George Kalavanos

So the shop discussed the issue with me and asked me to clear the code and keep driving. They know I do most of my own work and said that the tranny will clear up. Next day on a trip to Staten Island had all kinds of slippage and funky revs. Lots of traffic didn't help. The brake, abs and awd lights all went on at various points (no check engine though). Parked for about 4 hours and left for home. Now for the strange part. it's been perfect ever since. Waiting for some rain to see if that causes the issue to reoccur.

Just came back from a ride in heavy rain. Almost feels like there are mismatched front and rear gears. Not feeling the same as when the ground is dry. It threw a code P0733 (Gear 3 Incorrect Ratio). Back to the shop.

Just picked up the Journey. Not much to say. Came out to $2900 all in. They changed a trans line which was rusting and they couldn't get the crankshaft position sensor out without damaging it so they replaced that as well. Idles great now. it does seem to shift a bit later than before (maybe 100-200 rpm). Feels pretty good. For future reference (and easy searches) that was a rebuilt unit on a 2009 SXT AWD with a 2yr/24K mile warranty. $2800 for the transmission and $100 for the line and CPS. Thanks again for all the guidance.

The diagnosis came back as damaged low gear clutches. They could replace just the damaged ones, but makes more sense to get a guaranteed rebuilt unit. Gonna get it done. Looks like the dealer was right, but wasn't going to spring for a brand new Dodge tranny. $2,800 all in. Ouch. 2yr/24K mile warranty. Dealer was $6100 + tax with a 3/36 warranty. Thanks for the input everyone. Will update when I get the vehicle back.

I drove it all weekend and the problem did not change at all. I have figured out how to feather the stop so it doesn't stall. The fluid was not burned or look contaminated (I had to buy that Dorman universal dipstick to check the level). I did figure out that putting the tranny into the manual mode while idling and switching through the gears made the idle progressively better. So in 5th gear (while stopped), the idle was perfectly smooth. It's at the shop now and will update once I hear something. George

Thanks for all of the suggestions. In order: Thanks for the welcome. I will go through the the tranny this weekend and check for fluid contamination. good idea. I may go get it flushed, as a long shot. The dealer said something along the lines of reverse not releasing the signal to drive. Makes no sense to me. If that was the case I would expect driveability to be awful. I can't see it being the cat as it runs fine in reverse and just above idle. A stuck converter is exactly what it feels like. The part that confuses me is that it occurs immediately after starting. The converter didn't have chance to lock yet. I've never seen one get locked and stay locked after a restart, but you never know. I will be hitting a tranny shop after I do my own analysis. I hope it's not the ECU as I don't want to spring for one without some indication of a problem there. Have to figure out how to check it. I'll search the forum. Thanks for the suggestions all. I'll take more if anyone has them. Will let you know how it goes. George

Hi everyone. Thanks in advance for any guidance and advice. I have a 2009 Journey SXT AWD with 65K miles. Bought it used about 3 years ago. No issues other than a stuck caliper which I replaced myself. The car started to stall when being placed into drive. Cold, hot, overnight. Doesn't matter. Go from Neutral to Drive or Park to Drive and it will stall. I can 2 foot it past the initial stumble and get it to idle, but the idle is very rough. It drives perfectly. Reverse is perfect. Tach needle doesn't move shifting between P, R, or N. Coming to a normal stop while driving causes it to stall. I can stop carefully and extremely slowly and keep it from stalling (but with the rough idle). I've gone through 2 tanks of gas, just in case, but it really doesn't feel like it's that kind of issue because it shifts and drives fine after 1000 RPM. Brought it to the stealer for the ignition switch recall and asked him to check the problem. He reflashed the ECU and told me I needed a tranny. $6100. I said they're out of their mind. There are no codes to read. He did say that the ABS ECU has a C121C code, but the ABS light is not on. Don't think it's related. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. George