Edwards99

BLUF: Replace car battery with a battery from a Dodge dealer- about $200. glasses gloves tire iron 4 way is easiest Tire jack jack stand wheel chocks Flat screwdriver Body trim tool (two is better if you can get one under the other it’s easier to pull out the center pins on the plastic body rivets 13mm crescent 12mm regular size socket 10mm regular size socket Prayers I have a 2015 Dodge Journey bought a replacement battery at Walmart a replaced it about a month earlier. Family members said car was acting weird lights flickering, car dying in reverse. Went to the gas station and headlights start flickering, interior lights come on then turn off, and my dash started to go on the Fritz, wouldn’t let me keep cruise control on, the dash looked like it was turning off then right back on, gauges dropping all the way left, then back right, it was driving fine but I thought maybe the battery terminal connections had worked loose because I drove it for a 6 hour trip the previous weekend with family and had no issues. Now it’s acting like the positive terminal was just barely attached. Go back home turn it off and waited five minutes. Turned it back on and fine lights flicker a little but otherwise ok. Drive to gas station get out come back and it’s fine. Drive to drop some food off for 1 minute and I turn it off and when I come back it is absolutely dead. No interior lights. Doors won’t lock or unlock nothing. Found this thread and hopefull for an on the spot solution but no resolution. Used YouTube with mixed results. Checked fuses and all seemed ok. Read that computers might be dead and cried a little inside. Had to open the the center console remove the small plastic piece facing the front on the bottom right corner then used a pen to find this button thing that releases the stick shift that is located forward about 6” and 1 inch up feels like a tiny angled plastic clutch about 1”x1” square and rounded. While pushing in I placed in neutral. Without power steering wife was unable to turn the wheel so she pushed while I steered to back it out so I could get a tow strap on it. I have a tow strap with a hook that hooked in well to this hole in a flat piece of steel directly center and under the engine about 4” wide and 1/4” thick and stayed there. I could have wrapped it but I figured I would try this first and see if I heard wrenching metal noises - fortunately I never did although I was only traveling at about 5-10 mph. Also fortunately the tiny tiny tow vehicle has a perfect place behind her car that looked like an attachment point for the other end of the tow strap. Did not bend the bumper although it might have if I used a truck or a higher vehicle to tow. It was hard to brake and hard to steer but got on phone with wife to communicate while she pulled me to a nearby empty parking lot and left it there over night. Key fob was dead so I locked all doors manually minus the rear hatch. There is a key hidden in the key fob that you release by slideing this tiny button to the right and pulling on the silver part of the fob. Tested the drivers door because it is the only one with a key hole and it worked before leaving it overnight. Went to dealer the next morning and asked what battery it takes they gave me one and I changed it in the parking lot. I forgot to write down the details on it in my haste but I recall that it had more CCA than the 26 battery I got from Walmart. I needed wheel chocks to keep it from rolling and brought along a jack stand to prevent bad things then when I took the wheel off I placed it halfway under the car beneath the drivers side door in case everything failed. Hit the parking brake and broke the nuts loose on the left front tire. Then jacked it up and removed the rest of the way. removed the plastic panel forward of the wheel with a screwdriver to lift the plastic body pins screw looking things away from the rest of them then pulled them out with a body trim tool that looks like a screwdriver with a flat angled two prong fork crescent shaped loom to it while using a pair of needle nose pliers to the center pin out enough that I could used the body trim tool to pry the center pin all the way out then repeated the process to separate the main plastic body trim pin out. When removing the battery Remove the nut holding down the bracket with a 13mm crescent wrench. Tuck it up out of the way if you can. The long screw looking thing has a 90’ angle at the bottom that lets you move it all the way out of the tray after you get it removed from the plastic bracket. The plastic bracket has a similar thing behind the battery. remove the negative(black) cable inboard first with a 10mm socket after you unplug the electrical thing attached to it. Tuck it up out of the way but you may have to bend the cable a bit to do it. Remove the positive red outboard cable with a 12mm cable and tuck it up too as far as you can. There’s a ledge in the wheel well that I used. If you don’t tuck these things up out of the way it’s going to be hard to take the battery out and put a new one in. before you wrestle in the new battery remove the top plastic grid looking thing or fold down the hand or remove the handle all together. twist it near the battery or angle it out the brackets for the handle near the battery will allow you to squeeze the handle out without cutting it. Otherwise use wire cutters or a saw. Grave each battery cable loosen the bolts as much as possible with taking them off and use a screwdriver to spread the mouth of the portion going over the new battery terminals Replace the battery and loosely secure the mounting bracket. When you replace the battery make sure the back of the securing bracket stays where it’s supposed to. If you knock it out it is a pain in the butt to put back in place while the battery is there and you may have to start over by removing the battery. connect the positive red outboard battery cable first then the negative black inboard cable last. If you don’t you might damage the electronics. reconnect the electronic sensor on the negative cable. replace the plastic cover I did these things and the car instantly responded to the key and I drove it home with no issues. I’m guessing that the battery I used wasn’t good enough. I’ll only use dealer batteries in the future.

BLUF: Replace car battery with a battery from a Dodge dealer- about $200. glasses gloves tire iron 4 way is easiest Tire jack jack stand wheel chocks Flat screwdriver Body trim tool (two is better if you can get one under the other it’s easier to pull out the center pins on the plastic body rivets 13mm crescent 12mm regular size socket 10mm regular size socket Prayers I have a 2015 Dodge Journey bought a replacement battery at Walmart a replaced it about a month earlier. Family members said car was acting weird lights flickering, car dying in reverse. Went to the gas station and headlights start flickering, interior lights come on then turn off, and my dash started to go on the Fritz, wouldn’t let me keep cruise control on, the dash looked like it was turning off then right back on, gauges dropping all the way left, then back right, it was driving fine but I thought maybe the battery terminal connections had worked loose because I drove it for a 6 hour trip the previous weekend with family and had no issues. Now it’s acting like the positive terminal was just barely attached. Go back home turn it off and waited five minutes. Turned it back on and fine lights flicker a little but otherwise ok. Drive to gas station get out come back and it’s fine. Drive to drop some food off for 1 minute and I turn it off and when I come back it is absolutely dead. No interior lights. Doors won’t lock or unlock nothing. Found this thread and hopefull for an on the spot solution but no resolution. Used YouTube with mixed results. Checked fuses and all seemed ok. Read that computers might be dead and cried a little inside. Had to open the the center console remove the small plastic piece facing the front on the bottom right corner then used a pen to find this button thing that releases the stick shift that is located forward about 6” and 1 inch up feels like a tiny angled plastic clutch about 1”x1” square and rounded. While pushing in I placed in neutral. Without power steering wife was unable to turn the wheel so she pushed while I steered to back it out so I could get a tow strap on it. I have a tow strap with a hook that hooked in well to this hole in a flat piece of steel directly center and under the engine about 4” wide and 1/4” thick and stayed there. I could have wrapped it but I figured I would try this first and see if I heard wrenching metal noises - fortunately I never did although I was only traveling at about 5-10 mph. Also fortunately the tiny tiny tow vehicle has a perfect place behind her car that looked like an attachment point for the other end of the tow strap. Did not bend the bumper although it might have if I used a truck or a higher vehicle to tow. It was hard to brake and hard to steer but got on phone with wife to communicate while she pulled me to a nearby empty parking lot and left it there over night. Key fob was dead so I locked all doors manually minus the rear hatch. There is a key hidden in the key fob that you release by slideing this tiny button to the right and pulling on the silver part of the fob. Tested the drivers door because it is the only one with a key hole and it worked before leaving it overnight. Went to dealer the next morning and asked what battery it takes they gave me one and I changed it in the parking lot. I forgot to write down the details on it in my haste but I recall that it had more CCA than the 26 battery I got from Walmart. I needed wheel chocks to keep it from rolling and brought along a jack stand to prevent bad things then when I took the wheel off I placed it halfway under the car beneath the drivers side door in case everything failed. Hit the parking brake and broke the nuts loose on the left front tire. Then jacked it up and removed the rest of the way. removed the plastic panel forward of the wheel with a screwdriver to lift the plastic body pins screw looking things away from the rest of them then pulled them out with a body trim tool that looks like a screwdriver with a flat angled two prong fork crescent shaped loom to it while using a pair of needle nose pliers to the center pin out enough that I could used the body trim tool to pry the center pin all the way out then repeated the process to separate the main plastic body trim pin out. When removing the battery Remove the nut holding down the bracket with a 13mm crescent wrench. Tuck it up out of the way if you can. The long screw looking thing has a 90’ angle at the bottom that lets you move it all the way out of the tray after you get it removed from the plastic bracket. The plastic bracket has a similar thing behind the battery. remove the negative(black) cable inboard first with a 10mm socket after you unplug the electrical thing attached to it. Tuck it up out of the way but you may have to bend the cable a bit to do it. Remove the positive red outboard cable with a 12mm cable and tuck it up too as far as you can. There’s a ledge in the wheel well that I used. If you don’t tuck these things up out of the way it’s going to be hard to take the battery out and put a new one in. before you wrestle in the new battery remove the top plastic grid looking thing or fold down the hand or remove the handle all together. twist it near the battery or angle it out the brackets for the handle near the battery will allow you to squeeze the handle out without cutting it. Otherwise use wire cutters or a saw. Grave each battery cable loosen the bolts as much as possible with taking them off and use a screwdriver to spread the mouth of the portion going over the new battery terminals Replace the battery and loosely secure the mounting bracket. When you replace the battery make sure the back of the securing bracket stays where it’s supposed to. If you knock it out it is a pain in the butt to put back in place while the battery is there and you may have to start over by removing the battery. connect the positive red outboard battery cable first then the negative black inboard cable last. If you don’t you might damage the electronics. reconnect the electronic sensor on the negative cable. replace the plastic cover I did these things and the car instantly responded to the key and I drove it home with no issues. I’m guessing that the battery I used wasn’t good enough. I’ll only use dealer batteries in the future. Hope this helps!!!!