doubleswizz

They said they could smell the burn when they checked the coupler. It's at a different mechanic now. Hoping to hear back from them on Tuesday. And thanks for the video. I'll follow up on that.

I appreciate the input. What you guys said mirrors what I've felt is going on. The body shop fixing the car is using the dealership for the mechanical stuff. Insurance adjuster said that since the dealership says they can't link the wreck to the burnt up clutch, they can't cover it. I kind of wonder if the dealership doesn't want to upset the body shop that I'm sure sends them some work. Body shop doesn't want it linked because it would mean that instead of being $2,000 over their estimate to insurance, they would be $4,500. I agree that it probably should have been totaled. Including the clutch, more will be spent fixing it than we spent buying it almost 2 years ago. The insurance adjuster mentioned that since the mechanic can't link the accident to the burnt clutch, he can't find a way to cover it. (I know, I'm skeptical of how hard he was trying to cover it too.) If all he needs is a mechanic to link the two, I wonder if I just need to find a mechanic outside of the little dealership/body shop circle I'm in right now.

Hi All, I have a 2016 Journey 3.6 SXT AWD with about 60,000 miles. A few months ago, it was hit in the driver's side front corner. It took $8,500 to repair and required a new engine cradle because the original was bent form the wreck and they couldn't get it to align. After driving it for a day, it had died twice so we took it back and they had to recalibrate the computer (electrical had been damaged because that's the side that got hit). Drove it for a few more days and it overheated at the bank drivethru because the cooling fan boot wasn't plugged in all the way. Meanwhile, the backend had been "clunking" when coming to a stop and then again when we would start moving. It also had some sort of binding when turning at low speeds--like city streets. Similar to the feeling if you leave a truck in 4WD and then turn on dry pavement, although not nearly that extreme. Took it back again and the dealership said the back end is burned up and that's what is clunking and causing the binding. The question is, could a frontend accident like that cause a problem in the backend, or is it unrelated? I don't know enough about Journey AWD to know. I think insurance is leaning toward not covering it if they can't find a link. Prior to the wreck, we had no issues with the AWD. It did fine in the snow this winter and has never been offroad or anything like that. Thanks for your thoughts and opinions!