ckl

The day we picked up the vehicle, we drove around all day and we went out to Taco bell for lunch. Afterwards, when we arrived home, we also noticed a nasty burning smell, but I knew exactly what it was... it was the burrito that I had earlier ;-) But seriously, we had that new car burning smell as well. Wait a couple of weeks to see if you still get it.

the Journey is a vehicle that is built on a car frame (as opposed to a truck frame). Our old Suzuki XL7 was built on a truck frame and was thus heavier and handled differently. General rule of thumb is that truck frames are heavier (and thus consumes more gas). The easiest way to tell if a vehicle is a truck or a car is to look under it. If it is a truck, it should have two parallel beams or rails (not sure what the proper terminology is) going from the front all the way to the back. Sometimes you can see it if you look in the wheel wells. The truck is built around these two rails. In a car, the frame is welded together to create a unibody that resembles the shape of a car (minus all the doors, wheels, engine, bumpers, etc). It is lighter but not as strong as a truck frame. As far as I know, almost all light SUV's such as the RAV4, Highlander, Equinox, and Traverse are built on the car platform. Not sure about big SUV's like the Cadillac Escalade though. Wikipedia has some nice pictures of what a truck frame looks like (just look up Truck on that site).

I think I may have this problem too. Mines the same engine but the SXT version. Let me know it goes at the dealership. Thanks.

Thanks, I'll have them look at it the next time I'm there.

That sucks and I feel your pain. I've driven through construction sites littered with screws and nails and I've had lodged in my tires over the years. If you are near the border and you can make it down there with your Journey, you could buy from the US. I found they are substantially cheaper than in Canada. Check this thread: Good Place for Kuhmo Tires Not the same size tire, but it should be around the same price for your size. I've just recently bought new tires for my other car at Discount Tire in the US and saved a few hundred dollars. Customs charged me only GST and PST and didn't bother with duty (which is an extra 7% I believe). If you can make it down there, it's worth it. PS> For online retailers that don't have physical locations (like the one above), you could ship to either a US PO box and then pick it up and have it installed, or to the actual shop that will be installing your tires. Just make sure you call them to let them know and to have them call you when they arrive.

Don't know which forum to post this under, but here we go... I just noticed that my DRL lights are flickering. I just happened to be stuck in traffic when I saw that the car infront of me was very shiny. So I was staring at his bumper when I noticed the reflection of my DRL lights. I saw that it was sort of flickering as in it doesn't have constant output. Every second or so it would dim a bit and then go back and vice versa. It's like in those movies when a light bulb run by a generator that's about to go out. Then I started to play around with the lights to see if this was happening with the regular lights. Nope. Just the DRL's. Then I tried the turns signals which are located on the same light cluster as the DRL's. What's weird is that when I activate the turn signal (whatever side), the DRL on the same side goes out. If I turn off the turn signal, the DRL goes back on. Is this normal? The only thing electrical that was done to the car was during the hitch install performed by the dealer. It required hooking up the trailer tow wiring harness.

Wow, that's great! Last time I checked, these tires were super expensive!

Check post #42 of this thread. I typed in the information verbatim from one of the documentation books that came with the vehicle. In my case, it is 20,000km not miles because I live in Canada. Good Luck.

Thanks for the pics. I never knew the Journey could tow something as big as that. Aside from that, one question I have is that you get 10L/100km? I have never gotten anything below 12L/100km... but it could be that I have to drive up a 2km incline to get home.

Apparently, where they are made depends on the size of tire you have. Check this page to see: Tire Rack Spec Page for KUMHO Solus

Did I forget to say Please? Please post a picture somebody...

1. Not sure, but mine is a wix oil filter and it is not long narrow skinny. I would call another parts store to confirm. I think this is the one I used... the picture of the filter looks the same but the markings are different... (ie. missing brand logo etc). Click the one for the 3.5L engine. Wix Filter For Journey 2. located near the bottom passenger side front wheel. Just crawl under the vehicle and look towards the passenger side wheel and you will see it there.

My other car, a toyota, also locks the passenger side window when the window lock button is pressed. I know, because i used to play jokes on my passenger when they open the window and then cannot close it when I secretly pressed the button. So I think it may be normal. Thanks.

Can anyone take a picture of what this PTO unit looks like and what to look for because it seems like it's not an isolated incident? Thanks.

I have the AWD version and I can hear a whining noise as well. It only happens in certain conditions like making turn from a stand still (ie. left turn at an intersection) so yeah, it might be the power steering pump because I don't hear it at any other time. I haven't really given much thought about it since it doesn't bother me...

Thanks for the info! I'll go and torque the lug nuts right now.

Yes, I read online that the the improper torquing of lug nuts can cause rotor warpage. I have a torque wrench in my garage but I don't know how much to torque the lug nuts to. Does anyone know?

Thanks for the tip. I finally figured out how to get the headrest off. I also noticed that the headrest posts have only one notch near the top. I guess if you want extra adjustable positions, you could just take a hack saw and add a couple of more notches for an adjustable headrest!

i guess it's time to break out the drill!

Based on the number of posts in this thread, I think it's pretty safe to say that the stock rotors and pads are crap. I think in the long term, when our warranties expire, it would be great if people who replaced their rotors and pads with aftermarket ones give their experiences with them... such as whether or not they cause rotor warpage, whether the pads wear prematurely, brake dust, etc.

here's what the dealer installed hitch looks like: Basically, the L shaped hitch receiver comes out below the part of the hitch with the two slots (below it and in the middle of the two slots). Doesn't look as good as Sprouts but I can't complain as it's adequate for the job. If you want more pictures, let me know. One thing that concerns me is that in Canada, towing trailers via ball mount require safety chains (at least in my province). As you can see from my picture, the safety chain attaches to the hitch itself using the two slots beside the 4 pin connector. In Sprouts setup, I cannot see any place to attach safety chains. Is there a place?

No, he did not cut his bumper... you will see soon enough.

I have the SXT AWD version with every option except leather and nav so I have the trailer tow package. I negotiated the hitch when purchasing the vehicle and they installed it with no problem. Mine looks different as they had to cut the bumper to make way for the 4 or 7pin connector. At the time, I didn't know what the difference was between 4 and 7 pin so I just went with the 4 pin as the only thing I would be towing is small trailer and a bike rack. The difference is the 7 pin has extra connectors for trailer assisted braking if the trailer is equipped with this functionality. The 4pin has connectors for the brake lights only. Just saying so anyone who has no clue will know when they read this. Anyway, I also got the mopar verticle to horizontal (L shaped) 2 inch receiver and I must say that I'm a little disappointed with it. It fits in the hitch but it is loose... meaning that there is excessive lateral movement. This may not be of great concern when towing a trailer, but when you have a bike rack hooked up to it, it's a bit unnerving to see your bikes sway back and forth in the rear view mirror while you make turns. Plus, the drivers behind you keep their distance as they too are nervous that something will fall off. I have not found a solution short of putting shims to keep it from doing this. Do you have this problem Sprout Car? I will take some pictures of my setup and will post.

I had the same question for the service advisor. The short answer is that it doesn't matter what you did because they will ship the damaged engine to Chrysler for inspection. It will be taken apart to determine the cause of the failure to rule out design flaws or safety concerns. Then they will look at your service history to see if you've missed any important services that might have caused the failure. So your receipts are important if the damage is related to the servicing that you performed (the oil changes). If it is something totally unrelated, like a failed water pump, which caused your engine to overheat and seize (which I doubt because your temp gauge would be in the red! And hopefully you would notice that before the engine dies!) then your receipts are not as important. So, in any event, keep your receipts! Up here in Canada, we don't have a lifetime powertrain warranty, but if we did, you can be sure that I'd read every word in that warranty twice for any restrictions regarding owner servicing and maintenance. If it doesn't say anything and you are still worried, then write an email (do not phone as you need a paper trail) to your dealer's service dept. (or even Chrysler) asking about owner servicing and maintenance and if they say okay, print out and keep those emails with your receipts just in case. Make sure you get their full name on the email (if they only give their first name, reply back asking for their full name and title just so that you know who you are talking to and that they are qualified to make this response). If they are confident about their response and not just blowing you off, they should have no problem giving you this info. Then it's up to you to do the maintenance properly.

I switched to synthetic. I try to get Mobile 1 when it is on sale but recently, I've just used any synthetic on my cars that happen to be on sale. I realize that not all synthetics are the same, but for general use it's good enough... much better than dino oil. Plus, based on my previous ownership history, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to keep this car forever. I figure just until the kids grow up and then downsize... maybe 7-10 years max.