John/Horace

You might get lucky if it was just the stuck position affecting solenoid. Hatches are awkward to take apart I find. The little black square camouflaged lock button is on the left side of hatch overhang Close to license plate lights. I think I found it a year after owning car. Pretty sure on all journeys have it. It’s like pressing chrome buttton on front doors, should unlock or lock car if fob is in pocket I believe.

The spring return in the latch handle gets really rusty. I have to constantly spray ours to keep handle free. The hatch is not metal so it’s fine, no rust. Spring should have been galvanized or proper plating. Car was professionally sprayed by a company, Rust Check more than once. But they seem to miss some items. My wife’s 2014 RT outside button on the hatch won’t trigger unlock anymore. So either main passive entry or key fob has to unlock hatch. I also see a dance with the dreaded broken wire in rubber boot coming soon. Older 2012 Journey daughter in law has is still fine for hatch function. But oil pan has a pin hole leak (even though repainted ). Older high milage cars are an ongoing battle in the rust belt. My garage not heated, but at least no wind.

Not really. Like OP said, scanning is only way to know for sure. The tpms have a built in lithium battery that gets weak over time/miles. Some times the weaker battery will be strong enough to get picked up if it’s moved closer to receiver to pick up radio frequency output signal. Antenna is in lower dash or A pillar I think, shouldn’t have seen glycol. Your failure may have just been a coincidence when oil cooler puked. With balancing cost etc people often opt for new sensors when installing new tires. Lots of aftermarket cheap sensors from Rockauto etc. Some people pop the bead and pull through a new sensor without removing tire or balancing.

Nice pics and write up. So clean underneath, definitely not a rust belt car. The entire Harbour Freight set probably cost less the a single snap on crow foot. Tool pays for itself on one job. If you haven’t made your own tool to fix a car….your not a real back yard mechanic. Cheers.

Torque converter holds several quarts of fluid that doesn’t drain with a pan drop. Some people do that first,(pan) run the car for a bit and then syphon out as much as possible from tube under the hood. Then refill. I think I was able to pull out 3 quarts using this method. Then added exactly 3 more fresh quarts. You end up doing about 70% of fluid. Which usually stays red and doesn’t go to brown. Depending on change interval. Have tried doing the unhook the tranny lines method in the past. But only return line which goes to a bucket. Funnel to a 1/4” supply line not easy. Running for 25 seconds drains almost whole system, as soon as flows slows a bit I shut off car. Hook back line, refill tranny and run a bit. Then unhook line a second time and repeat. We are lucky ATF+4 is not liquid gold like ZF or some of the other fluids. Still cheaper than a rebuild if it fixes problem.

Helpful post and link. I’ve wedged my head under the dash fighting with those tiny motors. Funny click noise and then working again with the fresh air blender door motor. Poke from screw driver frees it up when you hear the big click. Small spray of silicone afterwards. Have a replacement motor from Rockauto for the next time it stops. I think it’s the motor that is always cycling on shut down to vent cabin air. Not looking forward to doing it. Windows fog up like crazy when it sticks. At least it’s not a heater core issue in my case. My passenger blend motor has yet to stick. Something to look forward to. ?

Even grinding off paint to get to bare metal. Then fine film of dielectric grease can sometimes fix flaky ground issues. Salt belt cars are more prone to these kind of problems. I went through this with a few Hyundai vehicles, bad strut tower grounds.

If it makes you feel better you can. But it's not necessary, even rear diff doesn't need it. Not limited slip--trak loc applications. Just good quality semi sun like owners manual states.

When the blend door sticks the best indicator is the windshield starts to fog up. When car is turned off the door defaults to open position to help dump moisture from interior, prevent mould smell. You can watch it move when triggered. The blend door is located behind glove box, it’s around $50 but is awkward to replace. Heater cores seem to get plugged up when oat and hoat coolants are cross mixed. 2011-13 was one type, then it switched. Heat exchanger is a common wear item, good to get it swapped out.

If you search here. You will learn factory unit needs to be activated by either dealer or programs like ALFAOBD. People often just go all aftermarket, dash unit and cam for less hazzle. To not lose current 4.3 built in stuff means aftermarket interface needs to be added at the same time. Door chimes, heater controls etc.

Remove belt and run for a few seconds. Go from there. Even a older dry belt can squeak a lot. It’s not just miles but years with rubber items.

Inside wiper assembly is a switch that parks blades when they are turned off. Makes sure they go to the right place. When you physically turn stalk switch off they will still cycle to the low parked position which finally kills the power. Im guessing that internal wiper motor switch is flaky and not doing the final power off.

The Ford Aerostar vans with the V6 engines were another night mare. There was a doghouse cover in the lower dash for accessing some engine components like distributor cap. Three spark plugs on driver side were barely changeable from under hood. Then two more through passenger wheel well with tire off. Last plug had to be changed from underneath the van with several extensions. Very nasty job, for any mechanic. But they at least used platinum plugs which lasted quite well. Yeah , Journey is far from the worst car to work on for repairs.

Always scan for codes. Intermittent no start can also be a crank position sensor issue. Especially if it stalls sometimes.

Always start with scanning for codes. Milage on car and which engine also helpful.

There is a tool called a mechanics stethoscope. I would listen to passenger strut and turn steering, shift weight on passenger front to see if strut is making the sound.

There was a dealer recall on the leaking power steering lines. Several years ago, search this site. Mine 2014 model was changed in 2018 by the dealer no charge. Check if yours had the recall done yet.

Pressure drop through filter would affect flow as well. Shouldn’t be any significant amount of foreign material in system anyway. Cross contamination of glycol types is another matter by itself. HOAT mixed with OAT shouldn’t really happen.

Here is rear evap core and heater core. Looks like they probably sit in a aluminum tray with its own drain tube. May be fairly short, only protrude from sheet metal an inch or so.

The fins on rad are def folded over and a new rad will be needed eventually. But usually the alum fins start to fall out of core when it’s getting close to end of life. Fan might cycle a bit more with folded fins, but imo its replacement could wait a little. How many miles on this vehicle ? Not a brake/suspension safety issue, so could delay and pass inspection. Some high labor repairs make using a better quality part more cost effective in long run. If you are planning on dumping car soon, cheaper parts make more sense.

Is it the 4 cylinder model. Probably electronic throttle body. It Should have a set a code for that.

Another possibility…Carcone reman stuff can sometimes be iffy. What part was used ?

Blue tooth module failure is most common issue for parasitic load. Something staying on and killing battery rapidly. Fuse is in passenger kick panel I believe, try removing for a few days. . Need a meter to test amperage draw 5 mins after car is shut off. Should be only around 70-80 milli amps from radio memory,digital clock. Check all charging outlets for nothing being left plugged in. Glove box light not staying on etc.

C/V shaft probably broke. Look at the boots at either end of shaft, one will be shredded. Once they start knocking failure isn’t far behind.

Try starting car in neutral. Is it the four or six cylinder. There is a fuse in passenger front kick panel for the push button start, have you checked it, mini 10 amp I think.