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Persistently blowing power steering hose


RodOracheski

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I'm not sure what forum this belongs in, but it seems the best fit for here so here goes.

My wife called me a week and a half ago to tell me that the Journey was acting "weird" Yeah...great info, honey. I get home and start it up and can hear what she means. Sounds like the power steering pump, and backing the vehicle up a couple feet shows me a puddle. Take it to the dealership and they fit it in the afternoon schedule. They say it's a blown hose, not uncommon in the ridiculously cold weather we've been having, routinely minus 20-30 (celsius).

Last night I command start it and hear the same ungodly racket. Check underneath and sure enough, it's blown the hose again. Twice inside a month, that's not good. I've been careful with it, and told my wife to be as well, not to crank the steering wheel too much when it's cold...even though that shouldn't be necessary. There should be no way you can build up enough pressure, even with cold fluid, to blow the line consistently.

Anyone else have this issue?

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  • 3 weeks later...

another blown line.... we live in calgary and it is routinely in the -20's, then back to above zero and back to minus 20's again. we brought it into the dealer and they informed us that the return line to the power steering unit is leaking, they ordered the part told us that is will be in the next day. then i called again and they told me it is now on back order and they don't know when it will be in!!!

it is leaking a lot and we find a large puddle on the ground in the morning....they told us to bring it in to the dealer everyday until they replace the line, to top up the fluid..

does anyone know how much fluid there is in the power steering system? is this going to be an everyday top up?

thanks

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update:

the dealer told me that the pressure line is on back order.....that the plant is making them right now and that once they are done they are being shipped all over. there is a major back order for this part, which makes me think that there is something going on, and that the hose is busting frequently and the plant can't keep up. the part was 260.00 cnd. ( under warranty)

i called a few dealers outside our city that wasn't linked to the database and i found two!! told the stealership that i deal with and told them to order it quick....which they did, previous to finding the hose, the service advisor told me that it will take a few weeks. our car doesn't have a few weeks and we can't afford to have it parked at the dealer.

my question is:

once the pressure hose is installed, what is the preceedure? does the dealer need to flush and fill the system or top up only? how do they bleed the system, other than turning the wheels from stopper to stopper until all the air is purged? what should i look for once the hose has been installed, noises, steering feel.

there is a major problem with the design of this part. part number: CH05085449-AB

i have read the recall in the states for the very same thing, however i called chrysler canada and they informed me that they will record the problem but as of now, there is no safety recall.

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My Journey was in twice for the blown power steering line. Fixed same day both times. My parents bought a 2010 RT as well and they've had their power steering hose go as well. When the guy arrived to tow it to the dealer, he said he'd just dropped off another with the same problem.

Obviously there's some kind of issue with the lines, at this point.

I don't think taking it to the dealer and having them top it up every day would be an acceptable solution. My parents Journey was pouring fluid out as fast as it was poured in, so you'd be driving 'dry' in no time.

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for what it's worth, the new hoses have cured the problem ( acording to the dealer tech I talked to), and the back- order issue is due to the fact the first shipments get sent

to the assembly plant for the new builds then the remainder gets shipped to their central warehouse for ditribution to the dealerships.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I got my journey back from the dealer, it took a week but they told me they replaced the hose with a longer one and put "heavy duty" ps fluid in. It was -40 for a solid 3 weeks before this happened i dont know if that would have any affect on it.

About 5 weeks have gone by and no problems with anything else ( fingers crossed ).

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  • 9 months later...

I know this is an older forum, but for what it worth I wanted to respond. I got my Journey in October 2008. In January 2009, my hose blew. Got it fixed only to have it blow 2 weeks later. 1 year later, the same thing happened. And each year following, same thing. I live in North Dakota where it gets cold, but I think this is no excuse. Here I am with a blown hose and now no one wants to help because I am out of warranty. I cannot get a part from a parts store because it is "too new" so I have to go to a dealership. I am now awaiting a call from Chrysler, and believe me, they are going to hear about what I think of their car & workmanship!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Bought my '09 Journey in Winnipeg at the end of 2010. Hose number one blew off at -20 a few months later. Hose number two blew off about a year later in the cold. It was a different hose and just off warranty so it cost me $250. Hose number three blew off a few weeks ago and my arms are gettin' tired so I'll probably take it in this week. The dealer told me the Journey has many more hoses than a typical vehicle so there may be another half dozen or so to replace before it stops. He suggested that short trips introduce condensation into the fluid and water in the fluid expands and blows the fitting. I don't buy that. It's more likley poor manufacturing.

Hopefully this will happen to enough people that they recall it so I can get my money back. If you drive an 09 Journey anywhere it snows an extended warranty might pay for itself.

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  • 10 months later...

We had the power steering hose let go in February of 2012 and again today January 2013, on our 2010 SXT. I'm hoping that we got one of the defective replacement hoses before the new ones came out. We live in Northern ON and the temp here hasn't been above -20C for the last few days and today it was -35C. We're lucky that both times this has blown it was while backing out of a parking spot and not at high speed or anything.

The bummer is that roadside assistance can't get the car because they can't find a tow operator in town to answer the phone because all the operators are swamped because of the cold weather. Wife called the dealer while sitting in a parking lot at -30C outside and my daughter with her, and they said nothing they could do. Last Chrysler product the wife will ever own!

I took an earlier posters suggestion and submitted a defect claim with Transport Canada so at least its on record with them.

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  • Official Dodge Support

Northcountry,

Sorry for the inconveniences this issue has caused as well as the frustrations.

Road Side Assistance has been been experiencing a much higher than normal call volume due the weather we experiencing in most of the country which is the reason for the regrettable delay.

As for the issue at hand, has the vehicle been brought to your dealer as of yet? If so, what have they advised or done?

If you would like, please send me a PM with your VIN, name and dealer name and I can reach out to them to help remedy the issue.

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Been there, done that. Third power steering harness to fail in four years of ownership. I have never been sent a recall for our 2009 Journey. I went so far after the second failure as asking the dealer principle of the dealership what dodge was doing to correcting an obvious quality control issue, regardless if it is a third party supplier. He basically shrugged. Yesterday was - 43 wind chill here, but regardless, Dodge needs to fix the problem, not treat the symptom (keep on replacing). I have a Transport Canada Defect Investigator working on it now.

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Been there, done that. Third power steering harness to fail in four years of ownership. I have never been sent a recall for our 2009 Journey. I went so far after the second failure as asking the dealer principle of the dealership what dodge was doing to correcting an obvious quality control issue, regardless if it is a third party supplier. He basically shrugged. Yesterday was - 43 wind chill here, but regardless, Dodge needs to fix the problem, not treat the symptom (keep on replacing). I have a Transport Canada Defect Investigator working on it now.

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  • 10 months later...

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