the heat radiating from it. As a matter of fact, even if you just walk past, you can feel the heat from the wheels. On my other car, on the same drive, the brakes are nowhere near as hot, but that is a passenger car though so not as heavy. Reason I ask is because my gas mileage is around 15L/100km (16mpg) and I'm wondering if the brakes have anything to do with it. I don't think I have ever achieved Dodge's claim of 12L/100km city.

Interesting timing on your problem since I have the exact same thing happening to my car within the past couple of days. Although mine is not leaking as bad as yours, I have noticed that while stopped at the traffic light, small amounts of white smoke coming from the engine bay. Upon opening the hood, I also noticed a strong smell of antifreeze. I could not find the leak right away, so I drove it home. When I crawled under the vehicle, I noticed that the underside was wet in certain places. Then I noticed that there are 3 radiator hoses connected by a T connector which happens to be very close to an exhaust heat shield. Although the plastic T connector does not look wet, the hoses connected to it somewhat looked wet. I noticed that the exhaust heat shield had dried splatter marks on it as well. I couldn't tell whether the connector was cracked or whether the metal couplings holding the hoses to the connector are failing, but I have an appointment with the dealer on wed. and they can confirm that this is the issue. My guess is that the connector is cracked and the pressure is forcing some radiator fluid into the exhaust heat shield causing it to burn. Hopefully it is just this and not something major.

Thanks. I borrowed my friends more advanced ODB reader and cleared the codes and confirmed that they didn't come back. The battery in the Journey is original and the car was bought in 2009... so yeah, it's time to change the battery!

This is exactly what I experience too! I think I complained about this a while ago. Thanks for confirming this... In my own demented way of thinking, I think the Journey uses some kind of "optimistic" shift logic.... Meaning, in order to meet it's fuel efficiency ratings, it will shift up whenever possible even when we (as drivers) know that shifting up will not provide enough power to maintain speed at the given pedal position. It just shifts up, slowly bogs down, then shifts down again... repeat and rinse until you get to the top of the hill. I also live on a hill and I experience this daily just like you described. I also notice that the engine is not as fuel efficient as what the ratings say they are. My guess is that they only managed to get these ratings using tricks like the up shifting to lower the RPM's etc.

Wife called me last night saying that she couldn't start the car. So I drive over there and found that the battery didn't have enough juice to crank the engine. After a couple of tries, the battery goes completely dead... meaning no courtesy lights... nothing. So I jump the car... While this is not the first time I've jumped a car, I noticed that the Journey takes a lot of juice to crank the engine... almost to the point where the jumper car could not provide enough juice. So I waited a minute, then turned the key again and finally, the Journey slowly cranked and managed to start. It ran fine after that so I disconnected the cables, let the engine run for 10 minutes then drove 20 minutes to get home. When I get home, the wife tells me the check engine light is on. Great! Another problem. So, before I go into that, I pull out the trickle charger expecting to charge the battery back to 100% When I hook up the trickle charger, it tells me the battery is 100% already... Is this possible after only 30 minutes of driving? So now I go on to tackle the check engine light. I hook up my OBDII code reader and go to read the codes, it says ERR. Try again, it says ERR yet again. At this point I figure out that the Journey is fighting me in some spiritual way. So, spiritually I thought to myself, I'm going to friggin sell you if you don't cooperate. So next I try the "turn key" trick. It must have read my mind because it vomitted the codes on the display. I got codes P0562 (battery voltage low) and a P0957 (Autostick circuit low). I'm guessing the P0562 is thrown due to the battery drained, but what is this P0957? Would that be caused by a drained battery as well? So naturally, if the code reader cannot connect with the car, I cannot reset the codes. Anybody know where I can go in Canada that can reset the codes for me without having to pay? Or maybe which fuse to pull to do a reset? Oh. I drove the car around when I got home and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Shifts fine in auto mode and also in manual mode... If that's what autostick refers to. Thanks.

My understanding of AWD is that all four tires should be the same brand and similar tread depth. Unless the AWD in the dodge journey operates differently than a traditional AWD, I think it would be safest to spend a little on 2 new tires than a new PTO unit... if the differing tread depths is what caused the failure. correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the AWD in the journey was full time until it reached a certain speed at which point it would disengage and become FWD? I've heard other people say that the journey is FWD most of the time until it detects slip, then engages the rear wheels to become AWD. Which is correct? EDIT: I found a post on this forum that seems to indicate it is the on-demand type of AWD.