19,XXXkm and counting.....

[Separate Ways]

Well, we are just over 19,000km traveled in our 2017 DJ Crossroad (AWD w/3.6L) and I have to say, I am happy

 

That being said, it has not been all "issue free"....the UConnect has just been replaced due to ghost in the machine that lets the volume do as it pleases....the 2nd row drivers side seat stopped folding and sliding about 2 weeks after we took delivery and has just now been repaired.

 

As most owners will agree, the dealership that we bought the DJ from has been our biggest issue...this was the second time I had brought the Journey in to have them look at the 2nd row seat and both times they tried telling me that it was "fine" and that "it's supposed to do that".

 

Sadly for them I have grown up with a list of Auto Mechanics in my family and was hoisting cars myself by 12yrs old in my dads shop LOL

The first time they game me the runaround I was pressed for time and pretty much just had to say "okay fine" and take the vehicle back and leave....the second time however, I had time LOL

After dropping the Journey off at the repair centre I walked straight into the showroom and took a video of a brand new Journey with a properly functioning seat.....and then just sat back and waiting for them to BS me again

 

Lets just say, by the end of it all, I had the Shop Foreman on his hands and knees crawling around trying to figure out what was wrong with our rear seat.....and by the way he was dressed, you can tell he doesn't get "dirty" often LOL

 

Problem has been solved, and for anyone that may have had this same issue, apparently it has something to do with the ballbearings in the track moving out of place and jamming the track from moving fully.....and it can be easily fixed as it did not take them long to repair it.

 

Over all I am truely happy with the DJ, lots of room, good power, nice features, great body styling and love the Alpine stereo but realistically it was the only 7-seating non-minivan within a decent price range so truthfully our only option was a Journey LOL

We wanted an R/T Durango but we weren't about to drop 50k+ for a used gas guzzler, the only gas guzzler that I'll buy at that price will be a Charger or Challenger LOL

We also looked at lightly used Land Rover LR4's but, we wanted a "reliable" vehicle haha

Same went for anything made by GM

The Ford Explorer Sport with the Twin Turbo 6Cylc was also very nice, but again, very overpriced!

 

The DJ definitely has a place in the long list of modern day automobiles, so I understand why I see so many of them on the road, they are everywhere LOL that being said I mostly see SXT's and R/T's....I don't come across a whole lot of Crossroad AWD's especially in the Redline Pearl colour which is good because I am a fan of not buying a vehicle in a popular colour LOL

 

This turned out to be a much longer post then intended, this is what happens when I have the day off LMAO

[jkeaton]

Great report!

[lmoore1436]

I have a 2017 crossroad too, and I haven't had the Connect issue (knock on wood), but I know when/if I do have an issue my dealership is going to be the main problem... Seems to be a common thing with dodge/chrysler dealers. I definitely think it would help them out if they did something to change their poor service to current owners. 

 

[2late4u]

I agree most dealership cannot keep up with electronic age that has involved with our vehicles that said you will find ones that are better than the other that go by the old adage that we know more then you do. i have two dealerships that are closer to my house that aren't worth a sh-t and that is why i drive about 20 miles farther down the road to the one i deal with. now there is one service writer there that i dont deal with as she has a bad attitude that i dont get along with, but there are others that will bend over backwards to help you. also i use to work in a factory running my machine and when it would have a problem i would call our skilled trades to fix it, of course most of them had the attitude that they knew more about that machine that i did ( which they did) BUT i ran it more than they did and would have a good guess at what was wrong with it but i wouldn't come out and tell them what i thought was wrong as then it would take twice as long to get it fixed as they didnt like to be told what to do ,so i would slowly tell them how it was acting and let them come to the same conclusion what i thought it was ,kind of had to spoon feed the info to them  lol but hey it worked ... same with the dealership if you go in demanding to them what you think is wrong they will take a defensive attitude towards to the problem... 

[bfurth]

My Blue Streak with chrome package doesn't show up very often.  I think I've seen 3 of them in the wild since I bought mine.

 

And yeah, dealerships are hit or miss.  You'd think they'd be more "hit" given that they tend to charge 20% more per hour than independent shops.  That cost needs to be justified.  In many cases, it isn't.

 

The Journey is an affordable, reasonably fuel efficient people hauler with a sporty-ish appearance.  What's not to like?  It fits its market (the "I don't want a(nother) van, I can't afford/don't want a gigantic Urban Assault Vehicle" group) well.

[bfurth]

On ‎10‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 12:12 PM, 2late4u said:

I agree most dealership cannot keep up with electronic age that has involved with our vehicles that said you will find ones that are better than the other that go by the old adage that we know more then you do. i have two dealerships that are closer to my house that aren't worth a sh-t and that is why i drive about 20 miles farther down the road to the one i deal with. now there is one service writer there that i dont deal with as she has a bad attitude that i dont get along with, but there are others that will bend over backwards to help you. also i use to work in a factory running my machine and when it would have a problem i would call our skilled trades to fix it, of course most of them had the attitude that they knew more about that machine that i did ( which they did) BUT i ran it more than they did and would have a good guess at what was wrong with it but i wouldn't come out and tell them what i thought was wrong as then it would take twice as long to get it fixed as they didnt like to be told what to do ,so i would slowly tell them how it was acting and let them come to the same conclusion what i thought it was ,kind of had to spoon feed the info to them  lol but hey it worked ... same with the dealership if you go in demanding to them what you think is wrong they will take a defensive attitude towards to the problem... 

 

As an IT support manager, I take issue with that attitude.  We need people to tell us what is wrong.  If they can't tell us what's wrong, it takes dramatically longer to fix it.  We want as much information as you can provide.  We'll throw out the information we don't need.

 

If a customer comes to me and says that they hear clicking and their computer is slow, I'm not dismissing that information and checking the on-board speakers out of spite.  I'm going straight to hard drive diagnostics.

 

If I go to a mechanic and tell them I've got X, Y, and Z trouble codes, I don't expect them to work on other items.  The only exception is if the specific combination of codes is a common result of a separate condition - and I'd have come across that before I took it to them.  Then again, most of us on here are not the typical customer.

 

 

[2late4u]

i wasn't saying to not tell them what you think is wrong but most service writers seem to have an attitude that they know it all, also if you go in and say well the codes say i have x,y, and z and want it fixed that might not be the original cause of the problem and then when it doesn't fix the problem they will say well we fixed what you said ,as i have had that happen before. so i tell them my problem and let them come to the conclusion to the problem at least it is on them if they dont get the problem solved it is up to them to find it.   as an example  with my new 2014 drossroad the drl were not working, so Journeyman added the sales code for me and then said take it to the dealership and have them do a flash to activate them, so i went to the dealership told them what i needed , 20 minutes later the manager comes and says david we can't find that you even have a drl code in your system and they couldn't do it , i kept arguing that the sales code had already been added and unless their mechanic  didnt know what he was doing or messed up my system and around that time and older mechanic was walking by and heard us arguing about it and he said whats going on and i explained what i needed done and he said i know what needs to be done and less than 10 minutes later the manager comes up and says okay everything is working now and said the younger mechanic didnt know what or how to do it. But he also didnt have a clue on what needed to be done himself.

[bfurth]

The service writers tend to get in the way.  Yeah, at the dealership, they exist to serve as a buffer between you and the person working on your vehicle.  In reality, that adds to frustrations because you give details to them (who may or may not have a background in repairs) and the details get lost along the way.  That's not usually as much of an issue with the independent shops I've been to, where most of the time, I'm talking to a shop owner or other mechanic who happens to be at the desk and they can filter out the irrelevant information I may have given them.  But they have the experience to function as that filter, the service writer at a dealership might not.

 

In the case of "I have X, Y, and Z codes - fix them," a competent shop will verify that the codes still exist, and then provide a correct solution for the combination of such codes existing, not just fix each symptom (unless they really are three completely independent failures that just happened to come up on their own).  Being a jerk about it is unprofessional and is part of what gives shops a (deserved, in those cases) bad name.

[Separate Ways]

I'm back for another update!

 

It's been a few years, roughly 108,000km's and 2 Accidents (not at fault), but the Journey is still running LOL

 

We have had a few issues with our Journey since my last post, I'll list them below.......if anyone remembers me talking about my experiences at our local Dealership where we bought the Journey....you'll find it funny to know, I now work at the Parts Department in said Dealership ?

 

- At around 70,000km we had a Fuel Injector crap out on us.

- Oil Cooler/Filter Housing has a leak (well known issue) at about 100,000km.

- Hinge Spring shot out of the Rear Passenger Door Hinge.

- All the bushings related to the Suspension and Steering vanished after 80,000km.

- RR Wheel/Speed Sensor took a crap so the TCS, ABS & AWD is currently MIA 105,000km.

- Still having issues connecting to the BT on the UConnect.

 

Those are the only issues since new, the body is still in fantastic condition, not an ounce of body rust, underside has surface rust (at worst). It has never left us on the side of the road, interior is still in great shape, nothing has fallen apart, even with 4 Teens and 2 Dogs. I am very impressed with our purchase, repairs are to be expected after 6yrs and over 100,000km (especially in a Canadian climate) so I'm not bothered by what has been needed. That said, about a year ago while the DJ was in for crash repairs we had a 2021 Durango R/T as a Rental......we almost traded, almost LOL

 

I have no Towing info to share, although it does have a Tow Package, I've never Hauled anything with it other than my MX Bike, but that sits on a Hitch Mounted Carrier so it doesn't really count IMO....the Tongue Weight is only 500lbs which is a little sketchy as my 450 4-Stroke is a bit if a pig and the Carrie itself weighs at least 50lbs LOL

 

I'm currently at work, so if this post seems scattered, that's why, I'll be back with more at a later date ?

 

Take care and be safe everyone ?