NavalLacrosse

Headlights look great but I've heard the light output is terrible. 

I like the headlights a lot. It makes me think if the Journey was ever given an exterior refresh, the headlights would have been a cross between what you have here, and the Pacifica.
The amber fog lights are a nice aesthetic, while functionality being supplemented by the Lower-Grille Fog Lights. well done, a+ for form and function.

I hope you sealed the headlight housings. I'd hate for water to get in there.

Just installed new headlights. What you all think?

Whelp looks like it was completely my fault on this one. Just took it on a 20min drive on the highway, Temps stayed at 210-212F. No boiling
Needed a proper bleeding and a new rad cap, thanks guys

Aside from Sirius XM (which contains the GPS Receiver)...

There might be more logistics involved after you install the  radio.
If you're buying a new 'plug-and-play' version, you shouldn't have issues, provided you follow the instructions the seller gives you.

If you're pulling one from a scrap yard, make sure that you get the VIN# of the donor car. maybe take some pictures of the car, it's VIN, and that it's in the scrap yard. Reason: sometimes when the radio is pulled from a donor, the radio will think it is stolen, and will need to be unlocked to work fully. This is a dealership process, and requires 'proof' you didn't steal the radio, and the VIN of the donor to unlock the radio functions. (Disclaimer, I could be totally wrong.)

Do you have bluetooth or Sirius xm?

Have you tried the old disconnect the battery for 45 mins? Seems to work on a lot of DJ electrical issues....

1) DO NOT get the 4cyl. you'll regret it. The V6 makes 100 more HP and has nearly identical city and hwy economy. If the 19 is in your budget for the 4cyl, drop 1 year and get the v6 for the same price. Please I beg you. as a total stranger on the interwebs, let this be the only thing you remember me by-
 
2) Trans and engine is as reliable as any other car. I'm only familiar with the 3.9 v6, 6sp auto - and cannot attest to the I4's 4sp reliability- but I've done from 30k to 100k miles on my 6sp without any major issue other than recently changing the alternator (and battery)...
You can 'Expect' your 8yr/100k warranty to keep the powertrain working... but once that's gone, the car will be 8 years old, and  you're going to have to accept that it's a used car and things, although rare, might break.

3) IDK, sorry I'm unaware of that part- but the 6sp and 4sp are tried and true through their entire fleet of sedans, minivans, and jeeps. I'm sure it's fine- and if you have an issue, it's a warranty claim away- at least for the next 7 years.  (side note, don't all auto trans have a torque converter and clutch?). also, the 4spdesign is really old and has been used in many many cars and minivans through the early 2000's. the kinks are mostly worked out, I'd suspect.
 
4) yes, but barely. The 4cyl has a towing rating of 100lbs tongue and 1000 lbs trailer. the V6 has the 100lbs tongue and 2500lbs grosse trailer rating.  You'll be able to do it both both, but don't expect to pass anyone on the freeway at all. The V6 on the other hand, you'll not even know the trailer is back there. You'll need to install aftermarket hitch, and later an after market wire harness, as FCA likes to nickel-and-dime you if you want the trailer lights to work.
 
5) Electrical Gremilins; it's an indication the battery is beginning to preform less than ideal, and needs to be replaced soon.  That's about it. battery is in the wheel well. Use some wd40 to clean and lubricate the clips before you remove them. Don't break the thermal chip when disconnecting the negative terminal.
 
 
 

1) DO NOT get the 4cyl. you'll regret it. The V6 makes 100 more HP and has nearly identical city and hwy economy. If the 19 is in your budget for the 4cyl, drop 1 year and get the v6 for the same price. Please I beg you. as a total stranger on the interwebs, let this be the only thing you remember me by-
 
2) Trans and engine is as reliable as any other car. I'm only familiar with the 3.9 v6, 6sp auto - and cannot attest to the I4's 4sp reliability- but I've done from 30k to 100k miles on my 6sp without any major issue other than recently changing the alternator (and battery)...
You can 'Expect' your 8yr/100k warranty to keep the powertrain working... but once that's gone, the car will be 8 years old, and  you're going to have to accept that it's a used car and things, although rare, might break.

3) IDK, sorry I'm unaware of that part- but the 6sp and 4sp are tried and true through their entire fleet of sedans, minivans, and jeeps. I'm sure it's fine- and if you have an issue, it's a warranty claim away- at least for the next 7 years.  (side note, don't all auto trans have a torque converter and clutch?). also, the 4spdesign is really old and has been used in many many cars and minivans through the early 2000's. the kinks are mostly worked out, I'd suspect.
 
4) yes, but barely. The 4cyl has a towing rating of 100lbs tongue and 1000 lbs trailer. the V6 has the 100lbs tongue and 2500lbs grosse trailer rating.  You'll be able to do it both both, but don't expect to pass anyone on the freeway at all. The V6 on the other hand, you'll not even know the trailer is back there. You'll need to install aftermarket hitch, and later an after market wire harness, as FCA likes to nickel-and-dime you if you want the trailer lights to work.
 
5) Electrical Gremilins; it's an indication the battery is beginning to preform less than ideal, and needs to be replaced soon.  That's about it. battery is in the wheel well. Use some wd40 to clean and lubricate the clips before you remove them. Don't break the thermal chip when disconnecting the negative terminal.
 
 
 

I just changed mine because it broke. I bought the replacement off of amazon for 14 dollars. 
They said it was OEM, but it wasn't. Didn't matter- works great.

Someone else said once that the shark fin was weak, and the short nubby antenna was also weak.

I don't know- everytime i removed mine for hauling using the roof rail, the radio worked equal to when it was installed.

I just changed mine because it broke. I bought the replacement off of amazon for 14 dollars. 
They said it was OEM, but it wasn't. Didn't matter- works great.

Someone else said once that the shark fin was weak, and the short nubby antenna was also weak.

I don't know- everytime i removed mine for hauling using the roof rail, the radio worked equal to when it was installed.

Yes, the alternator was the culprit.

The new one's working great so far. took about 10 minutes of driving to make the belt chirp stop- but now all is good, no issues.
 

I did the alternator myself. Went with a rebuilt one from autozone.

Probably should have done as you said, and gotten the Denso Remanufactured unit. 

Took about 30 minutes to get the belt off, the bolts off, the hose disconnected, and wiring harness off... then 1 hr to ''birth' the alternator out of the engine from the top. and 3 hours to reinstall. Wow slippery tools are the worst. the belt alone (replaced at the same time) was about an hour's worth of massaging the larger idler pully, and another hour was wasted with the engine-side radiator hose clamp- my vice grip was a hair too small to open it wide enough to get it over the plastic nipple. 
 

My battery went down to 4 ish volts and seemed to come back.  It’s still in there now and over night voltage is close to a new battery.  Lithium also wouldn’t restart car,  smart charger ran 4 hrs to revive battery.   A fairly new battery sometimes can be revived, although no longer with 9 lives. New is safer bet. I’m just cheap.
 
Sounds like voltage regulator in alternator shot, tries for a minute then craps out, also like mine did. Might be slight electrical burned smell from alternator.
 
It looks like Denso is the factory unit, one of the best on the market normally; even said made in Japan on it. The dealer reman came with a new plastic guard and two new longer studs, instructions and torque specs ! Pricing was also better than local parts guys and they had it in stock; that’s how you get my business. Accepted old unit for recore as well. Had to drop glycol out with the hose in the way; not a terrible job really. Also changed out loud idler pulley, tensioner pulley was already done when belt was last year.

After installing CTP13 it had no audio so I contacted infotainment and advised them I reinstalled CTP17 in which it came up as audio Deutsch this time instead of Spanish. So after a out 10 mins of messing around with setting I was able to finally get it to English unbeknownst to me how but I did.

Sell it to the next person, and when they ask about the spiderwebs.... tell them "It's a feature"

You'll need to get an extractor program to convert .rar to useable files.
 

Are you familiar with a .zip folder?
.rar is very similar to .zip
 
.rar is a  file-compression protocol  designed by a russian programmer (don't let that scare you, it's legit, and safe).  [.rar] is a bit more complex an encryption than .zip, and  takes more effort to decompress than .zip, which also makes it's contents unsearchable. is often the preferred encryption method for sending... let's just say... proprietary, 'but without permission', data over the internet. usually, textbooks for university students, bootleg software which people don't want to pay for, or in this case a firmware for a car that should be only available at the dealership.

You can download a trustworthy .rar converter from cnet, then use it to extract the contents of the .rar

 

I ultimamently did not use the pictured above setup due to safety concerns. 
 
The extended next effectively doubled (2.5x) the tounge weight of the camper, and not only did it cause stability issues but reduced steering substantially. 
 
I removed the dual adapter and extendor and moved the bike rack to the camper's tounge via a sideways mounted 2" receiver bolt on for an RV rear bumper. This solved every issue. I did not even feel the trailer unless I was stopping (in which case the distance was Notibly longer) 
 
Final recommendation, don't use a neck extension at all on the dodge journey for Towing at speed. It might not have been a real issue, but I didn't want one small swerve on the highway flip the dodge due to my idiotic stubborness to use the hitch I bought. 
 
Thanks 

Clip from first diy car repair manual ever written in 1969 in New Mexico. Original spiral bound copies a collector item now. My first car was a Bettle, owned a total of 5 including a 1969 rag top, in my teens. I once had a very greasy copy of the book. This Clip was published on Jalopnik site.

HOW TO KEEP YOUR. VOLKSWAGON  ALIVE
 
 
Which, sure! The more interesting fact is that Taos was the home of John Muir, who wrote “How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures For The Compleat Idiot,” first published in 1969. That book was one of the first—if not the first—repair guide in a genre—“How To Do X For Dummies”—that didn’t even exist yet. 
Combined with illustrations by Peter Aschwanden, “How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive” became a phenomenon among VW owners and sold millions of copies in the decades after it was published, updated frequently, even after Muir died in 1977. 
Here’s a representative snippet:
“How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive” is full of stuff like this, both of its time and timeless. These days, spiral-bound versions sell for hundreds of dollars on Amazon but you can still get a paperback version there for around $25; alternatively, PDF versions aren’t hard to find on the internet if you go looking.

Welcome to the site!!! Pics from Rock auto listings, decent accuracy on line guys. I’m not affiliated with them. I highly doubt it without modifications. They don’t show any stock hitches that cross reference between the vehicles, Curt or draw title.
 
 

No.

Journey owners 2011-19: Our interiors look modern, therefore our cars are better!

Journey owner 2008-2010: [Tows small travel trailer]
 
Journey owners 2011-19: [Sobs silently]

A blast from the past:

Towing setup: 
Tractor: 2011 Dodge Journey 6V Crew - FWD
Trailer: 2004 Aliner Alite 400 - Empty weight 475lb, max weight 1,000lbs, tongue weight 80 empty, - 200 lbs max.
Bike Rack: Walmart Special: $69 (nice) dollars. Two bikes, totaling under 80lbs.
Dual Hitch Adapter: Amazon $39 dual 2" Hitch Adapter.
Wiring: Curt Wiring Adapter for Journey w/ LED tail lights. (bought on amazon, fullfilled by etrailer, made by CURT, cost less, and faster shipping)

Comments:
It works, It could be better, it could be safer.

The Good:
It all works, and this configuration keeps my fuel economy basically the same for high speed driving. Now is: 14 city, 23+ hwy Great visibility Journey can easily low 1000 lbs of junk without needing to much forethought into braking distance and longer acceleration times.  
The Bad:
The tongue weight of the Dodge is rated to 400 lbs(?)... I like to consider that term as a interpretable value, as it does not account for hitch torsion: my tougue weight is less that 280lbs, but it's 10" greater distance with my extendor, meaning my hitch torsion is nearer to 400ft-lbs, which is the same as loaded to the max capacity with a standard hitch. Torsion bar would fix this, but really- I'm not going to do it for a 500lbs camper. The added hitch length makes a noticeable difference as far as handling is concerned. without the extender, the trailer loves to play nice. With the extender, it likes to sway. It's still stable at highway speed, but 1) you can tell the steering is lighter (because of the tongue weight) and 2) the added length of the hitch mucks with the harmonics(*) and stability; It settles on its own, but don't expect it to have a '1 overshoot correction', for my stability experts out there. It'll 'overshoot twice before correcting'. Fine, and safe, but a little weird when the steering is light. probably will be an issue in snow or slick roads. remind me to keep it slow, if it starts raining!  
The Ugly:
The bike rack hangs between the trailer and the car. You can see in one image, my tightest able of turn leaves me only 2" before the camper's front wall. caution must be used while turning, especially in reverse. My setup necessitates removing the bike rack before coupling the trailer. This was something I tried to avoid when selecting parts, but it was unavoidable.  
 
Recommendations to others:
Put the bikes on the trailer's neck. This will improve the trailer's sway considerably (especially if the bikes account for 10% of the camper's weight). This would eliminate the need for a wacky dual hitch adapter that I have, and would ultimately improve overall safety and handling. 
Put the bikes on the trailer's neck (again). This will allow you to couple and decouple without as much headache.
CURT's Wiring Harness for Journey w/ LED tail lights is a must have.
 

Glad you're liking it. You share my positive opinions. I feel your pain about it not storing as much as the minivan. (The load floor is too dang high, and the hatch surround is too darn low!)

Hope your kid likes it.