agm2112 Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 On sunday night I was driving on a highway at mid speed when the "overheating" icon appeared on the dashboard. I stopped the car and opened the hood... the cooling system was absolutely dry. Luckily I was less than a mile from home, and returned stopping two times for 20 minutes to cool the engine, under heavy rain. I found the problem on the oil cooler. One of the three plastic water seals simply popped out, allowing all colling fluid to jump to the road in ten seconds. I believe this is a very bad factory defect, that puts the entire engine at risk (and a car stopped on the road under heavy rain) for such a simple piece of plastic.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryl Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 Yes it happens and they are a really crappy design in an otherwise great engine.....whoever designed it was an idiot jkeaton and agm2112 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2late4u Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 first iv ever heard of this happening here on a journey. thanks for the picture of the oil cooler..does seem weird that it is designed like that wonder why the ends look like that looks like it was designed to cool other things or what ever,,,,, that said put 70 k on my 2011 .3.6 eng and just turned 100 k on my 2014 3.6 eng no problems with either except the oil pressure sending unit o the 14. glad you were able to get it fixed before damaging your engine jkeaton 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John/Horace Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 Almost looks like frost pushed out thermowelded cap. But glycol and south location nixs that possibility. Glad you got home safely, scary failure. Mine failured last Jan on the oil side; I think orings against block, not really positive. Topped up twice 1 liter in 24 hrs, then found leak( car at 80k miles or 120kms). Date stamp on my part shows Nov 2013 manufacture. 2014 was first year of redesigned part, lots of 3.2 jeeps had issues as well. Plastic holds up on oil pans and valve covers, heat exchanger should not be a problem IMO. Design or manufacture flaw, hard to know. Save your oil filter cap off old heat exchanger; one person had issue with fitting inside cap breaking. jkeaton and larryl 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agm2112 Posted February 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 48 minutes ago, John/Horace said: Save your oil filter cap off old heat exchanger; one person had issue with fitting inside cap breaking. I won´t replace it (yet). I took it to a (machine shop ? - I don´t know the name in english), will try to open a thread on the hole and build a nylon screw to cover it. jkeaton 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John/Horace Posted February 25, 2020 Report Share Posted February 25, 2020 There are thermowelding kits available for plastic. Walls kinda thin on heat exchanger housing for threading IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scars24 Posted November 12, 2024 Report Share Posted November 12, 2024 What year was your vehicle? Did you n loose heat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agm2112 Posted November 13, 2024 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2024 16 hours ago, Scars24 said: What year was your vehicle? Did you n loose heat? 2014. Probably one os the first "redesigned" parts. Now I´m using an aluminium part from Dorman. No more issues ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCSPauly Posted February 8 Report Share Posted February 8 Had to have my Journey's oil cooler replaced today. Cost me 730.00. Dodge dealership wanted 2500.00 to do it. The mechanic that fixed it told me he had another Journey coming in that day for the same repair. He said that motor is in several vehicles and it always goes bad. My Journey has been a great vehicle but I am going to research other problems to see if I need to trade it soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2late4u Posted February 8 Report Share Posted February 8 this variation of this unit is used on a lot of different makes of vehicles,, manufactures just use what is available when designing cars now days its a shame but it is what it is,,,I had mine replaced at the local dealership about 6 months ago around 155 k I think I have 168 k on it now , I change my own oil so I was keeping a close check on it and happened to see the oil along side of the oil cooler body when using a strong led light looking straight down the side of it,so I took it in and they said yep well change it out for you,, glad I had bought the Mopar unlimited warranty,, sure has paid for itself larryl 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryl Posted February 8 Report Share Posted February 8 (edited) A lot of the failure rate can be caused by overtightening of the oil filter housing when changing the oil...Especially Quick Lube places Heat does cause seals to wear and fail also ..I change my oil and mine lasted 185000 miles I used the OEM replacement Edited February 8 by larryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5rebel9 Posted February 8 Report Share Posted February 8 (edited) For the amount of work involved to replace the oil filter/cooler assembly, I prefer using the upgraded aluminium unit. I have them on 2 of the 3 3.6 DJ's in my "stable". and also like having the '14 and newer filter with redesign relief valve from the '11 - '13 models. Just have to remember to buy the later filter. Edited February 8 by 5rebel9 2late4u 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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