dhh3

This is regarding the clunk you get (when cold) going from Park to Reverse or Drive.
Now I'll show my age.... Many years ago in the 70's when I bought my first automatic tranny car, an old mechanic whom I used and was brilliant told me to always start my automatic in neutral when the car was cold. He explained that, automatics don't circulate their fluid when in park but do in neutral and shifting from park to drive or reverse, brings the full fluid pressure online suddenly when the oil tends to be a little thicker and cold. He explained this neutral start, helped lubricate the transmission before the higher pressure of drive and reverse. So over the years I got into the habit of always starting that way. Recent vehicles like the Journey allow you to only start in park, but to this day by instinct, once I start up cold, I shift immediately from park to neutral for a few seconds before I move. I have no idea if any of this is true today, but I never get a clunk when shifting from neutral to drive or reverse. We are not talking about more than 10-15 seconds in neutral.
Old habits die hard.....

I've read a lot of forums discussions related to the Alpine 6 speaker amplified system...some good and some bad. I've installed many aftermarket systems in my past vehicles, so I was excited to see my new DJ had an upgraded system...here's some thoughts after listening to it for a short while.
For a manufacturer provided upgraded system, I think it sounds good. No, it does NOT compare to an aftermarket stereo and/or subwoofer but comes really close.
That said, it is a well balanced system with the amp matched well to the speakers. I can turn it up to full capacity on the highway with windows down and hear no distortion...as a professional sound man said to me once- does it sound good, or is it good sound? This stereo system is both.
The subwoofer adds depth when listening to the Eagles and adds punch/boom listening to Deadmau5 or Daft Punk.
There is a slight roll-off to the sub with missing mid/low frequencies. The 6x9's do well to pick up down to about 80-100hz, but there does appear to be a level between 90-60hz thats missing until the sub picks up at about 60hz.
Also, you really need to understand how the music you are listening to is mixed in the studio. There are some albums that are mixed with lower fidelity (or a flat frequency response) where a multi channel (beyond 3) EQ would greatly help (Dodge needs to change this with a firmware upgrade)...but I've been able to solve this problem by putting all of my music onto ITunes and listening through the USB port.
Here's how to enhance your music using ITunes: In your ITunes on your PC (not your device), right click on the album you want to enhance and go to "Get Info" and if you go to the last tab, you'll see a volume slider that acts like a pre-amp. Sliding it to the right will increase the fidelity of your lower level music (be careful because too much will cause distortion- listen through your headphones to tell). Under the slider there is a pull down menu to select a pre-determined EQ setting (like sub, Dance, Rock, etc.) I find that the "Dance" settings strongly enhances the music more-so to the lower end...Making these changes turned Rush's Red Barchetta into a true highway driving tune!
Make sure you sync your device again to pick up the changes.
Hope this helps!

You know, Ray - I was thinking just today how we haven't heard a peep from you since you took delivery. Thinking that you were just having way too much fun driving your new Crossroad to be posting here on the DJ Forum. Beautiful car! Aren't you just a little bit more proud of your engineering peers at Chrysler after having spent some time behind the wheel of this wonderful car?
Dhh3 - the DJ is designated by Chrysler as a Crossover as it is built off of a passenger car platform. You and bigtsr are correct.

Best description I've seen so far... I just say accelerate a little faster. Same concept and the outcome is smoother shifting. She already has a lawyer though, so clearly she isn't interested in any sort of normal resolution of a minor issue... SUE THEIR PANTS OFF!!!! WOOT!!!

Definitely not simple. You might even need to add new rear suspension as well.
FWIW I used my AWD for the first time yesterday and the day before while it was snowing in Metro Detroit. I could feel the AWD kick on around corners to correct understeer. Once or twice it overcompensated and I had to use opposite-lock to maintain control. I came from a 400 ft-lb RWD Charger last year with bald tires, so that was nothing new to me (I prefer it, much better control).
Before said Charger I owned only FWD cars, and my 2.5-season toy is a FWD 300M Special, with which I had almost no traction issues, so I can't say I even need AWD now. I bought the car used wth 2000 miles on it, so whatever it was built with is what I got.

No troubles yet. Just curious. Forgot about the electronics. I did read that when the front wheels slip, the rear will engage. Must some kind of clutch pack with jelly in in. When there is slippage, the jelly gets hot and locks the clutch plates together. I'll just jack it up, and slide a Wrangler Unlimited Chassis under it.

I've noticed! Ha! Lots of oldies popping up lately with your name all over them!
At least you are adding to the conversation and posting useful information... some people do this and don't add anything. They say something like, "yeah, me too." and then we have to look through 80 posts with nothing useful added to them. Way to buck the trend!

SOP for most forums. OP asks a question, then fixes it himself, and never re-posts the fix.

No. There are several that will fit, like the Avenger 3.6L one... Or, you could make your own. Personally, I think that the scoop in front is getting plenty of cold air in. If anything, I would just replace the tubing with something less turbulent to create smoother air flow. I doubt that you will get any benefit out of a CAI without a complete intake and exhaust build.

Nope, but I bet the bottom is lined with vulcanized rubber... (hockey pucks)

Hello i'm a owner of a US car Dodge Journey, from portugal,
I'm looking for experience and learning from people here in the forum.
Sérgio Almeida

Hi. Isn't your front plate from Austria (in Europe)?
I apologize, but it's been a big curiosity.

Lately I have been noticing some VERY low profile deflectors on vehicles in my area... not sure who is the manufacturer as I tend to see them on the freeway, but the writing looks like it may be lund... I HATE bug deflectors, but these ones are hardly noticeable,

Hmmm.... I received no such harness. Everything else you mentioned was already installed when I bought it.

There are mileage and/or power gains to be had, though they may be negligible on today's more controlled engines...
This is why I buy them...

Welcome to the forum. Glad to have you here.
1. What radio issues are you having? More details, please.
2. What is the issue with you DRLs?
3. What upgrades would you like to do? Not much aftermarket stuff specific for the DJ.
4. There is an new, awesome thread going on as we speak. Most of the inside panels on the left side have to be removed, but well worth the effort. The camera works only with the 2-8.4 screens; the camera is not compatible with the 4.3.

The large black-painted boxes, to which the chrome exhaust tips are welded, are the resonators. Cutting them off and installing straight pipes will produce a lot of drone. A friend of mine with a 300M Special did that initially and hated it. He replaced the straight pipes with Thrush glasspack (straight-through) mufflers and it improved significantly. He got the louder aggressive tone without much drone. Personally, I hate his exhaust note because it's very raspy, but he loves it.
I would look for a flowmaster or magnaflow resonator or straight-through muffler and mount it in place of the rear resonators before I cut out the muffler.
On my own Special I plan on dumping the whole exhaust system and replacing it with an x-pipe and two Borla Pro XS mufflers at the back. Having them in the back and with an x-pipe should produce an aggressive note without much drone. We'll see. I haven't looked at my Journey's exhaust but I imagine the transverse engine design demands the unfortunate circumstance of one exhaust pipe and cat...

The resonators dampen or eliminate altogether the "drone", i.e. the sound that will "resonate" through the entire vehicle at a certain engine RPM. My Dakota had 2 resonators and a trashcan size muffler, when I removed all that and installed a flowcrapster cat back, man-o-man, the drone was deafening. I mean I could not hear the person in the passenger seat speaking unless they yelled. Grant you, this was V8. I switched the flowcrapster out for a magnaflow and it was much better. There was still drone, but not half as bad as the flowcrapster( can you tell I dont liike flowmaster??lol). Generally, factory mufflers are very restrictive. My advice is to start with replacing the muffler with a magnaflow (if thats whay you are looking at) and drive around for awhile. If it's still not agressive enough, cut the resonators off the ends of the tailpipes and buy yourself a couple of 1-2' lengths of exhaust pipe and clamp them onto where you cut the resonators off (that way, the exhaust still exits out the rear instead of underneath). If you like that, then shop around for some nice tips and have everything welded. That way you can reinstall the resonators if you ever need to.

My understanding of the purpose of the resonator is that it helps to reduce a specific frequency (or range of frequencies) that is most prominent from a given engine. Removing the resonators may or may not make more noise, but it will definitely change the tone of the exhaust. I cannot tell you if the tone will be higher in pitch or lower, but it will change. Based on this understanding, I would assume that the stock resonators are tuned (length, width, chamber size, etc) to deal with whatever tones the stock muffler doesn't adequately muffle.
So, the muffler performs it's job and is not "overkill"... The resonators are likely the "overkill" part of the equation, but also perform a very valid function. I think that your best bet, if you're not sure, is to listen to some clips on the forum and on YouTube and decide which sound you prefer. I would still start with one or the other, not both... But that is just my opinion.

Got it!

Sorry it's taken me a while to respond - no apologies needed. Ever. I appreciate the discussion that new posts spur on and one of the main reasons I documented this was to help anybody doing projects. The cardboard cutout that you can see in a couple of the pictures seems to be in line with where a sub would go so I think you'd be good to go on that. And I agree, love the trunk space and would hate to limit it!

Thanks for the props, yeah it is a big job but definitely a great upgrade. And a pin did break in the process of fishing the wire so I had to take one from the old tailgate insert and replace it. (It was ten at night and no place was open to get a new pin) If you do consider doing it yourself I'll definitely help with any questions you may have. My dealer charges $305 pre-tax for the kit and roughly 6 bills for install included. I didn't save a lot doing it myself but I learned a lot about the car.
I actually did add the lower stack with the auto button to the car. I don't know for sure what the outcome would be if I stuck with the original panel but I am able to adjust the temp up and down from the manual buttons below. Although the digital display doesn't show an accurate slider position for where you've adjusted the heat/AC, I THINK that if you move the slider to a position the car adjusts the heat up or down even though the slider bumps back to the middle. And if you hit the sync button it will adjust the heat for the driver, passenger, and rear climate all combined but as soon as one of them is changed the sync is broken. Hoping that answered your question... If not, shoot a reply

I think so. There was a space behind it that was a cut out in the body as well which seemed to indicate there was room for a sub. And from the grille look of the panel it looks like there was supposed to be a speaker behind but there wasn't.

Thanks for the props Lobitz, daunting is a good word for it . I had to remove the seat to remove the panel. The instructions said to remove both seats but I didn't figure the passenger side needed to be removed and in the end it didn't. The nice thing is now that I know how to remove the seat, it's pretty easy - I can do it in about 10 minutes. And yes, there were definitely parts of the car everywhere, ha ha

Well, I finally upgraded my 2014 SXT. I took out the 4.3s and installed the RE2 receiver, the 8.4" screen, the new bezel, and the lower stack. I also installed the factory backup camera as well. The receiver, screen, lower stack, and bezel were pretty straightforward and easy to install. '14 Charger receiver, '13 Journey screen, '14 Journey bezel, and '11? I think, lower stack. I included some pictures below of some things I hadn't seen others include as far as how to remove the trim and whatnot. My wife and I really enjoy the upgrade, makes the interior feel much less "base package" and more complete. I, like others, haven't fixed the temperature controls on the screen but I haven't given up yet. I've talked with guys from my dealer and realized they're not going to be much help as this is the first radio they have even unlocked. Thanks to this forum I had more information than they did. I've talked with Uconnect who did not have info for me, and talked with Dodge corporate and they referred me to a larger dealer in the area but I haven't gotten a hold of them yet.
I played with the controls and found that when I "sync" the temps, the front and back hvac behave as one. That's nice as we have small kids in the back. If the knobs in the back are turned then the sync is broken and the rear acts independently. It also seems that even though the sliders on the climate screen maintain the nefarious "22 degrees" mark, if you slide them up or down it seems to lock that temperature in even though the slider moves back to the middle a few seconds later. The satellite radio still worked fine, so the free subscription apparently didn't get kicked back.
The dealer charged me for 1 hour labor for the combined unlock code and flashing the backup camera. Like I said above, this was the first one they've done. I had all the info they needed (even though they didn't know they needed it) thanks to this forum.
I bought the backup camera from the dealer (they were able to have it the next day). It came with detailed instructions that, at times, were not completely accurate as it was written in 2011. It was pretty involved to install - let's say it's not for the faint of heart. I took some pictures of that process that I've included below as well. You really do have to remove quite a bit of trim and one of the rear seats (If you have the third row). It's definitely doable if you're handy though, and I learned a lot about the car while doing it. I fished the wires a couple of times so that is one thing I would recommend if you're planning on doing it. My wife and I REALLY enjoy having it. The blind spot behind the car is especially bad without the camera if you have a car seat in the third row.
I couldn't figure out how to insert larger pictures....

I have a power port, but it is down at the bottom of that bin behind the cup holders. Hard to get to! Never tried it to see if it works. I just use the USB to charge my phone. I filed a round hole at the leading edge of the sliding tray inside the console, to make a slot for the USB cable. So, I leave my USB cable out all of the time. Doing this still allows the console lid to close properly and it does not pinch the cable.
I asked the salesman for a USB cable at Best Buy. Didn't even look at it. When my phone is charging, there is a continuous stream of little blue lights traveling up the cable to the phone! It even lights up when I open a door before I start it! Matches my blue interior lights! Surprises all my friends.
I'm curious to see how your music sounds via Bluetooth. Is you DJ still under warranty?