Question about possible mounts

[Shawn855]

Hi everyone. 2016 dodge Journey sxt. 70,000 kms. 3.6l engine. 

 

There's two things happening that I'm wondering are tied hand in hand to the engine mounts. 

 

1) when I start the engine and I sit there while it's warming up, I feel vibration in the cabin. Nothing too crazy but there's definitely vibration. It also happens the odd time while waiting at a stop light. 

 

2) there's a knocking in the front end when going slow over uneven terrain (like a gravel/rocky/unpaved driveway). This knocking only happens for when I first start driving on the rough terrain and goes away on its own. For example I'll leave my unpaved driveway, hear the knocking like crazy , go for a drive and come home and go over the same unpaved driveway and the knocking doesn't happen. Then I start the vehicle later on or the next day and the same cycle happens. 

 

You guys think my engine mounts may be the culprit here? Do any of yous have a little vibration in the cabin after starting the vehicle and it's warming up? 

 

Thanks 

[2late4u]

plenty of videos on u tube for checking motor mounts , get some one to watch the engine and put it in gear, foot hard on the brake and give it a bit of gas the engine should move some but not a whole lot, might also be a transmission mount as well,,,also check your wheel  bearings by lifting and put on jacks and then spin and manually rock the tires to see if any thing wrong there. good luck and report back what you find

[John/Horace]

Mounts Usually more of a high milage older car thing, but possible.

 

Vibration at idle can often be an engine issue; scan for codes, even if no check engine light.

 

Knocking going over bump can be dozens of things in suspension.  Check for play in ball joint, tierod, sway bar links etc.

[Shawn855]

Quote

7 hours ago, John/Horace said:

Mounts Usually more of a high milage older car thing, but possible.

 

Vibration at idle can often be an engine issue; scan for codes, even if no check engine light.

 

Knocking going over bump can be dozens of things in suspension.  Check for play in ball joint, tierod, sway bar links etc.

 

 

I've read quite a few threads on this forum about journeys needing their engine/transmission mounts replaced as early as 30k kms so that was at the back of my mind. I did a scan a couple of months ago and no codes appeared except the low voltage code which i narrowed down to my battery (i'll be replacing it soon when it's warmer out).

I Agree that the knocking can be any number of suspension components, but it all looked tight and again this noise only happens when i first leave the driveway/uneven terrain and then goes away after driving around. That's what's making me think motor mounts because:

a) suspension component noise generally doesn't go away after driving the car around a bit
b) the noise could be coming and going because the engine shifts a bit due to the failing mounts, no?

 

That's my thought anyways. Asides from the noise that comes and goes, and the mild vibration in park when warming up for the first about 10 seconds, there's no other oddities or noise while driving. (Except for a mild pulsating in the steering wheel which I'm going to rule out by balancing my tires first).

[OhareFred]

Mine had a vibration when stopped at red lights. All 3 were bad. Maybe around 80k miles. Have them checked.

[DodgeCares]

59 minutes ago, Shawn855 said:

 

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by DodgeCares
Error

[Shawn855]

I noticed something else that goes away after driving a bit: a pulsating steering wheel. When driving to work, for the first 5 - 10 mins I'll notice my steering wheel shakes. The hwy is new so it's not road bumps or anything. My tires are at the correct psi. So now it's:

-Noise in the front end when going slow over bumpy terrain

-shaky steering wheel

 

Both go away after driving for about 10 mins. Going to try manually downshifting next time I feel the steering wheel pulsating to see if it's engine related. (Since it's happening during first 10 mins of driving I'm thinking it's while engine is warming up).

[2late4u]

 a bad tire can cause a bumpy ride but it usually doesn't go away after it warms up , re-balance and move the front tires to the rears to see if that helps also remember which front tire you put on which side, might could be a tire problem i had one when it was new and that was the only way i found it balancing didnt fix it they finally replaced it. and usually a bad or warped  rotor you will feel in your brake pedal but also you sometimes can feel it in the steering wheel.

[Shawn855]

Quote

a bad tire can cause a bumpy ride but it usually doesn't go away after it warms up , re-balance and move the front tires to the rears to see if that helps also remember which front tire you put on which side, might could be a tire problem i had one when it was new and that was the only way i found it balancing didnt fix it they finally replaced it. and usually a bad or warped  rotor you will feel in your brake pedal but also you sometimes can feel it in the steering wheel.

 

Yeah That's what I'll be doing tonight. I'll rotate my tires and see if it makes a difference. It shouldn't be my brakes because i replaced all of the rotors and pads and cleaned and re-lubed everything and torqued it all to spec. I'll still take a peek when i rotate the tires. Will report back.