Neto

On my 46 Plymouth the access is from the top. People used to complain about the mess it made when you pulled the filter element out of the canister. One of my Uncles had one that used a roll of TP as the filter. But back then an oil filter was an option, and if they did have one, it was a bypass filter, like on my Plymouth. (It would be inteesting to know how much of the oil goes through the bypass valve on the modern engines, and if & how much that changes as the miles since last filter change mounts.)

Our 2009 still has the more common filter type. When did they change to the canister? (I know that way back pretty well all oil filters were the canister type, but that's been a good long while, something only the older folks will remember.)

We used to disconnect the battery after a jump start to check for battery vs alternator at fault, but I've been told that you shouldn't do this with the newer electronic systems. What's the real scoop on this? Will it damage the electrical system to disconnect the battery while the car is running? (I assume that even if the battery is dead, running the car with a dead battery would still allow the battery to absorb the charge, even though it is not holding it. That is, disconnecting the battery may produce different results than just running a car with a dead one.)

I hadn't thought to check the time interval between when I reset the notification, and when it comes on again. I had assumed that it was the many starts & short runs that was making it come on at such a low point mileage wise. Maybe it is just timing out at 6 months.

They usually destroy themselves in the removal process, at least in my experience. Our hardware store (Do It Best brand) has them in stock.

Ours seldom even gets up to 3,000, but it's my wife's car, we live right in this small town, and she does a lot of short trips. We only put 6-7k or so on in an entire year. (It's a 2009, built in early 2008, and it's still under 68,000 miles.)

Not trying or wanting to start a debate but the last oil change I decided to let the car tell me when to change it instead of my normal 6000 mile/6 month interval. It just came on today. 7770 miles and 7 months after the last change.

I found this on the Ohio DOT site:
Use of studded tires or tire chains in Ohio is permitted between Nov. 1 and April 15 or times of extreme weather conditions. Extreme weather refers to the presence of snow and/or ice on the roadway.
And this from the owners manual:
Traction devices must be of proper size for the tire, as recommended by the tire chain manufacturer. Install on front tires only. Due to limited clearance, P225/65R17 tire with a Security Chain Company (SCC) Super Z6 low profile tire chain or equivalent is recommended. http://www.peerlesschain.com/brands/traction/traction-product-choices/super-z6-tire-chains/

We live in East central Ohio, but south of the Snow Belt. So we don't see the heavy snows here that people just 50 miles or so north of us do, but we have a lot of hills, and my business responsibilties take me over a lot of narrow back roads that are really just dirt roads with a bit of gravel on top, and some are rather steep. (The county roads are pretty well maintained, but the township roads are often not, and they are probably the last to be graded after a snow. It does vary a great deal from one township to the next - some have a lot more funds to work with than others.)
I am looing for a more general response - I'm not actually talking about our Journey, but another bigger vehicle. (My wife insists on snow tires for the Journey.) What I'm trying to get a feel for is whether people think that tire chains would be a workable substitute for the much more expensive option of getting full snow tires. (Currently running mud & snow treads on my work vehicle. That is all I ever used in the past, but the first snow of the winter was a really wet snow on top of ice, and this vehicle, which is new to me, seemed at first to be rather helpless on snow.) I'll just drop this here, because I don't want to aggravate anyone by talking about other vehicles. I suppose now that I should have posted this thread in the Off Topic section.

I should have said that I was looking for personal impressions, not "information". I've seen them used years ago, but thought of them as more or less a thing of the past. It started as a curiosity first, so I did research on the technicalities before I posted here. Maybe this is not even the right forum to ask a question of this type.
I already know that you are not supposed to drive over 30 MPH with them on, possibly it's even illegal in some states. There are probably also legal limitations for their use seasonally in some states or areas, as there are for studded tires. Thee are also a lot more different types out there now than there were back in the 60's, when I saw them in use.

Has anyone here used tire chains/cables for traction aids? (I have never had any, but am considering it, just looking for information at this point.)

I should have said that I was looking for personal impressions, not "information". I've seen them used years ago, but thought of them as more or less a thing of the past. It started as a curiosity first, so I did research on the technicalities before I posted here. Maybe this is not even the right forum to ask a question of this type.
I already know that you are not supposed to drive over 30 MPH with them on, possibly it's even illegal in some states. There are probably also legal limitations for their use seasonally in some states or areas, as there are for studded tires. Thee are also a lot more different types out there now than there were back in the 60's, when I saw them in use.

That's the fastest chicken coop I ever heard of LOL!

1962 Chrysler Newport 361 ci
1972 Dodge Coronet 318
* 1946 Plymouth Special Deluxe (never drove it yet - still partially restored)
* 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe (first series 49 - P15 model, parts car)
1980 Datsun (wife's car when we got married)
1984 VW Voyage (Brazilian alcohol model, like American VW Fox)
1993 Chrysler Town & Country (family car, later used by my son)
1998 Dodge Neon (car for my daughter)
1998 Chevy S-10 (work vehicle)
2000 Chrysler Town & Country (later as work car)
* 2009 Dodge Journey (current family car)
* 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan (current work vehicle)
* vehicles I/we still have

1932 Ford coupe
1941 Ford convertible
1948 Ford coupe
1962 Ford Galaxie 2 dr hardtop
1968 Javelin SST
1967 Barracuda 340/4 spd
1971 American Motors Sportabout
1979 Pontiac Lemans
1982 Camaro Berlinetta
1985 Plymouth Voyageur
1989 Chrysler Lebaron coupe
1991 Dodge Caravan
1992 Dodge Caravan
1995 Chrysler Cirrus
1998 Dodge Caravan
2007 Dodge Caliber
2011 Dodge Journey
2016 Jeep Cherokee Limited

1962 Chrysler Newport 361 ci
1972 Dodge Coronet 318
* 1946 Plymouth Special Deluxe (never drove it yet - still partially restored)
* 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe (first series 49 - P15 model, parts car)
1980 Datsun (wife's car when we got married)
1984 VW Voyage (Brazilian alcohol model, like American VW Fox)
1993 Chrysler Town & Country (family car, later used by my son)
1998 Dodge Neon (car for my daughter)
1998 Chevy S-10 (work vehicle)
2000 Chrysler Town & Country (later as work car)
* 2009 Dodge Journey (current family car)
* 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan (current work vehicle)
* vehicles I/we still have

1962 Chrysler Newport 361 ci
1972 Dodge Coronet 318
* 1946 Plymouth Special Deluxe (never drove it yet - still partially restored)
* 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe (first series 49 - P15 model, parts car)
1980 Datsun (wife's car when we got married)
1984 VW Voyage (Brazilian alcohol model, like American VW Fox)
1993 Chrysler Town & Country (family car, later used by my son)
1998 Dodge Neon (car for my daughter)
1998 Chevy S-10 (work vehicle)
2000 Chrysler Town & Country (later as work car)
* 2009 Dodge Journey (current family car)
* 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan (current work vehicle)
* vehicles I/we still have

Leather is a natural product, so there are going to be differences in the rate of wear in different pieces of leather in the seats, and even in different areas of the same piece of leather. It varies in pliability & strength as well, depending where on the animal hide it came from. Errors or differences in the tanning process can also sometimes create different results. (I do like leather seats, because it is not as hot as vinyl in the summer, and not as cold in the winter. Or maybe I should say that the temperature adjusts more quickly. Sure, there will be some wear, but I also think that it is easier to care for than cloth - doesn't stain, etc. Both of our previous minivans had leather, but now we have a Journey & a Grand Caravan, both with cloth seats.)

Leather is a natural product, so there are going to be differences in the rate of wear in different pieces of leather in the seats, and even in different areas of the same piece of leather. It varies in pliability & strength as well, depending where on the animal hide it came from. Errors or differences in the tanning process can also sometimes create different results. (I do like leather seats, because it is not as hot as vinyl in the summer, and not as cold in the winter. Or maybe I should say that the temperature adjusts more quickly. Sure, there will be some wear, but I also think that it is easier to care for than cloth - doesn't stain, etc. Both of our previous minivans had leather, but now we have a Journey & a Grand Caravan, both with cloth seats.)

The 2009 Journey is my first ever car with rear disk brakes. I tried to press the cylinder back in with a large C-clamp, but I saw that it was not going back in, so fortunately I stopped before I ruined anything. I was able to rent an air tool from a local shop for a reasonable fee, but I will buy my own before I tackle it again. But that time I had it all apart already, and couldn't wait for a tool to arrive.
But anyway, I figured all of the regular grease monkeys on here already knew it, but this guy is someone who, from what I understood from the original post, is someone who is wanting to learn, and I figured it didn't hurt to mention it, because no one else had.

The 2009 Journey is my first ever car with rear disk brakes. I tried to press the cylinder back in with a large C-clamp, but I saw that it was not going back in, so fortunately I stopped before I ruined anything. I was able to rent an air tool from a local shop for a reasonable fee, but I will buy my own before I tackle it again. But that time I had it all apart already, and couldn't wait for a tool to arrive.
But anyway, I figured all of the regular grease monkeys on here already knew it, but this guy is someone who, from what I understood from the original post, is someone who is wanting to learn, and I figured it didn't hurt to mention it, because no one else had.

One heads up on the rear brakes (one I didn't know about until I did mine last year, the first time I ever did rear disk brake repair):
You will need to rent, buy, borrow, or steal a special tool to rotate the piston as you force it back into the bore so that you can slip the reloaded calipers over the rotors with the new pads installed. Of course this would not apply if you are replacing the calipers as well.

We bought our Journey in Florida, so it just had original type street tires on it. Last winter we put snow tires on the front, and left the rears. It was fine, and we never had any of the problems people here are talking about. But of course we drive sanely, anyway. (I lived in Minnesota for 4 winters, and drove a RWD car with just normal street itres, and a bit on the bald side. Poor man College days. There were some times when I couldn't get up the hill on the drive way, but I got along fine, by driving carefully.) Last Spring we put on 4 new tires, so we'll need to put the snows back on in a month or so. I was hoping to find some good used steel wheels for sale, so I could keep the snow tires mounted, and just swap them out myself, but haven't found any closeby. What other vehicles share the same wheels, anyway?

Any 5x5" (or 127mm) high positive offset wheel will work.

2008 and later minivans