5rebel9

I can appreciate your predicament, I'm close to your age and have had 5 back surgeries, BUT am not a short person. I don't know that a passenger side power seat like the drivers was ever offered. But a shop could retrofit and change control switch sides for pass. side use bases. It is NOT a quick or cheap task to do such and probably more than you would want to spend. Since you say you don't drive anymore, Can I suggest using a foot step placed on the ground by the door to assist your entry/exit of the vehicle and have your "Chauffer" Place it and store it in the car for you. I've had to do this when transporting my aged mother with my Town&Country minivan.

IF they didn't look so darned good (inside or outside), I'd not looked more into getting the one we have('11 3.6AWD). As the car was going to be for our son and this Journey (although a bargain price) was more than what we spent for my T&C AND wife's G6 COMBINED! And yes, I don't mind "putting in the work" to bring a car "up to snuff" but the purchase price HAS to be right. That is the reason for the Lucerne cxl I'm now working on. Needs an EVAP canister vent solenoid and some broken wire work(no different than the DJ hatch). All for a $2 k purchase that has a selling price (with all things working) between $6 - $9k Back on track....The DJ DOES have NICE LOOKS and appointments for an SUV !!!

This is a situation with the 3.6 motor that is very common to have the P0306 code, the problem is that you've already done what most can do to try and fix it. There are a number of other things internally that can cause this in the cyl. head/valve train. AND even the coil driver circuit in the ECM could be a possibility. Your EVAP monitor is most likely from a separate issue OR something with O2 sensor reading way off from normal expected signals from the misfire condition.

Pretty sure you will find the under chassis structure of the Caravan a lot "beefier" than the Journey Engine and trans may well be the same, but that is NOT the only "criteria" for towing capability. A subject WELL discussed on the Forum here. NY rust gremlins and normal maint costs have finally forced me to give up on my 04 T&C(with factory tow package), I will mourn replacing it for a very long time.

Monitor your engine and transmission temps, I bet they will be LOW. FCA is notorious for preventing top gear or "lock up converter" till certain temp parameters are met. The Journey and a lot of the Avenger/200 get the lack of fuel economy GRIPE with the 3.6 motor. YOU with not even 5 miles(USA equivalent) one way are NOT even getting up to good temp. You might try a new T-Stat on the motor to try and help things out.

WELL...... Was just dreaming, on looking at posts of such "upgrading" I think I will just leave well enough alone and keep things the way they are. Everything is working as they should and I don't need to put more work into the car just now. I've got a 2010 Buick Lucerne to get fixed up and on the road to replace MY 04 T&C.

Pretty sure the Alternator is what's making the noise. It uses a decoupler pulley on it for belt drive and they are known to go bad. Best bet is have the alternator output tested and be prepared to REPLACE the whole alternator. And also you really need to keep up with normal maint intervals like spark plugs on these 2.4 motors. Not "judging" you, but it sounds like the engine has only had oil changes thru most of it's 100K+ miles. Your owners book has the info of this.

A good scanner with CAN/BUS capability that can go into BCM controlled systems should point you to the fault now that you know the system causing the drain. From my recent experience with our 2011(same stuff), I found actual wires to be well secure and that most probably you will find it in the "hands free" module. Some have posted of similar happenings and said that due to cost and lack of need for the feature , that they had the module connection disconnected. I'm pretty new to these "new fangled" electronics, so I can't offer much more help. Good Luck, and post back how things "work out".

OKAY, was just doing some "dreaming" lately...... The car that the radio module came from was equipped with auto headlights and fog lights(front end already used, fogs are gone) It also had wheel buttons for phone and Uconnect. I am currently running with the BCM from this car, as it was too much of a pain to swap the original back in. Does anyone here think that swapping the headlamp switch(EASY to do) and the wheel switch would bring these functions to "life" OR are there other modules that would also be needed(and probably VIN coded)? Seems to me that I remember there being a auto headlight ON/OFF in the settings screen of the 4.3 infotainment head, which the "donor car" also had.

That motor uses TWO thermostats. You say you fixed LEAKS, did you also replace BOTH thermostats?

Well there is the old "standby" of disconnecting the Negative wire from the jumper post on the drivers front strut tower for 10-15 minutes and then hooking back up. But I don't think this is the needed "fix" to the light problem. Good Luck and let us know how you get this "worked out".

There is no "reset" for when the Throttle control light comes on. It means something has gone amiss in the throttle body. I take it you have the 2.4 4 cyl. engine? Not knowing how many miles on the DJ, many times checking and cleaning the TB and making sure all hoses and electrical hook ups are good will turn that light out by itself. I don't know of any other way possible for that to be extinguished, as that warning light is a "stand alone" warning light of problem for that specific item. The TB is known to wear(multiple gear driven throttle butterfly actuator) and cause the light to come on. It would not hurt to have even an Autozone type parts store do a free scan for you just to be sure nothing is "lurking" in computer memory that would indicate troubles.

My, a lot of work for giving no background as to WHY all this was done. If you did all this to try and turn out the "lightning bolt" light.....well that is a outright warning light for the THROTTLE BODY. What motor size and did you have it scanned for OBD11 codes? And check the electrical connections to the throttle body.

Not sure if the "fix" would be the same for your DJ as they underwent a big redesign in 2011. I would start out with checking/cleaning the grounds on the strut towers. also a good independent shop should have a higher level than basic OBD11 code scanner that can read all systems(BCM/ABS/SRS) to help narrow down area where the problem is. A dealer level scanner can go even further to test each system and component, but it will cost you. Also if you have had any "add on" installed over the years, I would recheck any spliced in wiring for them.

With 186K MILES now on our 2011, the last "snafu" of the radio causing a short and keeping the dash lit up was annoying to find the cause, but EASY to fix(another radio that's plug and play). STILL really like the car for what it is, even though the gamble we took on buying it with a possible dying trans did bite us. I can't speak as nicely to MANY GM models as was posted prior here. ALL cars have their own "special quirks"!

I hope the damage was not too great to the front end. thanks for the updated info. At the miles posted, it is due for spark plugs( they seem to do this with all FCA models with the 2.4 motor). I hope you used an OEM brand crank sensor, as aftermarket ones seem a hit or miss in working properly with these motors. Keep us posted as to how things work out thru the next couple uses, as I'm not sure by your posting if your problem is now "squared away".

Also, If you're not big into repairing vehicles, you may want to consider having a reputable shop do a full systems scan(and not just OBD11 engine/trans codes). This will give you stronger "footing" on how to proceed in finding the problem.

your postings indicate happenings that stem from intermittent loss of electrical power OR ground. A few more specifics, such as engine size and AWD/FWD would be helpful.

MY bad... Found the features in settings screen....I just was not going to the right sections and they were turned off. All back to the way we had them before the problem arose, Now just have son set his radio preset stations!

Thanks to all who responded and offered suggestions. Just a little "post op" follow up.... Lights stayed out overnight(as they should). My son will have to reset stations of his preference today. I did notice that I've lost one or two infotainment screen features from the original unit. Like brightness control and door entry lighting. Must be a lower feature CD/radio box than what we had. Could not test it in the parts car donor as it was pretty much scavenged out under the hood. BUT am happy that it's working and all other features work properly. I hope this SAGA helps others in tracking down similar problems they may be having.

END OF THE SAGA!!!!! IT'S FIXED !!!!!! It was a bad radio/CD player module. Got hold of my friend and went and pulled same 4.3" screened CD player module from a 6/11 model for my 1/11 DJ and tried it. Radio and all functions worked with just "plug and play" AND with shut down EVERYTHING turned off and STAYED OFF (until I turned things back on). For me NO PARTS COST just LOTS of my TIME checking and trying anything related to possible cause WITHOUT having wiring schematics. I'm NOT new to the Journey anymore as my new member introduction posting said!!!!!

Wish there was a longer lasting EDIT function here..... Of course I failed to mention that NO heat or flashers or stability control buttons work with that plug disconnected from the radio/CD player. Along with any Infotainment screen functions. At least the start switch and cluster are turning off!

OKAY REAL PROGRESS!!!!! A NICE but "coolish" day today after night time SNOWFALL. I can't explain why pulling the radio fuses did NOT help the problem. BUT I took the center stack components out and one by one disconnected the plugs to them. When I pulled the CD/radio box and unhooked it's sole wire modular connector, the start button and cluster lights SHUT OFF. Going to try getting ahold of my friend to try one from his 2 "parts cars". I may not be able to do anything until Monday, as it is the weekend and he needs at least SOME "family time". Stay tuned!

Basic Mainstreet model. NO remote start, No nav. or blue tooth. Just 4.3 screen with single CD player below. Last things to try are the screen and heater/radio controls and the CD/radio "box". Problem is that I'm not sure that the "box" can be changed without code from previous vehicle messing things up. Still waiting for run/start schematic to arrive.

Rains stopped but cool and windy. So I took door panels off and disconnected door handle sensors.... NO CHANGE except got the service keyless system on EVIC.