Hey guys
I've been chasing a rattle on our 2011 Journey for some time.
Initially it sounded like it was coming from the front tire passenger tire, then it sounded like it was generally coming from the passenger side. Just a little rattle over bumps.
After a while it started sounding more of a metallic clang kind of rattle, strictly at the rear passenger tire.
After a bit more, we could hear a bit of a softer plastic-y rattle inside over some bumps (and frequently over man hole covers specifically).
Today it changed again and now the rattle inside is moreso metallic.
Myself and the boyfriend (we are both quite mechanically inclined) have spent about 6 hours over 3 nights chasing this rattle.
Everything looks fine on visual inspection front & rear.
We hit everything with a rubber mallet and grabbed/wiggled everything and it all appears fine and tight.
There are no driveability issues, nor is there wiggling of the steering wheel or strangeness on braking. The Journey drives perfectly fine.
We have aftermarket Touren rims with a centercap, all tight. Thinking I will change over to winter tires just to rule that out.
In the front we inspected the mounting point of the struts, however we couldn't get the center bolt because we didn't have the right tool.. We did check the four smaller bolts and they were nice and tight.
In the rear we did not take the interior panel off to inspect the top mount of the rear strut, but did sit in the back over bumps with an ear to the panel and did not hear the mount specifically rattling.
There were two kind of tension arm things, not quite control arms, but they were sticks with circles on the ends that the circles went around a bolt of some kind. Anyways, on the passenger side the smaller stick thing had a lot of grease and when the vehicle was jacked up with the wheel off, both circle things were quite twisted.
So we jacked up the driver's side to look at those stick circle things and they were also twisted, and on the smaller one there was some grease but not as much. It also looked more like a bushing with some rubber kinda insulation or something, whereas the passenger one just seemed very open. (I can post pictures just need to get them off my phone)
Tonight I'm going to take the rear brakes off to inspect those (they weren't loose but I understand 09-10 Journeys had premature brake wear so just being cautions - I do have a 2011). Also I'm going to look at disconnecting the rear sway bar because maybe it's the bushings for that? Which I can just replace easily enough.
Has anyone else chased a rattle like this? It makes me nervous as I have found nothing yet and the rattle changes every once in a while.
Have around 45,000 kms on the Journey.
I've looked at TSBs but can't find anything relevant - am I missing something?
Rattle has been going on for probably 3-4 months. Each of the 3 inspections has been 2-4 weeks apart.
Well this is for possibly a 2008? I wouldn't describe my problem as a howl or drone, nor is it on cold starts but I've been suspicious of the heat shield even though it's totally tight (and we used compressed air to blow out all the small rocks/debris the first inspection)
http://www.dodgejourneyforum.com/topic/464-tsb-11-003-08-howl-rattle-or-drone-sound/