bramfrank

Any traditional bulb (halogen/tungsten/fake HID) that draws 55/60 watts that doesn't use technology such as HIR and claims to have higher light output is lying. So paying the big dollars for blue bulbs is a waste of your money. Using higher power bulbs will not deliver the performance you are looking for because of increased voltage drop across the wiring - and the CANBUS might complain about excessive current draw. Check out Daniel Stern for details: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/HID.html , http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/bad/bad.html

And they're only covered for defects, not wear. But even so, the basic warranty is 3/60. I was giving the dealer report a bit of thought. With one pad down to metal he should need to replace just the rear disks (and if cheaping out, likely just the one on the side where he ran out of pad) - easy to tell, just look at the disks through the holes in the wheels for excessive wear.

I'm confused . . . the 'basic warranty' on the Dodge is 3/60 - you mentioned being below both for time and distance . . . . However the brakes are indeed a bit undersized (remedied on the 2013) - I have about 42K on mine and next week when the snows come off I have new pads and hardware ready for the rears. Note that if you decide to upgrade the brakes and if you have 16" wheels - they will need to be replaced with 17" at a minimum as part of the process.

Please explain how, since the DRLs on the DJ run at half voltage. Running them at full power isn't a DRL and remember that when the turn signals are engaged the flashing side is extinguished and when the vehicle is in Park, they are both out.

They will not work on the high beams if you have DRLs. HIDs do not support dimming of any sort - they are either on or off or, quite possibly will flicker and burn out quickly if you try to run them on half-voltage. And on the topic of HIDs in general (anywhere in North America), be aware that while you can plug in HIDs to any non-dimmed socket and they will likely operate, they are not road-legal and the reflector isn't optimised for them. The rules require that the headlight reflector and bulb assembly be SAE/DOT tested and approved as a unit. So if you get stopped and the officer is quick and knowledgeable, you could well wind up with a ticket for an equipment violation. HIRs are road legal - but again; be certain that what you buy is a real HIR bulb. Even Philips is selling bulbs labelled as HIR that don't have the IR reflective coating required to make the bulb work properly - buy 'em from John Deere or as MOPAR OEM replacement bulbs for the Prowler.

The only real issue with the 2nd gen Journey was with the brakes - and even then I have had no problem with mine. I have ~43,000 km (about 26,000 miles) on my original brakes with the smaller disks and pads, and the rear pads are pretty worn and will be changed next week when I put the summer wheels back on. The fronts are still fine. I have the 4 cylinder engine - fuel economy is not much different than with the 6 (it takes the same amount of energy to move a vehicle equipped with either engine at any given speed), so the only real price to pay is that a 4 will not accelerate as quickly when floored. There were a couple of vehicles with 6 cylinder engines that had head issues, but it wasn't a design defect. CR's assessment criteria suck.

It depends why the pressure is falling. If you have a hole in a tire then it is not covered. If you have a leak from a valve or a pinhole in the rim itself, then it is.

My experience is that the majority of winter handling comparisons are expressions of a drivers' ability to deal with winter conditions, moreso than issues related to the vehicle itself; You have the usual 4 wheels, 2 (or 4) of which are driven. You have GREAT clearance with the Journey, as compared with standard cars. Weight distribution can be an issue, as can tire design. But there is very little differentiation between one example of a model and another, except for tires and wear - yet we see people who do well in snow and others who do not in supposedly almost identical situations driving similarly configured vehicles. In my venue they've been scraping the snow down to pavement on all but rural roads for decades and, until it was legislated, I never bothered with snow tires and NEVER had any issues myself - and I'm not the type that stays home just because 10" or 15" of snow is in the process of falling . . . Press the gas and brake gently and wheelspin will be minimised - the traction control in the Journey works in part by reducing power to eliminate wheelspin, so if you push it hard what happens is that you are pressing on the gas and the engine slows down to compensate.. I like to recount the story of my ex sister in law who couldn't get out of the driveway with OEM tires at the country house and blamed me, so I drove the vehicle out and bought snow tires. The next day she came in ranting that 'the car did it again'. I pointed out that first of all, when she gave up the previous day I simply drove up the driveway - and explained that I bought snow tires, yet she still managed to get stuck in the exact same place and I had again gone out and simply drove up the driveway . . . . and that the only person who had issues of this sort was her and that even $1200 in new tires didn't help her. It is very often the driver and not the vehicle. When we drive up to the ski hills I've noticed that the vehicles most often sitting in ditches, having slid off the road are AWD vehicles driven by people who simply can't properly handle a vehicle in difficult conditions. Snow tires IMO tend to embolden bad drivers into exceeding their limited skills. In the end my ex sister in law did take a winter driving course and is much improved.

We rarely actually drive on snow up here, but rather paving, covered by lots of salt & grit until they scrape the roads clear - and note that the Kuhmo is an all-season tire, rather than a 'summer' tire. On the other hand, while the snow is falling, and before they clear it away (which is a 12 hour period, once per storm) the big, blocky treads of a snow tire can help drag you through drifts and such. And those who are comparing their worn out all-seasons with brand new snows will certainly notice a huge difference. I suspect they'd also notice a huge a difference with a fresh set of All Seasons. Of course, the key is to drive for the conditions, no matter what tires you have installed - the tires are part of the equation. The reason I recounted my story was to make it clear that the driver is probably the largest factor in snow season driving - I've been in the Yukon in February on all season on a rented car and I've been in Florida with snows (they don't last long down there, for certain) - I've logged huge miles driving the route from Sault St. Marie to Thunder Bay (at all times of the year, summer & winter), I've had the good fortune of driving in Atlanta and in London England during and after snow falls (noting that in Atlanta the real problem was sheer ice which resulted from the melting snow and snow tires don't help much with that - it doesn't help that Atlanta roads tend to be hilly) and I've driven through the mountains in Pennsylvania during snow storms. Snows help. But the driver is the real factor.

It would seem to me that the OP's vehicle wasn't babied. My ex used to complain about brake life on ANY vehicle she had - we used to give her the new one and I'd get her old one and strangely I always got twice as much mileage out of brakes and much better fuel economy than she did. The OP might do himself a favour by perhaps taking a look at how his wife drives when 'unsupervised'. I have 40K on mine and am still on original brakes & tires, though the rear pads will be replaced shortly. I do a pretty even mix of highway and urban driving. Fuel economy tends to sit at between 11-12 l/100 km, so I'm not driving like an old lady, either. The only issues I've had to date were a leaking manifold gasket and a stuck air door in the heating system.

Oh well, you have to wonder what they did with the other bar . . . .There is a sale on now for a pair at $128 including shipping . . . or you can just queue up a search and hope that someone lists a set for less and eBay will let you know when something comes on line. http://www.ebay.com/itm/09-13-Dodge-Journey-Roof-Rack-Cross-Rail-Mopar-OEM-/400593644302?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3AJourney&hash=item5d453deb0e&vxp=mtr

Write them or call and ask. I suspect that they mean 2 of item #2, since the price is close to (though higher than) what I paid - Chrysler sells them in pairs. There is another set on eBay now at $125. The link for mine isn't on eBay any more, but I just looked the purchase up; the vendor was car.nations2012 and I stand corrected in that I paid $79.99 shipped. I checked, but they don't have anything on offer right now.

Wow, look at the price in that eBay auction!! And I'd be shocked if they were OEM, since they come from China. I paid $75 for a brand new set of OEM crossbars for my DJ on eBay. That included shipping. Here's another eBay auction for a real set of bars at a much better price: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DODGE-5178271AC-GENUINE-OEM-FACTORY-ORIGINAL-CROSS-RAIL-/161205525199?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3AJourney&hash=item2588991acf&vxp=mtr And there is no way that the bars' attachments come anywhere near the paint on my vehicle - so the obvious question I would ask is whether ZMTTOXICS actually got OEM crossbars or something aftermarket?

Not having read the original post, I'd have put the oil back in, called the shop and told 'em the dip stick reads dry and have them deal with it ON the record.

If it's a '12 it won't have the valve issues . . . it could well be a bad sensor or corroded connector, however.

They are spec'd 36 psi no matter which wheels/tires you have.

The pressure indicated on the sidewall of tires is the MAXIMUM cold pressure that the tires can safely take, but the actual target inflation is dictated by the specifics of the vehicle, as indicated on the Packard on the door frame and in the user manual. The trip point on the TPMS is below the lowest recommended pressure reading and running your tires that low will lead to premature wearout. I find it interesting that 'we', as a group tend to run our tires overspec (I run mine at 38 PSI cold) to get better rolling resistance performance - you'd figure that manufacturers would specify them that way already in order to improve fleet mpg ratings. But they don't. Lots of mechanics like to inflate to 32 PSI (or even less) by rote so I make it a point to have the shop mark my desired tire pressure on work orders and I verify their settings when I take the vehicle back (because they often don't actually read what's been written).

Larryl is correct. Since 2011 the TPMS will give an error indication only for the first drive after the sensors are distanced from the vehicle and thereafter will show NA for the various wheel locations if you select the TPMS display. When you rotate your tires or re-install wheels with sensors the system will automatically figure out which wheel is where and will display pressures again. there is no dealer or manual intervention required. Note that the system does report in 1 PSI increments, so while essentially accurate, note that when in Metric the readout on the Journey is pretty coarse. The system in my old LHS was dead-on accurate and reported in centibar increments.

Your vehicle must have been built on a Monday. My Kuhmos have about 40,000 km on them and work just fine in the snow - and we get quite a bit where I drive - and I ski every week-end, driving 100 miles north and back, often twice a week. My jurisdiction requires that we switch to snow tires - I wait for the last possible day (December 16) because in my opinion snow tires compensate to a large degree for drivers who may not be as competent as they ought to be - My vehicles have often been called to pull 'well equipped' vehicles from situations - and this without snow tires. I often recount the story about something that happened with my ex-sister-in-law at their country house, which was situated at the bottom of a hill; Where the house is there are often foot-deep winter snowfalls - and one particular day my ex sister-in-law went to take my van (then a GM Montana) which had all-season tires and she got stuck halfway up the hill - she came in fuming that I was ruining her day and all because we hadn't put snow tires on the vehicle. My EX agreed and started chastising me too, so to restore the peace I went out, drove the van up the hill (take note!!), took it to a nearby tire shop and spent $1200 on a set of 4 snow tires, brought the van back and at the end of the day it wound up at the head of the line. The next morning, she decided to go into town to get fresh bread from the local artisan bakery and . . . . she got stuck at the same spot and came in again berating me for not having snow tires . . . . and was very sheepish when I pointed out that I had put fresh winter-grade rubber on the vehicle the day before and that beyond this, that I had no problems driving the van up the hill after she came in - and in fact went out and did just that again for her. Beyond that, if you are driving down the highway during a snow storm and decide to take stock of what style of vehicle is most likely to be sitting in the ditch, it seems to me to be AWD vehicles, most often SUvs. My mantra these days is that "it isn't the tires, but most often the driver". Having said that, if you live in the snow belt or plan to drive in snow, having proper snow tires is a reasonable concept - they DO make a bit of difference because their formulations are designed to stay flexible' at lower temperatures 'stick' better and to cut through snow. Since the Kuhmos are quite soft going in, I've found them to work quite well in uncleared snowfalls that wouldn't be considered fierce blizzard conditions..

I have no idea why they would have called the old indirect systems 'TPMS', since they are essentially TPCS (the 'C' would be 'comparison') because they really could only tell whether one wheel was spinning slightly faster than the other (which could be due to wear, differential as much as pressure drop) - None of the pre-sensor systems could deliver an absolute pressure reading and even then, depended on the vehicle travelling in a straight line.

Blackout; You can get cheap HIDs for $50 a pair or even less, though you will need to do some work - you'll need a proper load resistor and they should be wired to the battery, because the DJ uses CANBUS. You CANNOT use HIDs for high beam because the DRLs require them to be operable at half voltage. And, because you are in Canada, DRLs are mandatory. Using HIDs will NOT void the vehicle warranty, though if you cut up the wiring harness and have issues or if you get moisture in your reflectors as a consequence of your installation THAT would not be covered. As mentioned in a previous post, conversions are not legal. Also note that the reflector in the vehicle is not designed around the use of a plasma bulb. Using an HIR bulb is a practical alternative that has no impact on wiring, reflector design, daytime running lights and so on.

Even your 'back in the day' is wrong. Since the TPMS transmitters only send once per 10 minutes minute after they are tripped through rotation, you'd need one heck of a spin to be detected using that mechanism - all they do is send battery status, serial number and tire pressure. Beyond that, they aren't 'learned' to the vehicle. While the original systems they had back in 2002 required a 'learning magnet' to send a 'registration' message to the system, requiring 5 minutes to set up, the new ones have 3 receivers, one in each wheel well. They are automatically identified based on their proximity to the receivers (the 4th is the one that is weakest). AND, when you remove the sensors for the season, the system is smart enough to simply put out the 'lost sensors' warning once - no warning lights, no chime after that. Nothing at all until springtime, when you reinstall your wheels and the vehicle determines which wheel is where. The dealer is beyond being full of crap. Tell him to stop 'advising' people until he goes through a proper training course. And then refuse all of their upsells.

John Deere sells them, Dodge has them on the Viper and the GM Avalance uses them too, so you can get them from any GM dealer and any Chrysler dealer or your local John Deere dealership. If you buy them yourself you'll need to cut off the extra plastic tab on the base to let them fit properly into the reflector - it is obvious when you compare the bulb from the vehicle with the HIR bulb you are replacing it with. Be careful if you buy on the web - there are lots of fakes out there. So you need to find a reputable seller.

The aux input is analog - it should simply pass the same noises as you hear on your earphones. Try substituting another player to see if the problem persists. I agree - either a cable or player problem.

Look into HIR bulbs, the only legal way to get more light without modifying anything beyond the lamp base - be careful to buy *real* bulbs if you go this route because there are a LOT of fakes out there.