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CameraGuy

Journey Member
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Everything posted by CameraGuy

  1. I can’t say for certain, though someone in one of the YouTube videos I watched claimed that they did. I’m not sure that the rocker arms are to blame though. They have bearings in them, and bearings wear out over time.
  2. Yes he does, though it would have been more helpful if he had shown everything with the engine in a vehicle, rather than out on a stand. That made everything look so much easier…especially turning the crank to line up the timing marks (I could only get at it from underneath the car), and working on anything on the right side of the engine, which is tucked up under the dash a bit in our journeys.
  3. I didn’t take a many pics, but got a couple with the covers off and a couple of the damaged cam shaft. I’m the pic of the camshaft, both lobes should be the same length….you can see how the bad rocker arm just ground it down over time and why you shouldn’t leave things too long.
  4. I am the original owner, and put all 185k miles on my DJ. Idk that I’m deserving of such a title…more “mechanically inclined” than anything. I found a great 2 part video on YouTube posted by “motor city mechanic” that went through everything, including the torque specs and the proper order of tightening all the bolts. I had done the intake manifold and spark plugs before, but hadn’t dived any deeper into the motor on this vehicle before (rebuilt a couple old motorcycles) so I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. My main concern was messing up the timing, but after seeing him use the proper tools and how the cam phasers didn’t come off the chain, it just made sense to use the proper tools and do everything the right way.
  5. Roller rocker arms tend to wear out over time and need to be replaced. It’s also a known issue that they tend to go bad on the right side (bank 1) of the 3.6 pentastar motors. I’m not sure why, but there is a very noticeable difference in discoloration of the parts between the two sides of the motor. The only difference I can think of is the pcv valve on the right side. I will say, that had I done the repairs when the tapping first started, I probably wouldn’t have had to replace the camshaft also. Those are around $350 USD each just for the part. The faulty rocker arm ground the cam lobe down over time and it needed to be replaced. So my advice would be to take care of issues as they arise rather than letting them go to do more damage. Aside from the repairs I did today, I’ve only needed regular maintenance so far. Oil changes, brakes, tires, and spark plugs. Don’t get discouraged by all the posts about issues in the forums. That’s only a handful of people and most don’t post when things are running right. There are a ton of journeys on the road, and I imagine there are quite a few with high mileage. I’d love to keep mine for another 100k+ miles….I like not having a car payment lol
  6. Hello all, I just finished my “185000 mile tuneup” on my 2016 journey rt awd today. The engine has had the infamous rocker arm tapping for quite some time. I finally started getting some low end power loss from it and decided to dive in and do it myself. I ordered 24 rocker arms, 24 lifters, 6 plugs, 6 ignition coils, a pcv valve, and all the gaskets needed as well. Upon opening the right side valve cover, I immediately spotted a damaged exhaust cam lobe, which showed me where the faulty rocker arm was. After inspecting the rest of the cams, I found both left side cams to essentially be as good as new, and found some heavy pitting on one of the cam lobes on the right side intake cam as well. I drove to the dealership and picked up both right side cam shafts. Once I began, I found the left side to go smoothly, but had some issues with the right side. I ended up stripping three of the exhaust cam bearing cap bolts. Two came out fairly easily, while the third took quite a while, but eventually came loose with a pair of vise grips locked tightly on the bolt head. Had to make another trip to the dealership to replace the bolts. Also, in case you’re wondering, yes I also bought the $15 kit of tools to lock the cam phasers and release the timing chain tension, as opposed to using less than desirable methods of removal. After buttoning everything back up, and hitting the start button, the engine revved extremely high, very briefly, but then idled normally after that. Upon putting my foot on the brake pedal, I realized something was wrong…and found that I had forgotten to reconnect the brake booster vacuum line. After fixing that issue, everything is running quiet, smooth, with no more tapping or power loss. Hindsight being what it is, I kinda wish I had just paid a mechanic to do the job. Lol In any case, I just wanted to share that and hope this may help others fix their issues as well. Feel free to comment, ask questions, etc -CG
  7. Well that’s gonna be fun hunting that down this summer...
  8. That is my thought as well, but if you read what I wrote, the ac compressor clutch started functioning as it should when I topped off my engine coolant. I’m just sharing what happened and wondering if anyone has some insight into this. It may just be a weird coincidence, but who knows with the computers running everything in our vehicles now.
  9. Ok so some weirdness just happened. I noticed that my engine coolant (aka antifreeze) was low so I went to the store and picked some up. When I filled it to where it should be and started the engine, the ac compressor clutch was working as it should. I kinda feel like I’m going insane, but would engine coolant level have anything to do with that? I doubt circulating refrigerant would take much, if any, heat away from the engine.
  10. Ok so I didn’t see any stickers, but everything I’ve found online and in the manual point to the 1234 coolant. I haven’t done anything with that yet, however today I realized my ac compressor clutch is always engaged unless climate and vent are off. I’m fairly certain that started today on my drive home. Any thoughts on what to check first? Fuse, relay, switch, humidity sensor or other?
  11. Hey guys, I need to recharge my ac, and just want to verify what refrigerant to use for my 2016 DJ. Is it r134a or this 1234yf stuff that appears to be in every other dodge vehicle now? Couldn’t find anything definitive googling. thanks, cg
  12. He clearly states that it is because of the way the company handles a known issue...rather than actually fixing the problem, they put a bandaid on it and hope it goes away...
  13. Yeah that seemed to be what I found in my searches and reading the older forum posts. I was just hoping someone had found something worth spending a little money on
  14. Has anyone found a good service/repair manual for the 2016 DJ? I see that Chiltons has an online version only. Anyone using that? How is it? I have also seen others ranging in price from a few bucks to over $200 for the “Chrysler service manual”. Are the manuals for the earlier years with the 3.6 good enough to get me by?What do you use? Any input on something that would be good for basic repair and maintenance would be appreciated.
  15. They said the rotors didn't look bad, but I was just amazed at the amount of pad left when he told me the measurements. Pads seem to be wearing evenly and I can deal with a little pulsation for a while. Still no problems braking I just thought it would be getting close to the pads being no good by now. And yes, 65k is a lot. I drive a little under 1k miles per week for work (a bit less in the summer).
  16. Hi all, Ive been experiencing some pulsating while braking recently in my 2016 RT AWD (65000 miles) and decided to go have my local shop take a look. They told me fronts were 8/32 and rear were 6/32. Does anyone know the thickness of the brand new OEM pads? This seems like basically no wear on the pads for 65k miles to me
  17. Most vehicle repairs (brakes, tune up, belts, basic mechanical, etc) I do myself. Sure a lifetime warranty would have been nice, and probably "well advised", but being that I usually get a new vehicle every 4-5 years was not worth the extra thousands it cost for me. I will certainly put a little more thought into that decision next time though
  18. Sure, I can download pirated software, hack into the system to "resuscitate" it, but should I have to? I'm not going to bother having a service department replace the unit with one that will do exactly the same thing another year down the road, and I'm certainly not going to pay for them to do it. The unit should not have issues like this, this regularly. After the first year or two of them not being able to figure out why it has the issue, it should have been scrapped and redesigned, yet here I am driving the 6th model year with this unit and it still has the same issues. It is a very big inconvenience for me. I am thankful for the gps on my phone since I drive about 1000 miles a week all over the mid Atlantic region doing assignment based work. But....Shame on me for wanting a navigation feature I paid for in a brand new vehicle to function properly for more than a year...Chrysler should just keep putting this piece of junk in vehicles, charging customers for it, and not doing anything to fix the problem for good...
  19. Hi all. I am considering adding a lockpick to my 8.4N RB5 (2016 RT). I noticed that they list the c8/c8 pro as being compatible with 2011-2015 DJs and was wondering if anyone with a '16 is running one? I assume it will work since I believe the 8.4 is the same as the previous years but want to make sure before ordering. Thanks for any input
  20. In one of your earlier replies you mentioned it had not always made the sound. If that's the case, I would not accept "it's normal" as an answer from my service department. If they tell you that again I recommend taking it to another shop for a second opinion. I have thrown rods in a car before. They get louder with higher engine speed. That is most certainly NOT the only thing it could be, it's just what came to mind from how you described the issue. It could easily be any number of other things...pulleys, belts, etc move faster as rpm increases. Don't stress about what it is and how much it will cost to fix yet, the first step is to have it properly diagnosed.
  21. Sure it worked ok for a while...it had some nice features, and some that were annoying (complete stop to enter addresses)...but now it completely useless to me with at least 2-3 years before I even think about looking for a new vehicle. The problem I have with mine failing is that I see a clear trend that has been well documented on the net for years yet there is no fix, if it was just mine and maybe a few here and there over the years then you could chalk it up to a bad unit. I guarantee that for every one person who complains about it online there are at least a dozen more that don't, and It's not just DJs that's have the issues. I'm sure Chrysler has some record of how many have come into their dealerships service departments with this problem and if we saw the true numbers we would all be screaming about it. Dart, patriot and several other Chrysler owner forums have similar threads, all with an eerily similar lack of a cure for the problem. The RB5 is not available in all Chrysler vehicles, but it does appear to fail in everyone that it is....
  22. That's good. You hadn't specified so i just wanted to make sure. The 3.5 did make a light, almost muffled ticking/tapping noise that was always there, but it did not get louder at higher Rpm. Have you noticed any loss of power since the noise started? It's possible you may have thrown a rod. That would be a tapping that would be more noticeable at higher rpm. A good service department can easily diagnose this with a listening tool that is kind of like a doctor's stethoscope. Hopefully that is not the issue, as the usual course of action is either to completely rebuild or replace the engine
  23. Did you check the oil recently? The 3.5 was notorious for burning oil. It's one of the many reasons they scrapped it for the 3.6. If you haven't checked the oil in a month I strongly urge you to do so again!
  24. The navigation has been rendered useless. I never said anything about the entire system. Frankly, after one night of internet searches I find it alarming that there never has been a class action lawsuit about this issue. No I did not pay $3000 for the system, however My understanding is the out of pocket cost for parts and labor to replace the entire unit is in that ballpark. I'm not sure what the NHTSA is, but a class action law suit would get a lot of people some money back that they spent replacing faulty units with "refurbished" faulty units (some have had this issue about once a year for several years). In addition to those people getting some of their hard earned dollars back, the lawsuit would also encourage Chrysler to stop putting faulty equipment with well documented issues in their vehicles year after year only to earn more profit on recycling that same "refurbished" garbage over and over again into the same vehicles causing the same issues that they had before they were "refurbished". Yes I'm mad that my navigation stopped working, yes I want it fixed, but I would rather see Chrysler fix the issue for good and that is my point about a lawsuit. It is completely unacceptable for the equipment to fail as regularly and as early as it does. Chrysler should be ashamed of themselves for allowing something like that to happen for what is it now? 7 model years in a row? My guess is soon we will hear from those with 2017 models on this post as well.... hey "dodge cares" where you at? Care to chime in on this topic again now???
  25. I had a 300 with the 3.5. When I heard that sound I knew it was time to add a quart. That was usually every few thousand miles so my guess is they put in five instead of the required six quarts of oil. Check with dipstick to avoid adding too much ps the 3.5 most certainly does have a timing belt. Manufacturer recommends replacing every 100k miles and runs roughly $1000 at the dealership
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