Neto

Our 2009 Journey is a base model, and we have the steel wheels. The paint has peeled off pretty badly on the plastic wheel covers, especially the rear ones. I have them off right now, and with the help of a small (electric) power washer was able to get nearly all of the remaining (bubbling) paint off of the first two. I considered using chrome paint, but got the closest silver paint I could find. I'm thinking of painting the background around the RAM either red, or black. (Red because all of the background areas on my 46 Plymouth are red, red is the Ram color, it's bright, etc. Black because the same emblem has a black background in other places, as it also does on my 2010 Caravan.) So, any opinions? (I also considered painting the Ram itself black, and the background red....) A car guy that works at our local hardware store suggested that paint that you can peel off later, and says that even though you can get it off, it doesn't come off by itself, like going through the car wash. I was figuring on using a small paint brush - used to have a steady enough hand to do some pinstriping with regular paint (not stickers). Not too sure about now - that was a whole lot of years back. (I would paint the whole wheel covers either red or canary yellow, but it's the "family car", meaning I only drive it to church services on Sundays - the rest of the time it's my wife's car. The car is a creamy off-white, by the way.)

My guess would be that a wire (or wires) is/are broken where they go through the boot from the door to the A pillar. It isn't logical (at least not to me) that the motor on the driver's door would also affect the other window winders.

I apologize for the jab. (There are actually a lot of people who join, make one post, then are never heard from again. We do actually want to hear how this turns out for you - what you find under that carpet.) Best wishes to you as you raise your children. Enjoy them - they are too soon gone. (Then you have to wait for grandchildren, the next great pleasure. I am 65, and only have two grandchildren, both boys, the oldest is 8 years old, & the youngest is around 6 weeks old.)

If anyone is in JT's area, I think he needs help getting out of the storage bin. (Must have fallen in & can't get out to check the forum.)

I just took a look under our 09, and those storage bins are a part of the main floor. That is, they were stamped as a part of the floor. So the plate or what ever closes that up on the top side is either screwed, glued, or spot welded in place. The reason it seems so crazy that they left it out is that our Journey is probably the most stripped down version available - no third row seat, no cruise, no remote door locks, etc. If they still built cars with window winders and manual locks, I reckon it would have been built that way. (Would have suit me just fine, prefer it, actually, but my wife would not have wanted the car.)

That is really weird. Apparently they just left out the trap door itself. Wonder what's under the carpet, if it is solid floor across that area, or if there is some sort of metal cover. Are there any screws visible around the perimeter from underneath?

There was a guy in my older brother's HS class that had a trap door in the backseat floor of his car. So when the cops stopped him and his buddies, the one in the back seat would just set their stash on the pavement, under the car. (Then retrieve it when he was told he could go.)

My daddy taught me this, and I guess I'm every bit as picky - I keep a small spiral notebook in all of our vehicles, and write the date, gallons, and mileage for every gas up, and for maintenance, the date & mileage, plus a brief description of what I did. I tried to teach my sons & daughter the same practice, but I don't think any of them do it for their vehicles.

My impression is that it is monitoring things like how many times you start & stop the engine. (Someone told me that each time you start it, they count that as 500 miles.) So like today, when I hauled some mulch for my wife, there were many startup, then going only a few car lengths, then stop & shovel out more of the mulch. Then this afternoon I was loading some railroad ties on the trailer, and I started & shut down the engine numerous times while I was positioning the trailer to be able to load those heavy things by myself. (I didn't leave it running, because I don't like breathing the exhaust.)

I have done it on my zero turn tires by the twisted rope method, and also with a tie down strap. Got hit in the face once with the strap latch when I released it. Learned to wrap it around a few times, and the friction where it crosses over itself slows down the recoil when it is released. Those tires are so small and wide that it makes it harder than a car tire, I think.

That's what I told him, too. (I had told him up-front that I was not a serious buyer. It was only later that I started REALLY wanting to go back for it, but I still hope it stays local, because it would be handy to have one to go look at from time to time when I wasn't sure how mine should go back together. I bought my 46 as a "basket-case" in 1980, then dismantled it even more, to repaint the frame and repair the floor. It has sat all that time since 83, when I moved away, got married, and moved overseas for 18 years.) Wasn't a serious issue, but the funny thing about just having posted about not having issues with the Journey, at Noon my wife called me & said it's making "terrible noises". One front brake pad had lost off, and it went steel on steel. I haven't had good luck with disk brakes on other vehicles I've had (except for my first one that had them, a 72 Dodge Coronet), but this is the first time I've had to replace the fronts ever since we bought it in Dec 2010. That's been almost 76,000 miles. Wish I knew what brand of pads they were. (Someone will now tell me that is impossible, but it's true. I coast to a stop whenever possible, slow down early when approaching town, etc. Drives my wife crazy, but that's the way I was taught by my dad.)

Well my wife rolled our 2009 Journey day before yesterday ...... to 100,000 miles, that is. Everything is all still good after 10+ years of ownership. (Bought it used.) Have a chance to buy another Plymouth P15 (the 46 through early 49 models), this one built in late 48. But I cannot afford to have two of them in my "stables" - already need to build a shop to get the 46 out of the main garage. Anyway, this 48 has less than 14,000 miles on it, and although that sounds unbelievable, I think it's almost certainly correct. (Unless someone periodically disconnected the odometer, or ran it back a bit. But it's in way too good of shape for it to be the second time around. Asking price is $7,800.00.)

There was a time when American built automobiles were better quality (with the exception of certain European vehicles that were not really mass-produced), but that's not really my reason. This will get a bit into religion, but when the Jews were in exile in Babylon God told them (through the prophet Jeremiah) that while they were there in exile they should "build houses, have families, and seek the prosperity of whatever city in which they found themselves". That was of course a message for them, in that time and in that situation, but I think that there is a principle behind it, that I, as a follower of the same God, seek to follow - to as much as possible (within loyalty to Him as first in everything) support the economic success of whatever country in which I live. So when we lived in Brazil we had a Brazilian-made vehicle (not a Brazilian company, as there are none) and bought Brazilian products as much as possible. Now that we live in the States, I try to do the same. It is certainly getting more difficult, and in some cases (like computer parts) virtually impossible, so I won't argue that, and I don't slavishly hold to it; it is just an objective.

Edging closer to 100,000 miles. Will let you all know.... When does all this stuff typically start, anyway? My wife's dad was one to trade cars every few years, so she says something about it being time to get a different one every once in a while. But I'm dragging my feet because she wants one from over the ocean next time, and I like to buy American. [I'll admit, however, that I was taken aback when, just as I was signing for this one (back in 2010), I saw that it was not manufactured in the States. But I don't hesitate to say that it's been a great vehicle for us.] (I come from a family where we drove them till they wouldn't go anymore, then put them in the back pasture, like an old horse going onto retirement.)

You know, I get the blues reading all of the stuff on here (and on the Chrysler mini-van site - have one of those, too) about the issues many are facing. It's mostly electronic stuff. The connection to a cell phone, the electric window winders, or door locks. The video players, etc. Seems that's just about all there is anymore. Makes me wonder when I will start having all of those issues with my 2009 Journey.....

If you know which wheel it is, I would suggest raising that wheel just a bit off the ground (with a support under the lower control arm, not the frame, so that the weight is still on the suspension. Then have someone apply the brakes, and see if you can get it to make the same noise by trying to rotate the wheel back & forth. (If it moves at all, it will only be a bit.) The purpose of this test is to see if the noise is coming from a slight slack or movement between the two parts of the calipers.

This problem started after A/C became so common in cars that they no longer designed vehicles for driving with the windows down. Some younger folks may think I'm nuts, or pulling your leg, but cars of the 50's and at least until the early 60's didn't do that. (Family cars my folks had before A/C that I specifically remember as not being like that are a 48 Dodge, 53 DeSoto, and a 62 Chrysler. The last one later became my first car, and I always drove with the windows down in good weather - like I said, it didn't have A/C. The next car they got did have it, a 71 Olds 98, and if you put the windows down it had the issue you're talking about.)

Not at all sure I would LET them, even if they offered. It would be easy to destroy the inner fender well getting access. (I changed the battery on my 2009 Journey a few years ago - It appeared to still be the original battery, so it had lasted for around 7 years.)

Thanks. That's a 'trick' I hadn't heard before. (Sort of reminds me of what some guys do to get the rear drums loose on the old MoPars - loosen the axle nut and drive around a bit, taking some abrupt turns. The hubs are a taper fit, and it's like they are pressed on. The normal way to get them off is with a hub puller. But after decades, they can be extremely stuck.) Here in Ohio I sometimes have to kick the living daylights out of the tires just to break the allow wheels loose from the hubs on my Dodge Caravan. It's apparently something to do with a reaction between the steel & the aluminum (with the salt as a catalyst). Fortunately our Journey has steel wheels.

Started hearing bearing noise on our Journey (@ +/- 90,000 miles) - sounded to me like the right side front. It seemed to be getting louder, so because our son was (and still is) in treatment for leukemia, I took it to an area shop. They asked me which side it was. I said it seemed to be the right, but that it's difficult to pinpoint the source on a uni-body vehicle. (I had raised the front, and ran it, but with the weight off, I couldn't hear it at all.) They decided it was the driver's side, and replaced that one. No change in the noise level. So how long will a bearing go, as it's going bad? Will it get louder, or will the type of noise change? I was going to try to do it myself, but I've never worked on a front wheel drive front end (I'm and old guy who always drove RWD vehicles.), and we also live in the "salt belt", so there's the likely rust problem as well.

We bought our 2009 (I think 1st owner sale was in July 2008) in Dec 2010, so it's been almost 10 years our family car. Had some repairs from time to time, but it's been a great car over-all. I think we've put nearly 75,000 miles on it in that time. I drive a Dodge Caravan (2010) for my work car, and the Journey handles better on curves, etc. We also live in the "rust belt" (Ohio), and it still shows no rust anywhere.

A onde mora no Brasil? (Sou Americano, mais moravamos no Brasil de 1.985 ate 2.003, o maioria do tempo em Porto Velho, RO., e na area do Medio Purus, na Amazonas.)

The vehicle on which I had the issue with the leaves clogging the wipe stow drain was a 2000 Chrysler T & C. Never had this issue with the 2009 Journey, but it is also garage kept, where as the 2000 was my work car, and sat outside. I could look under the hood on my 2009 Journey, but the design could be significantly different from you much newer one. But if I suspected this was the issue, it is generally not the newer leaves up top that are actually clogging the drain, it is the rotted ones that are almost dirt already, and that can be cleared by pulling the drain hose off where it comes out of the cowl. Usually the water would come gushing out when I did that, but often had to poke a wire down the hose as well. Then I would flush the system with a bucket of water, to be sure it was clear. This design of hiding the wipers is a bad one in my opinion, both for leaves (pine needles are the worst - that is what I was dealing with, actually) and also for snow & ice accumulation. If my vehicle sits outside in the winter, I *always* pull the wipers up, so that they do not freeze down onto the windshield, and to make it easier to clear that area w/o damaging the wiper rubber.

We have a 2009 Journey, and haven't had this problem with it, but it sounds a bit like an issue we had with a previous Chrysler Town & Country we had some years ago. The drains that service the wipe stow area passed through a cavity inside the firewall area, and emptied via rubber hoses on both sides. As I recall, the diameter of these hoses was maybe around 1/2", and leaves which got into the wiper stow area clogged this drain. Water accumulated inside that cavity, and then when you went around a corner, water would gush into the passenger floor pan. When there was less water, we would hear it sloshing around in there, but it took some time before I realized the problem.

I didn't re-read all of the old comments, so maybe someone already said this, but on at least some cars, if the dongle is too close to the vehicle, it will keep it awake, ready to start. They say that over time, this will run the battery down. (I don't have that type on mine, just an old-fashioned key - my preference, too because I had to pull the battery out on the dongle for my 2010 Dodge Caravan, because sometimes I would came back to it only to find the front windows all the way down. Apparently the button got pushed in my pocket, or something. After it happened in a snow storm, I'd had enough of that.)