neverhme Posted January 20, 2018 Report Share Posted January 20, 2018 Hi all,1st post.I've had this journey for 2 years and this awd seems to only work when it feels like it.It was purchased as a leftover with 118 miles. 2015 SXT awd hot v6 5 passenger 19" rim option.I price shopped (22,600 delivered to me) and the dealer is nothing to write home about so i have just lived with annoyances.Right front end clunk and rattle worse when cold.Brake rotors i had turned at 300 miles cuz they were all rust,and this mystery awd.To be fair there is was no manual with the car(or floor mates) and I'm not downloading 500 pages of a pdf telling me how to sync a phone to the radio that i don't have, so maybe I'm not turning it on?,dunno.I would like to get on the technical side of this and understand what sensors and locations actually make it work. We are in general happy with the car,plenty of zip,silky smooth for a 6,doesn't use a drop of oil,and with my bad back i find the seating and entry/ exit excellent.The bad kumho tires mystery cupping in the center,and NO HEAT in the back of the vehicle,which is nuts since even my beater 97 neon has a heat duct running thru the center console,someone please slap the engineer who came up with that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bramfrank Posted January 20, 2018 Report Share Posted January 20, 2018 My ride had the front end clunk - both sides - and it got bad enough that it would wander all over the road on scarified surfaces. They took three shots, but the last was the one that fixed it. The solution was apparently to tighten p links on both sides - not sure what the heck a 'link' is that is adjustable - I sprung for a wheel alignment after the fact. If your dealer wants to know WHAT they did I can PM you the dealer info and the work order under which it was repaired - your dealer can call mine and perhaps you can retire that item from your list of complaints. jkeaton 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmoore1436 Posted January 20, 2018 Report Share Posted January 20, 2018 Sorry to hear about your issues! I had the front end clunk too, and it seems to vary from person to person what item fixed the noise. For me it was the lower control arms, had that done a few months ago and the noise didn't come back. All the dealers can be pretty lazy/reluctant to listen so don't let them just lube everything up and send you on your way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justinmh Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 On 2018-01-19 at 5:25 PM, neverhme said: Hi all,1st post.I've had this journey for 2 years and this awd seems to only work when it feels like it. That is pretty much how the AWD system in the journeys works. It isn’t full-time AWD. Your basically running a FWD, but when the vehicle detects loss of traction, it then will engage AWD and strategically deliver power to the rear tires as well. jkeaton and Steven Harshbarger 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Harshbarger Posted January 24, 2018 Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 As stated above, thats how the AWD system works. With that said, I find it works very well and I've had zero issues and never felt anything less than well planted to the road. The other issues your complaining about are issues that can and should be fixed. To allow the dealership to just not fix it is on you. Either push harder or take your concerns to another dealership. And there is an app for your phone that contains the owners manual for your car. It actually works pretty nice allowing you to search for what info your looking for. And if that isn't good enough, why not buy one off Ebay or amazon for cheap. ex. https://www.ebay.com/itm/2015-Dodge-Journey-Factory-Owners-Owners-Manual/132481056280?hash=item1ed87c7e18:g:IFsAAOSwDVtaZ~TR&vxp=mtr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmoore1436 Posted January 25, 2018 Report Share Posted January 25, 2018 On 1/19/2018 at 8:25 PM, neverhme said: Hi all,1st post.I've had this journey for 2 years and this awd seems to only work when it feels like it.It was purchased as a leftover with 118 miles. 2015 SXT awd hot v6 5 passenger 19" rim option.I price shopped (22,600 delivered to me) and the dealer is nothing to write home about so i have just lived with annoyances.Right front end clunk and rattle worse when cold.Brake rotors i had turned at 300 miles cuz they were all rust,and this mystery awd.To be fair there is was no manual with the car(or floor mates) and I'm not downloading 500 pages of a pdf telling me how to sync a phone to the radio that i don't have, so maybe I'm not turning it on?,dunno.I would like to get on the technical side of this and understand what sensors and locations actually make it work. We are in general happy with the car,plenty of zip,silky smooth for a 6,doesn't use a drop of oil,and with my bad back i find the seating and entry/ exit excellent.The bad kumho tires mystery cupping in the center,and NO HEAT in the back of the vehicle,which is nuts since even my beater 97 neon has a heat duct running thru the center console,someone please slap the engineer who came up with that one. As everyone mentioned that is how the AWD system works... Unfortunately they also don't have a dash light or notification that the AWD is active so that probably is why you think it only works sometimes, but it is working. They do have a light that comes on when the AWD system isn't functioning so you are good to go as long as that light isn't on. As for the rear heat, that only comes as a package with the third row configuration. Something I always like to do when I'm car shopping is go to the manufacturers website and see which packages have certain features that I want/need. Since it was a leftover though you may not have been able to find one with a third row for that good of a price. You definitely got a good deal though, I'd personally stick it out as long as you can. It should last a while and you definitely have the preferable features (V6, 6 speed, AWD). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2late4u Posted January 25, 2018 Report Share Posted January 25, 2018 on the no heat to the rear that could be a problem and i do agree only i live in al and no kids so not much of a problem but i do miss the rear air, as on 5 passenger journey there is no rear air.... i had a 2011 7 passenger with the rear air, didnt even think that would be a problem when i traded in on my 2014 crossroad, hindsight can be a bitch sometime, i sure wouldn't recommend the 5 passenger out any one out west or any further south than i am.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14WhiteRTRallye Posted January 27, 2018 Report Share Posted January 27, 2018 I rented an Escape and it had a display that shows where the power Is going on the AWD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armando G Posted January 29, 2018 Report Share Posted January 29, 2018 Love all of the responses to his comments. I am curious if that was his first AND last post? It seems like living with these 'issues' was unnecessary if he bought it with low miles and a factory warranty covering these things. jkeaton 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Harshbarger Posted January 29, 2018 Report Share Posted January 29, 2018 On 1/26/2018 at 8:25 PM, 14WhiteRTRallye said: I rented an Escape and it had a display that shows where the power Is going on the AWD But the OP isn't asking about a Ford Escape, haha. We don't get that feature in our Dodge Journeys. jkeaton 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverhme Posted February 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2018 Sorry not my last post,I will make a appointment and see what they have to say,there is also a recall letter that keeps showing up so I guess it's time.I am very familiar with awd,my wife has a 2012 forester 85k on it, which works well and never has not worked.I realize it's not 4wd,i have those too and have had dodge my hole life,79 1/2 ramrod package,86 1/2 le,98 3/4 12v quad ( the holy grail),still own gave it to my son,and i picked up a 2 year old new 2015 2500 slt 6.4 hemi last year. As you can see I'm a dodge boy,got that from dad 65 coronet 500 426 wedge,68 coronet r/t 440,seen that roll past 140 in the back seat.Anyways i keep my vehicles a long time and is why I want to understand the awd system.I believe the problem will be what sensor tells it to work.I tried it in the driveway and it didn't work yesterday,so i backed up and goosed it and it still didn't work but put it in drive again and it kicked in?,as i said it has a mind of it's own and doesn't build any confidence backing into a turn around that has snow or ice and wonder if it's going to work or not,this is the targeted area it was designed to work for correct?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmoore1436 Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 (edited) 17 hours ago, neverhme said: Sorry not my last post,I will make a appointment and see what they have to say,there is also a recall letter that keeps showing up so I guess it's time.I am very familiar with awd,my wife has a 2012 forester 85k on it, which works well and never has not worked.I realize it's not 4wd,i have those too and have had dodge my hole life,79 1/2 ramrod package,86 1/2 le,98 3/4 12v quad ( the holy grail),still own gave it to my son,and i picked up a 2 year old new 2015 2500 slt 6.4 hemi last year. As you can see I'm a dodge boy,got that from dad 65 coronet 500 426 wedge,68 coronet r/t 440,seen that roll past 140 in the back seat.Anyways i keep my vehicles a long time and is why I want to understand the awd system.I believe the problem will be what sensor tells it to work.I tried it in the driveway and it didn't work yesterday,so i backed up and goosed it and it still didn't work but put it in drive again and it kicked in?,as i said it has a mind of it's own and doesn't build any confidence backing into a turn around that has snow or ice and wonder if it's going to work or not,this is the targeted area it was designed to work for correct?. The difference between the Journeys system and the Subaru is pretty substantial. The Subaru is lighter, and uses what they call "symmetrical AWD", this is where about 20% of the power is sent to the rear wheels at all time. The Journey however is MUCH heavier, and relies solely on the front wheels until it detects slippage via the same sensors that let the speedometer know how fast you are going. From my experience (which is usually limited to up to 5 inches of snow), the DJ works great, but is definitely not meant to be a true snow mobile. If I'm not mistaken the DJ can only send up to 40% of it's power to the rear wheels, but through the use of sensors it detects which wheels should get the power and have traction. All of this may sound silly and slow, but in reality it works in about 1/40th of a second. So to answer your question, if the speedometer is working, and there are no lights on the dash then the AWD system is in fact working. It is a very domestic vehicle, not made for heavy snow or off road use, so keep that in mind when using it in bad conditions. You should also consider snow/winter tires... If you are still using stock tires, keep in mind they are garbage in winter driving. Edited February 9, 2018 by lmoore1436 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmoore1436 Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 Sorry, I realize now that you said you know how AWD works, but it is important to know how different brands design their AWD systems to work. Subaru is popular for their rally vehicles and have developed a pretty "hardcore" AWD system, but the Journey (which is mostly used to shuttle families around) AWD is made for much more docile conditions. Hope this helps explain! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverhme Posted February 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2018 Journey repair round 1 Recall wire in steering wheel done n/c Recall abs wrap with heat tape v6's only done n/c check clunking in front end found 1 strut nut lil loose tightened said to be fixed check awd no codes no leaking fluid,ran car on lift said to be fine. picked up car front end still clunks,turned into driveway awd not working. aahhh why i dont want to deal with this and why i haven't played the game with dodge dealer,always nice to get a good one and not have to deal with this. If I have time tomorrow i will go back and try to get someone out for a drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverhme Posted February 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2018 I've read thru everyones comments which i respect and thank you but i think you all are misunderstanding me when i say it works when it feels like it.I understand it is not on all the time.What I am saying is it will work in the same situation one day and not the next,hence when IT feels like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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