JohnnyMechanik

Arrived 2 years later to post this. FYI: the rear liftgate latch mech WILL eventually fail. I use the liftgate on my 5-year old Journey about 12 times every day, all year round so since I knew in advance the part does fail, was prepared for it. Simple plastic gear inside, teeth eventually wear off. How to tell that's the problem before ordering another one and tearing the defective part out of the liftgate? Open up the small access hatch directly below the interior light. You'll see the white plastic item that will accept either a large flat blade screwdriver or a very large Phillips (+) scredwdriver. Turn it clockwise(to the right), almost a 1/4 turn. Prior to doing so when attempting to open the gate from the outside, your lift handle would appear to be doing nothing. Turning this white plastic piece then changes that and when you lift the latch on the outside, you'll feel a resounding "click" and the gate will open. Your remote will still allow you to lock your 4 side doors but the rear latch will remain unlocked. If you wish to re-lock it you would have to go into the rear of the vehicle and turn the white plastic item to the left. The part is available NON OEM from various places. We bought our online from Amazon.ca, $58 shipped free. The part is independent of the steel bracket latch and you remove your old one and replace it with the new one. Curious about how it's done? Search YouTube with this term 2014 Dodge Journey rear liftgate actuator replacement. Obviously your model year might be different so just change the year. The Nitro also utilizes the same latch mech. Not even going to say what the Dodge-Chrysler dealerships want for this basic part and I was once quoted a min. of 2 hours of cough, "diagnostics" at over $100 per hour for just the look see. I know for a fact they automatically knew the actuator wasn't working as it IS a common failure. Steel body but a plastic gear inside WILL fail soon enough. Note: for most anything that can or will go wrong on a Journey you can find someone on YouTube who has posted the repair for same. Seek out a parts supplier (or checkout many) before paying the exorbitant prices at the dealerships. They sell the same part but at crazy prices.