Journey_SeXT

Like someone else had offered, take it off, drive it around for a while, if it drives better, or you get better mpg's keep it off. Otherwise put it back on.
Personally, I don't think this will help any. Today, MPG means more than HP, and chrysler wouldn't have put a little noise suppression at the expense of even 1 MPG.

I stumbled upon this "how to" guide as I was trying to find out exactly what the felt tubes purpose is in the air filter box. Anyhow, replacing the engine air filter is a pretty easy maintenance job for a DIY'r but for someone new to car maintenance who wants to try and save some cash this step by step link should help:
http://www.paulstravelpictures.com/Dodge-Journey-Pentastar-V6-Engine-Air-Filter-Replacement-Guide/
BTW we need a How To section!

I stumbled upon this "how to" guide as I was trying to find out exactly what the felt tubes purpose is in the air filter box. Anyhow, replacing the engine air filter is a pretty easy maintenance job for a DIY'r but for someone new to car maintenance who wants to try and save some cash this step by step link should help:
http://www.paulstravelpictures.com/Dodge-Journey-Pentastar-V6-Engine-Air-Filter-Replacement-Guide/
BTW we need a How To section!

Actually, my Journey (brand new) didn't come with the owners manual but it did come with a quick reference guide and CD but not as detailed as the owners manual. That's why i provide the link for others so they know they are not SOL. People in their spare time should try to thumb through the pages as they would be amazed how much they will discover about the vehicle.

For any other questions about your vehicle you can also refer to your owners manual that I am posting in this link. http://www.autodealertools.com/quickQuote/manuals/2011/Journey.pdf

If u guys really want a CAI, why not just get the mopar CAI? You can have the dealer install it and it will never be blamed for any future problems like non-dealer installed mods. Or at least if it is, you still have the mopar part and dealer install to back u up. If I get a CAI, I'm definitely going mopar even if it costs more up front. I prefer the peace of mind.
Peace.

Just remember, with any vehicle if it's idling fuel mileage = 0 mpg. Ain't no way of getting around it. And as with anything there are trade offs - if you let your vehicle idle a lot, don't expect good fuel mileage or anything approaching its fuel mileage rating.
I know you all in the Great White North have much colder temps than most of us in the US, but, in general, an engine will warm up faster if it's driven than if it's left idling. The engine creates warms up faster doing work than just idling doing little or no "work".
On a typical subfreezing morning, I have heat in my vehicles (Ram and Journey) by the time I've gone 2-3 miles. In subzero temps it takes a little longer, but not much.
Typically our Journey (3.5L V6) gets 19-20 mpg in local driving and 25-26 mpg on the highway.

As I have said before, I definately would agree the "around town" mileage is not a strong point especially up here in the Great White North with all the idling and "warming up" we are forced to do because of the conditions. In my experience where the Journey does shine is Highway gas mileage as it climbs immensely.
The winter mileage up here of these cars is abysmal but IMO they are great vehicles.
Terry

If it were that easy, every manufacturer would include a CAI as stock; they are always looking for ways to boost HP without it costing them anything and a CAI is much cheaper to manufacture than the stock airbox, plumbing and resonators. Your 6-25 HP increases are statistically insignificant (numerically to a statistician) as "background noise" and well within the standard deviation of error based on friction at the wheels, humidity and temperature along with mechanical losses and gains of the dyno itself. Like I said, I used to build cars that developed far more HP and were much more sensitive to input changes. We went so far as to make sure each piston, wrist pin and crank weighed the same (balancing) and coated the piston walls with architectural dye (blue printing) to determine ring scrub...
If it were so simple (the CAI), Ford certainly wouldn't have invested the millions necessary to develop the Ecoboost turbo system. I'll quit; the CAI myth has been debunked by many ASE groups along with the above Myth Busters episode. It produces growl and that's about it. Most of the CAI units actually duct more engine compartment heat into the system (they are open and drafty as all get out on top) than the stock sealed unit that snorkles cold air from ahead of the radiator into the system that is predominately thin plastic (less of a heat transfer medium) than the heavy pipe (absorbs and holds engine bay heat) and thin stamped metal (a radiator of engine heat) that the box is made of in CAI systems. Do you honestly think that BMW, Mazda, Mercedes, etc. would pass up a means of adding 25 or more HP by leaving more expensive equipment off and substituting less expensive components?
End of my involvement...it's your money to spend any way you deem appropriate.

I should also point out that there will probably be a certain degree of corrosion on the brackets that hold the pads due to the winter salt used in our colder climates. You should remove the stainless steel shims, clean the brackets with a file, then apply some antiseize to the area before reinstalling the shims. Also, lube the shims so the pads can slide easily. Proper lubrication of the moving parts will help to prevent the pads from sticking, causing premature break wear and reduced fuel economy.

Very simple. Remove old parts. Compress caliper piston. Install new parts. No special tools required.

^^ Yep, front pistons just push in, unlike the backs which need to be turned and pushed at the same time. Unbolt the calipers, remove the rotor, compress the piston, (remove the brake reservoir cap and check the level while compressing the piston as it could overflow), re-install. Dont forget to lube the caliper slides.

Her fuel mileage is just better than yours. DTE is calculated by average fuel mileage via the computer until its reset, and even then your mileage might be different than hers. The less you reset it the more accurate it will read. You don't necessarily have to be lead footed to get bad gas mileage. Long warm ups, lots of traffic and several other factors can determine your fuel mileage.
Reset it while your traveling "steady" for the highest possible readout (not while in the driveway or traffic). After that don't reset it for a while. If you can maintain that high number as long as possible it should boost your DTE to a higher number.
If your needle is close to full and you are getting close to 20 gallons of fuel when empty, then I wouldn't worry about it. Good luck

Next time this happens you can go to Autozone or Advance Auto where they will pull the code for free or you can invest in a cheap OBDII scanner (from Amazon) as the dealer charges a lot for reading the code. Even if the CEL light turns off it will still be stored in the computer until it is cleared from the system with the scan tool.

Next time this happens you can go to Autozone or Advance Auto where they will pull the code for free or you can invest in a cheap OBDII scanner (from Amazon) as the dealer charges a lot for reading the code. Even if the CEL light turns off it will still be stored in the computer until it is cleared from the system with the scan tool.

The way engineers are focused on "quiet" nowadays, that could, indeed be the reason they are there or it could be that you just haven't run into the .2% of the reason it is there, yet. The same physics that are at work that allows the felt to keep water from being sucked in (slows the air velocity at the intake) would also keep the air's intake sound down. My Austin didn't have a quiet bone in its body, so, that wasn't the reason for them in that car LOL, but, I just wanted to issue a "caution" on arbitrarily removing things that don't to seem to have a reason for being there. With the cost of vehicles being so important to the manfacturers, they don't add things that don't have a good reason for being there. These cars are rather expensive to take much of a gamble with and I don't imagine that removing them has any benefits in performance or economy since the computer ultimately controls the amount of air that the engine uses and adjusts air/fuel ratio and speed (variable throttle bodies) accordingly. That ability is why the air filter change interval is so long now; the computer can adjust the air/fuel ratio so well that it can run quite efficiently on a partially clogged filter; 3 years or 30,000 miles now between filter changes, a far cry from the "good old days". I don't imagine a CAI unit has them, but, the CAI would be engineered to not need them...that doesn't infer that the stock air box doesn't, since from what I've been hearing, that airbox is "standard" across several versions of this engine and several models of cars with minor differences in the snorkels and piping and it may be that the DJ needs it and others don't due to snorkel design and that isn't something that a salesman or even service technician would know. There's a big difference in selling and servicing when compared to engineering systems and sub-systems.
I'll wait to see what the engineers say, if one of them replies, before I start removing things without a replacement device. I wouldn't remove the air box without adding some sort of replacement, i.e., a CAI unit, so, until I find out exactly why Chrysler put that in, I'll leave it there since it doesn't hurt anything and doesn't improve anything by removing it. Ultimately though, it is your gamble and any time we gamble it is up to each of us as to whether we roll the dice or ask for cards.

Might be a little careful about removing it... I had an Austin Healey once and it had similar attachments to its dual Stromberg carbs. I was going to do away with them as they looked pretty ratty (old car), but, I knew a guy that was retired from the British Emabassy; their chief mechanic, and boy did he come in handy with that vehicle. Anyway, he said they (the felt wraps) were on the intakes to keep liquid water from being inhaled into the intakes. Turns out that the intake snorkel was level and pointed straight ahead. According to him that if following a car closely or a large splash occurred in front of the snorkels that water could enter the housing. The housing had drain holes, but, he said that it was possible that a large enough volume of water could enter and not drain rapidly enough out. The felt was used to absorb the liquid while allowing air to pass through, preventing hydraulic lock from happening in a cylinder...
I haven't even looked at my DJ's intake system, I'm not interested in CAI (I've been that direction on other cars and except for the sound, there was no other gains, hp or mpg, the car's computer regulates all of the input variables and more air doesn't buy you anything as the computer will make changes to the others to keep it in "trim") and it isn't anywhere near time for a filter change, so, I'm not real sure why Chrysler put those in, but, I do know why they were on my old Austin and I'm guessing Chrysler wouldn't have gone to the expense if they didn't know something... You could probably remove it and be good to go 99.8% of the time, but, if I had to guess, Chrysler put that on there for the other .2% and hydraulic cylinder lock does some really devastating damage to the rods, crank and block.
You might want to wait to see if the Chrysler Cares folks have some technical insight before removing them...

If it's a '12 it won't have the valve issues . . . it could well be a bad sensor or corroded connector, however.

LOL, don't bring that cold down here!! Bad enough that it's going to be 42° here in the morning. I'm 30 miles south of Miami. I don't appreciate having to put long pants on!

Oil change instructions for Pentastar engines is here in this linik and shows the oil filter: http://wk2jeeps.com/engine/3.6L_oil_and_filter_change.pdf

If you look on this thread Frogbox posted a before and after picture of the small and big brake. http://www.dodgejourneyforum.com/topic/4974-successful-big-brake-upgrade-on-2011-crew/

Man, I am coming to the conclusion that the AWD system is not really worth the extra problems, money and mileage costs. Our 09 FWD DJ handled the snow arond here like a champ. I will stick with FWD. I would visit another dealer though. And, do yourself a favor, spend $20 and buy a code scanner/reader. One of the biggest rippoffs known today is charging someone to "read the codes". It's not rocket science. My code reader is the best tool in my toolbox.

Oh screw that dealer!!! When. I read that they charged YOU to reset the CEL.. I said out loud "ohh f#%^* that!
I can see them charging if there was no issue at all. But the light came on. OBVIOUSLY! There was a problem with the car.
AWD does work in reverse. Mine does.
Whatever you do, don't go back to that dealer.

I took the Journey out on icy roads (with snow tires) yesterday and yes it handles like crap on ice whereas my tiny Aveo with snows plows through the same icy roads like a tank. I think the design and weight of the vehicle has a lot to do with its crappy performance BUT with many years of driving all kinds of vehicles that sucked in snow I just readjust my driving habits to the conditions of the road and no problems. As I mentioned before no matter what vehicle you have I don't think any of them you can do the highway speed limits with icy conditions. Just slow down and you'll be fine.
BTW same old story today....Honda CR-V (AWD) slid off the ramp getting on the highway today. Another inexperienced AWD driver that doesn't give any respect to the ice.

Maybe it's cause I'm from the south. I just don't understand how you expect ANY vehicle to act on solid ice?