5rebel9

Understood. The blank screen issue is not a very common fault(especially the 4.3 small screen) and what few members posting of same issue have not posted of what actual fix was required, and if my memory serves me they were all with the 8.4" big screen. Good luck and keep us posted!

IT is a POSSIBILITY to consider. Take care of the grounds and main battery FIRST. I posted that it is difficult on a forum to tell you the exact cause and fix needed for this situation you are in. So, you only replaced the screen assy. ?

behind the center stack bezel of the dash. Where you can insert a CD, the 4.3" screen is just that (a monitor screen) power and display comes from that TGM/radio/CD player unit.

I'm a bit confused with your response. You replaced just the screen or both the screen AND the TGM/radio(with the CD player in it)? The screen is just like a MONITOR, the working functions it displays come from the TGM/radio.

So.... You have the 3.6 motor and the 4.3" radio screen by previous postings. YES, time to clean the wire ends and studs for the grounds on the driver side strut tower. Then "weather permitting to "dig in" and clean the battery terminals and posts. There are many possible causes to the "blank screen" and ventilation control panel(below the screen), that to give an absolute here's where to go is not really feasable. BUT I do know that from electrical problems I had to "overcome" on my son's '11, that the items you've listed all run thru the TGM. This is what many call the radio module and has the single disc CD player as part of it(for reference of location). The '11 would not shut down the start button, instrument cluster or 4.3 screen, thus draining the battery overnight. A similar year TGM/radio unit from a parts donor car fixed all the issues and was a straight "plug and play" with NO recoding needed. Hard to trace a fault inside the TGM, so if cleaning the grounds as posted does not fix things for you, you may want to find another TGM from a salvage yard DJ. It is NOT DIFFICULT to pull and replace this unit in the center stack of the dash. GOOD LUCK and keep us posted.

But isn't yours an actual key and not push to start? An 09 should be an insert and turn style, .11 and newer are push to start and thankfully the chip in the FOB for ignition recognition is not TOTALLY battery dependant. YES both are fob battery dependant for lock and remote start.

My son's '11 mainstreet awd now has 266,200 miles on it and going strong. Says he's going to keep it till the wheels fall off. He now likes the idea of NO CAR PAYMENTS for his ride after a minor "fiasco" with his wife's '19 Jeep compass for maint. AND an 11% rate car loan!

Yes, the gas prices do trend to be lower on that reservation. but that is almost double the distance for me to go there. Diesel seems lower possibly due to being just off the thruway around Silver Creek, NY and going for the trucker business more. I figure that doing my heating fuel needs the way I do, I save at least $1.00/gal. instead of having home delivery (I do "check in" with delivery companies from time to time) and when budget get real tight, I don't have to worry about a 150 gal. MINIMUM delivery for service.

YOU KNOW IT'S COLD OUT WHEN........ I left my fob(fairly fresh battery) in the center cup holder for 2 hours in my shut off 4 banger while offloading another 55 gal. of diesel. when I got done and was ready to move the car to it's normal parking spot, I got the FOB not detected message and had to use the trick of fob pressing the start button. All was good afterward and FOB brought back in the house and warmed up. I follow oil price on the market and "Gas Buddies" for station prices. Prices took a notable jump this last week so Thurs. I went to my normal reservation place and got 60 gal. @ $2.90/gal. Thurs night our daughter called and invited us to dinner on Saturday , so I broke the "piggy bank" and got another 55 gal @ $2.80 at a different reservation station that was higher on Thurs. on the trip there. My house tank is now half full and ready for 6 more weeks+ of winter and this continuing extreme cold snap! And YES we had a wonderful time with daughter, son in law AND 3 1/2 year old GRANDDAUGHTER last evening ! the wife didn't even complain about lack of heated seats in the 4 banger, and unsynced the temp controls to lower the temp on her passenger side during the trip!!!!

What fluid are you using for the power steering? I had an old '04 town & Country van that in extreme cold (type temps you post of) would burst one particular connecting hose(NOT the main pressure hose), and did so 3 times over multiple winters. The system calls for ATF+4 for power steering fluid in DJ's and even that old '04 T&C of mine. because of the "pinch" I was in at the time, I used aftermarket replacement power steering fluid, and never got around to flushing that out when good weather came back, only to have the hose burst the next winter. GOOD LUCK, I hope you can get this "sorted out".

Do you mean to post it being a 62te auto trans.? IF so there is no "heavy duty" flex plate, just O.E/standard replacement. That many times to have cracked , who and what is the repair person doing other than just changing out the flex plate? IF the same person, by this time that person should have had a clue that something is wrong. And since it is apart for replacing, should have suggested a new torque converter at least or diagnostic scan with high end scanner for trans gear pressures and such for SOMETHING that would point to WHY the plate keeps breaking. From my experience through 3 DJ's with the 62te trans, cracked flex plate is not a common/recurring problem unless there is an undiagnosed and repaired torque converter or internal trans issue causing it. To note, the one that happened on my '14 model did not crack nearly as bad as your posted pic's. BECAUSE I could hear an odd noise when idling the engine and under light acceleration. IT was then taken directly to my shop for inspection and repair as I don't have the needed tooling/hoist to remove the trans myself. ANY "flex plate" for an auto trans vehicle is MUCH weaker than a standard trans. FLYWHEEL for the clutch, due to the different metals used in each. The relatively new use of these "dual clutch" components in auto trans cars as has been posted, have shown durability problems as member john/horace has posted of. Add to all this is that you also have an engine option that we North American market member here did not have available . So YOU need to offer as much detailed specifications of what you have for us to be of much more assistance. Looking forward to your response and also to hear how this situation concludes for you, even in a long term...we will still be here on the forum .

Well, with approximately 160k MILES, that is about the same as when my '14's Torque Converter failed needing replacement. BUT be choosy about the brand and quality of a replacement. Mine failed big time in a different way than the original and cracked the flex plate. YES it is an expensive job to do such work and unless under some kind of warranty VERY EXPENSIVE to do it a second time. Good luck and keep us informed as to how things go.

This type of situation I will only say that hopefully some of our euorpean members on your side of the "pond" can help you out since we North American members did not get to have the Diesel version. Good Luck and make sure you keep us updated on this, even to say to satisfy our "curiosity" over here.

The wife is an official weather data collector for NOAA out of Buffalo, we got officially 8" of snow. BUT the driveway had an even fill of 12" with the lighter winds we got.Snow was the heavy granular type and my blower was working hard even with 1/2 width passes. More snow to come and higher wind gusts for the next couple days!!!!!! I've got -25* washer solvent in all 3 cars, and they all froze in the tanks, something I've not seen in the DJ's or the G. Caravan before....... Shows how mild (comparably) the past few winters have been. Nice DECK and view you've got there!

Now that would be interesting to see pics of that "set up of hooking the flexplate to "whatever" of the trans. SOMETHING has got to be "out of whack"!

WOW ! OK, they may have done the different make Diesel in the later years. The Early ones had the VW diesel, we still did not get any Diesel offering here. The trans has to come out for the flex plate anyway(unless he is pulling the motor), so torque converter is right there. Yes they can be a tad costly to acquire, my 62te torque converter was nearly $600. u.s. for the part.

Well, you did well for your experience. I have stopped bothering doing the very "old school" method of checking the stat in hot water, never seemed to help be sure of things and took time away that could have been better spent. And yes our 2 3.6 motored DJ's run those same basic temps in this kind of weather. Those 2 stat bolts are a small inconvenience to get at and I've done stats that are a LOT harder to get at! Glad to hear all is good now for you and your DJ!

I'm a bit at a disadvantage since you have the VW diesel motor that was not offered here in the North American market, so I'm not sure of what trans. is in your vehicle. But after the flex plate breaking 3 times now and if the trans. is operating properly, something is AMISS and the torque converter would be a logical SUSPECT. UNLESS you have some very harsh driving habits over there in the EU. That Diesel motor does have quite a bit of low end torque power and then the turbo for speed........ Just what country are you located?????

@John/Horace YES it's been a pretty rough winter so far. I've already used the same amount of Diesel as all of last winter. Luckily I've been able to get it at U.S. $2.80/gal. and usually also fill the cars' gas tank at $2.70/gal. For a 4 banger, that's about all I would want to put in it for weight, Too bad I needed the salt bags for the trip out or I would have also taken my 4 5 U.S. gal. jugs also. T'was a rather "testy" ride out as I was driving directly into the length of the LES band. Coming home I was riding with the band and not too bad to drive. Going out tomorrow for more gas (locally) for the blower and taking the wife along so she can pick up any foods and such we may need. Going to be bitter cold(and already 10*f here) this weekend and into next week! To all our members in this upcoming storm's path, stay SAFE and WARM!

Once again the case of fixing the symptom and not fixing the cause. I had a '14 3.6 gas DJ that the torque converter went bad and had to be replaced. Within 6 months I had scraping noises and some power loss in gear issues. Had the trans taken back out and found cracked flex plate. Long story short the cause was a bad replacement torque converter, So a new torque converter AGAIN and new flex plate......NO PROBLEM at all after that. You post of continued FLEX PLATE replacement, has your mechanic ever checked the TORQUE CONVERTER?

Had to make a 50 mile one way run to get fuel oil (diesel) for our furnace yesterday driving thru the lake effect snows all the way. I've had 236 lbs. of weight in the middle floor and yes, 40 -45 mph was the safest speeds to handle. It still would have minor rear end "twitch" on curves but very manageable. On the trip back home on the same route, I had a total of 670 lbs. of weight from the fuel. WOW talk about having a FIRMLY PLANTED feel to the road and even on curves! All the weight was carried on middle floor and seat area, and there was only room for front passenger if needed(I was alone). Visibility was better on the ride back home and was able to comfortably follow all posted speed limits with ease(55,40, 30 mph zones), and NO the suspension was NOT "bottomed out" from the weight! Now, if "Mother Nature" would just crank the thermostat up some for warmer outside temps, it would be MUCH APPRECIATED!

I have found NO DIFFERENCE in being able to seperate the hose, but I prefer using a screw hose clamp instead of the spring clamp as done O.E.. I find that "working room" to be more easy than trying to get pliers onto that area.

IF you have the O.E. plastic thermostat unit, the stat is stuck PARTIALLY open just enough to to prevent full warm up and yet not set the code. I had this happen on our '11 main street. Buy the aluminum replacement unit and be done with these type of concerns. The original bolts are used with the aluminum housing unit with NO problem as was posted by member Daniel Anderson. I also had thermostat "sticking" on our '13 rt but stuck closed this last summer with the PLASTIC type housing, luckily we shut the car down before damage was done and replaced it with the Aluminum housing type, no problem since.

I agree about the concerns of the 5.7 Durangos, and why I posted as such about "mechanically shot" . My friend has a number of customers with them and they are lots of engine/drivetrain work along with lots of rust thanks to NY salt and driver abuse. But around here I also have concerns about even the bigger Jeeps(not to mention the higher prices for them around here). Actually I need to get the wife to take a look at it for her final approval, as my plan is for her to keep hers as a winter car and this '17 for her summer car(except when I need to tow my trailer(hook up would be sooo much easier with the back up camera it has.

Yes a feature that's hard to give up once having a car with them, and most of the conundrum about pursuing this '17. This would be the "newest" model year car we've had and best overall body condition. The wife still prefers the AWD ones, even though she would still have the RT AWD.