Brutal Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 Hello fellow Journey owners. This is my first forum and I've joined to share my experienes with the beloved Dodge Journey. I bought my Journey from new in 2009 and chose the package that included sat nav and reverse camera with the 30gig hdd. Over the years I've had a few experiences with the car not starting for no apparent reason but just a week ago it completely drained the battery as well. I thought I was going to have to get it towed back to my Dodge dealership which is some twenty odd miles away from where I live but instead I trawled through loads of forums discovering that this has been a common fault for years and not even the dealership garages could find what causes this to happen!! I had just about given up and resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to get the car towed which would have cost a fortune on top of any repair bill. I decided I'd sell the car as soon as it was fixed. However, I finally stumbled upon information on one of the forums where someone explained in great detail how his auto electrician friend ran a series of tests with the fuses and found that the one for the radio (30amp green) was drawing a current strong enough to drain the battery once the engine was turned off and the car locked up for the night. He removed the fuse for a while to see what happened and the car was fine after that. His solution was to buy a replacement radio. I have done the same since recharging the battery and checking that the alternator was working correctly. I've checked the battery every morning with a voltmeter and it remains properly charged but I don't think I have the option to replace the radio as my sat nav and camera only power up when the same fuse is in place. I reckon it only draws power if the radio was last in use as it doesn't happen when I power down from listening to my music saved on the hdd. I've also had the dreaded click when the key is turned and no start. Again I discovered that this is a common fault that many people can't find a solution to. Apparently, one frustrated owner eventually discovered that it was being caused by a faulty sensor when the automatic gearbox is in park. He got the sensor replaced but a month later it started doing it again. A simple solution resolved the issue. He shook the gear lever a bit to let the sensor know it was correctly in park and the car started. I have followed his example with the same success. No more calling out the AA for the technician to spend an hour checking everything then scratching his head when nothing obvious is discovered. I hope these two solutions help my fellow Journey owners as they did me. I am now happy to hold on to what I still believe is a great car regardless of these couple of faults. Faults that Dodge should be correcting of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webslave Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 Glad you found the problems... I had a similar issue, once, with a 2000 Neon, but, my problem was I couldn't turn the car off or remove the key! The transmission in that car was such that if the car wasn't in neutral or park, it wouldn't let you turn the car off or take the key. Needless to say, the switch wasn't registering being in park or neutral and it wouldn't let me turn it off. I was out shopping at the time and fortunately I could use the remote FOB and lock the car with the key in the ignition and running while I finished my errands (I never figured out why nobody ever reported a car locked with the engine running sitting in the shopping center parking lot). Got my errands run, dropped everything off at the house and went to the dealership. Simple adjustment and I was good to go, but, when it first happened (outside a post office) I was in a near panic. BTW, I'm always jealous of you UK folks; you have the option of CRD's in your vehicles...when I had my Jeep Commander we were all up in arms that our friends across the pond had diesels and we didn't. Now I find out that you all have CRD Journeys! Sheesh...all the good stuff (but, you still drive on the wrong side of the road; I did get used to it when we were there, but, it wasn't "comfortable"!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brutal Posted March 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 I was in Pennsylvania on vacation last year. Just a few miles from Hershey and I must confess it is much easier driving on your roads than here. However, a few years back I drove from Las Vegas to LA and driving into LA is an experience I don't intend to repeat. lol I did a lot of research on the Journey before buying and was pleased to find it had the VW diesel engine which gives a good return on mpg for a big car. I traded in a Landrover Freelander which had a similar diesel engine but the automatic gearbox wasn't as good as the Journey. The car wasn't anywhere near as versatile either and despite the problems with starting I still don't regret the trade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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