Fluid "noises"???

[buffy340]

So Im not sure if this is the right forum but since coolant does go through the engine I thought Id start here.

Since ownership my particular Journey has been a joy to drive but not necessarily to own. That said, Chrysler has been very easy to deal with and I have zero complaints with them or my dealer.

The problem began a few months ago while the vehicle was still under warrranty. Due to a clerical error I now realize I should have taken it in then as this is not considered powertrain of which I have the 100K mile warranty.

All that aside, heres the situation.

A few months ago I noticed a smell of coolant occasionally when exiting the vehicle but thought it was how i parked or something. Lately I notice the smell a bit more but the coolant doesnt seem low.

Now and Im not sure if its something I just never noticed but when I start it up I can hear a lot of coolant "running, sloshing" what ever type of pumped through noises upon start up? I also can hear some "sloshing" noises at low speed while swinging wide in parking lots etc.

Any ideas?

[bigtsr]

How has the heating been this winter?

It could be an air lock in the coolant path thru the

heater core,this can cause overflow from coolant

bottle and the smell.

[buffy340]

How has the heating been this winter?

It could be an air lock in the coolant path thru the

heater core,this can cause overflow from coolant

bottle and the smell.

How has the heating been this winter?

It could be an air lock in the coolant path thru the

heater core,this can cause overflow from coolant

bottle and the smell.

Heat was great all winter. I just checked it this afternoon and coolant was a little low but never has there been any puddles under the vehicle.

[buffy340]

Now that Ive realized a mistake in reading coolant levels (oops) it was pretty low and (I believe) sucking coolant from the heater core hence the noise.

So the new question is if there are any known leaks, problems that would be a good place to start looking. I can smell the leak when the vehicle is warm after a long drive, not while its cold.

[OhareFred]

Might be a head gasket. Ever notice alot of water dripping from the exhaust? That should be covered by the powertrain warranty.

[bigtsr]

If coolant is too low you can cause rad boil and the gases produced escape

as the system is designed to the catch/fill bottle from which the gases or

overheated coolant smell can escape.

Top up the fluid drive and retop to see if this is the reason.

[buffy340]

Well the answer to the question is in. Needless to say Im disgusted as the smell has been there from time to time over the last year and a half, with the fluid noises being more recent. I thought nothing of it as theres a large puddle often at the end of driveway which causes hot wet smells regularly.

Where Im disgusted is that now the vehicle is out of warranty and apparently the radiator is cracked to the tune of $600 for a new one. Had I taken it in at the first "smell" which was when the vehicle was practically new this would have been taken care of along with one of the other dozen or so repairs over numerous visits.

Honestly this LUX has been in the shop more in two years and 40,000 miles than my last three vehicles combined.

[Journey_SeXT]

Well the answer to the question is in. Needless to say Im disgusted as the smell has been there from time to time over the last year and a half, with the fluid noises being more recent. I thought nothing of it as theres a large puddle often at the end of driveway which causes hot wet smells regularly.

Where Im disgusted is that now the vehicle is out of warranty and apparently the radiator is cracked to the tune of $600 for a new one. Had I taken it in at the first "smell" which was when the vehicle was practically new this would have been taken care of along with one of the other dozen or so repairs over numerous visits.

Honestly this LUX has been in the shop more in two years and 40,000 miles than my last three vehicles combined.

If you've done all of your service maintenance at the dealer and your warranty just expired they should extend the warranty as a reward for customer loyalty or at least make you only cover half of the cost. I know that Honda did that with my brothers 99 Accord when the transmission broke down and he was like a 1,000 km's past the warranty. Anyhow, if they don't do anything for you & your warranty is expired at least you can have the satisfaction of telling the service manager to piss off while you take your business elsewhere.

[buffy340]

If you've done all of your service maintenance at the dealer and your warranty just expired they should extend the warranty as a reward for customer loyalty or at least make you only cover half of the cost. I know that Honda did that with my brothers 99 Accord when the transmission broke down and he was like a 1,000 km's past the warranty. Anyhow, if they don't do anything for you & your warranty is expired at least you can have the satisfaction of telling the service manager to piss off while you take your business elsewhere.

Thus far both Dodge and the dealer has been pretty decent to me. Regardless though, the number of things that have needed to be fixed in under 50K miles is excessive.