5rebel9

I'm confused by your explanation of your concern, maybe you could "elaborate a little differently. ALL journeys have separate driver and pass. side TEMP controls{ what is called DUAL ZONE} and then for 3 row seating Journeys have REAR control mounted in the roof. Problems just recently discussed are for cars with the REAR control mounted in the roof. When that unit "acts up", it will affect the front settings also as has been described. And sorry, but the 3 pictures you posted did NOT come thru, and if they do, would probably have me getting a better "understanding" of what you post of.

A Western, NY car for all it's life....LOTS of salt and cratered roads,. This is no "show car" by any means, but still solid. I'm going to keep it as a "backup" for the wife, she hates the wheelchair van and my Buick is too big for her parking skills! VERY COMMON for these parts to go bad up here, most shops do not like replacing the toe links. In fact my sister and brother in law were told they would NOT do them unless a new or good used subframe was installed.... BIG issue with the toe link mounts getting "butchered" by lack of good tools and patience when having to cut the bolts.

WELL..... I can't say it was TODAY, but I started doing repairs to my '13 2.4 FWD sxt this week. I changed out the upper rear camber arms with the adjustable Moog units...went easily on Tuesday. I then ordered from rockauto the lower toe links and adjuster bolts on Thursday, parts arrived Friday as shipping point was in Buffalo,NY{55 miles from my home} Friday afternoon I went back to work on changing those NASTY parts. YES had to use a sawzall to cut the bolts, but with a Milwaukee brand 6" 10 tpi torch blade they cut through like a hot knife thru butter! AND there was NO marring to the subframe mounts! I could only get a 3 pack of those blades at $39 , but well worth the money. TODAY I will put the tires back on and close things up for now as the wife wants her parking area back in the driveway!!!! I WAS going to do the rear brakes and rotors{front and Rear ordered with the toe arm parts}, but with her demands and not wanting to put the parts in and have the car sit for possibly some extended time again, I'm going to wait on that job. IF I can get the wife's assistance later today I may tape measure for rear total toe to see if I'm closer to zero total toe than the 1/2" toe out it had before starting! STAY TUNED... The SAGA will continue!!!!

Glad to hear that replacing that rear control panel is working out well for you! As I stated, I like to keep costs down and repair things without just replacing parts that can be "fixed". BUT just so all know... I had an ample availability of other used control panels from my friend if my panel "fix" did not work out. The only thing I "used up" was my TIME to investigate and then do.

NO problem, MANY folk post of problems but do not give important info UNTIL asked for it after many suggestions are given . Gut that just ends up confusing the person seeking help. Now ok an SXT model with the 4 cyl. motor Does the steering wheel have on it's LEFT side a button for phone? IF yes, then YES a common parasitic battery drain can be from the HFM as posted by member John. BUT if you don't have that button, then that suggestion will do NO HELP to you. YES clicking sound is usually always one of the ventilation actuators which the most common one is for the recirculation door. How many miles on this car and has the alternator been replaced since you have had it or have any record of it being done? A bad alternator is a fairly common problem on the 4 xyl. motor to cause battery drain and electrical problems.

Again, this is a prime example of LACK of posted information as to what trim level and engine size this problem DJ is for more accurate offers of help. So it has a glove box light{not all DJ's have one }, just as all DJ's do not have HFM, phone. Would also be of great help to know just which engine size as the 2 have some very different "quirks", rather than offering an "overload" of possibilities. YES all good responses have been offered here but I also question the skills of the so called mechanic that has been helping the poster.

With the complications of todays highly computerized cars, as much specific info of a concern needs to be posted to get good suggestions of possible fixes. Your vehicle is at the point of normal servicing that has been suggested to get done FIRST Next step would be a full system scan, a BASIC OBD11 scanner will not get to certain codes(autozone, O'Rielleys, etc}, as you say sometimes CEL but no codes YES there MAY be something going on with the TCC solenoid, but my experience {having 3 3.6 AWD's} is that this is not a highly likely cause. This is more likely to show up with the 4 cyl. 4 speed trans.

So, you had enough room with your factory sound system to drop the rear HVAC control panel down and unplug the harness? If so, you need to upgrade for bigger and taller speakers !!!!

Darn those animal hits! Glad that the damage was just that. Our usual driving has us constantly watching out for deer, bears, turkey, fox, dogs, cats cows, horses, Amish children walking in the roads, and Amish buggies {real bad at night with practically NO LIGHTING at night}, rather than watching out for other vehicular traffic like those in more urban areas!!!!!

When we first got our well used '11 DJ for my son, it had this same problem. But being a new driver, I could not get the car away from him to do anything with it for a couple of years. What I found was the dial knobs had come loose and the the attached contacts were loosing connections to the circuit board of the overhead rear control panel. I found a youtube video of a person that took out the panel and opened it up to fix this issue. NOT an easy task as the panel is a pop in, but quite tightly mounted and the panel itself has many tabs to keep the case together that break easily. I was able to finally have the car for a while and followed the video with only breaking a couple of those tabs. I got it all back together and he has not had any trouble with the posted concerns since, and it has now been 2.5 years since I did that task. As a faster "fix time" repair would be to buy a new panel unit, a bit costly but not as time consuming or "nerve wracking".

My '11 and 2 '13 DJ's use a different style fob. BUT my 14 Dodge Grand Caravan uses this type of fob. I also had opportunity to help a friend a few years ago with a Dodge van of same type with fob issues and found problem with the metal discs attached to the rubber button insert for contacts to the circuit board for functions to work properly. You posted of new "shells", is the rubber button insert new also??? Aftermarket pieces MAY not be made correctly for the button contacts to work {make proper contact} with the factory fob board. Both fobs work well on my Van, so I'm reluctant to "open one up" to see myself just what and how the metal disc sits to contact the "board" to make function work, but am pretty sure this is where your concern is coming from. There are many posts and youtube videos about the steering wheel control buttons {cruisecontrol, phone, instrument gages} not functioning and I have found the same situation with the same type metal discs those buttons use and found that "bending" them for more curvature will fix the problem instead of buying new switches. You may want to check for similar youtube videos about your type key fobs for a similar fix. Good Luck and keep us updated to how you work this concern out to conclusion.

Good luck to you in "curing" this situation! Of all the things I've had to contend with on our group of DJ's and other cars, I've been lucky to NOT have this type of problem. On a "side note", I got an update about our '14 DJ that I sold this spring.... the new owner put 18k miles on it with no troubles{mechanically}, but 2 weeks ago fell asleep at the wheel and totally destroyed the car. She came out without any injury. The wheelchair van is doing great and have taken my dad and mom out for rides and such MANY times since getting it, hence my diminished postings on the site here.

So YOU caught a small fish..... So does that mean your brother is the better looking {and better fisherman} than YOU????? LOL I trust you are having a GREAT time!!!

Make sure to report back what you find that fixes your concern.

All the more reason to dig deeper than struts!

With that many times of replacement for both struts AND sway bar end links, I would go beyond the idea of poor quality parts. Time to start having the sway bar mount bushings and subframe mounts CLOSELY inspected, since and alignment shop would check for loose steering parts before an alignment being done. BUT also at 15 years of age, there is the possibility of ball joint going bad, being that they are positioned opposite of what most cars are{ball stud down} they are not the easiest to check. NOTE: I did NOT say to start just replacing such parts.... A good close inspection first. the old "parts cannon" tends to get very expensive!!!

Did you EVER have the sway bar end links replaced when struts were replaced OR at any other time during the car's 15 year lifespan ????

By age of the 2009 model and probable HIGH KLM's.... don't play "games about replacing the water pump! YES it is NOT AN EASY JOB... but you already have it partly "open". These motors {2.7} did not get much praise over here in the USA and were not a popular engine option for many of the Dodge/Chrysler models.

Go back to rockauto and look up 2009 Dodge Avenger with the 2.7 motor drop down. MOPAR part number 4892425AA. their price is 90.79 and is listed for the 2009 journey also when you "click" on the Mopar part number.... it will show what years and models use this water pump.

Me either! I've had drivability issues with NO CEL or codes before and was always something to do with required maint. Only time that was a "stinker" to figure out for stalling and no codes{no CEL either} was a faulty crank sensor on our '13 3.6AWD.....a real involving replacement process for a relatively inexpensive part!

Easiest way is to google search Journey 3.6 spark plug change. you tube has a number of "how to" videos to answer your inquiry and what steps and tools will be helpful to you.

The two things I asked are the most commonly neglected maint. items that are known common causes of the symptom you describe having and the best place to start. Unfortunately, on a forum responders don't see the state of the vehicle or conditions under which "quirks" are happening to give specific "here's what you need to replace/fix" answers to what little information a poster has given. Particularly when stated SOMETIMES CEL comes on but no codes, with a good scanner that can retrieve code history,more help is made available to fixing a situation. When the CEL is activated, the car's computer WILL log it in it's memory. I suggest you start with these 3 things I posted of and go from there. Keep in touch with us here for more "advice" from the membership here once your NORMAL maint. is up to date.

At 102k miles....what normal engine /trans. services have been done? Sparkplugs Trans oil AND filter change I'm not sure how high a a level scanner system that parts store uses, may need to have it scanned by "shop" {higher level} scanner that can retrieve more than basic codes.

When does it randomly "chug"? while driving , coming to a stop, or idling? How are you retrieving codes {or attempting to retrieve}? A scanner plugged into the OBD lnk under the dash is needed to get codes.

More importantly is what is the correct part# injector for your engine {engine size, fed emiss or calif emiss. flex fuel for examples} Buying the wrong engine application injectors WILL cause problems. I would suggest checking out rockauto.com for best guide in your request here.