New to the Journey, NOT to Dodge/Chry

[John/Horace]

Just swapped snows off wife’s Journey today. Also jinxed myself. Snow tires save the rims from salt. Salt use is being cut back by roads crews up here, more sand being used. Makes snows help with ice on interstate type roads.

 

Studs banned where I am living now, too much road wear.  Ran lots of  studs on snowmobiles I had.

 

[5rebel9]

On 4/23/2022 at 9:59 PM, John/Horace said:

Just swapped snows off wife’s Journey today. Also jinxed myself. Snow tires save the rims from salt. Salt use is being cut back by roads crews up here, more sand being used. Makes snows help with ice on interstate type roads.

 

Studs banned where I am living now, too much road wear.  Ran lots of  studs on snowmobiles I had.

 

Those are the style rims I was hoping to get for our Journey. My friend had a pair but could nor locate another pair at a reasonable price. He came up with a complete set of standard solid spoke alloys(standard type) with 4 new TPMS sensors for $500.00 along with mounting the new summer tires I got for $600.00. My son is paying me back the costs being it is his car.

 I just have to make a garbage dump run to get rid of the "stuff" from COMPLETING the "must do" honey do list. Still have a LONG list of thru the summer "honey do" chores to get done!

Edited April 25, 2022 by 5rebel9

[John/Horace]

The spoked rims have a nice look. Not sure how they would do with curb or mega pothole incident. Clearly not a strong as more closed in style alum rims. Tires for the 19 are also a little pricy.
 

[5rebel9]

1 hour ago, John/Horace said:

The spoked rims have a nice look. Not sure how they would do with curb or mega pothole incident. Clearly not a strong as more closed in style alum rims. Tires for the 19 are also a little pricy.
 

They were that style, but they were 17" rims, too bad he did not get the other pair from the people he got the pair from. Those people had given the other pair to a family member who crashed that car anyway. The pair came to my friend already mounted with STUDDED Snows on them and because of not being able to get 2 more, those studded snows went on the back of our Journey mounted on our rims. I then got a pair of matching studded snows for our front rims. All said and done now he has 2 complete sets of tires/rims for summer and for winter. No more tire dismounting to worry about.   

[5rebel9]

Son's '11 Journey is doing FINE, just still trying to coordinate time to replace the heater core.

BUT! The BIG NEWS is that my friend aquitred a '14 V6 AWD SXT  in a deep blue color (wife's favorite). I got a quick look at it 2 days ago as it was flat bedded in for a blown motor, and it looks VERY NICE! Taking the wife to look at it after work for her approval to buy as a replacement for her rusting out Pontiac G6. With good used motor installed and whatever it may need for NY state inspection, ballpark price is between $5-6 grand, wish me good luck with the wife liking this one as much as she likes the '11 in the family!

Edited May 26, 2022 by 5rebel9

[5rebel9]

LOL! she's been after me to find her another ride since last autumn. Problem has been her "wish list" of features has been hard to fullfill. She finally narrowed down to it must have remote start. This one does NOT have it, but my friend and I are researching for kits to install that feature. Also since we became FIRST TIME GRANDPARENTS 3 weeks ago, the very latest "must have" is now 3 row seating.....Minivan or Journey and not a 4dr. sedan anymore.

[5rebel9]

It's a GO FOR IT.  She liked it and said the color looks like NY State Police deep blue and when ready, our driveway will be PATRIOTIC by having RED, WHITE and BLUE vewhicles in it when all three cars are home at the same time!

[5rebel9]

Thanks on the congrats about our first grandchild (girl), and yes it is a JOYOUS event for all. Daughter and son in law now get a tax credit after 2 years of high taxation rates....LOL

 I lost my 25 yr. love affair with the Chrysler minivans after the redesign of the '07(?) model year. and stilll miss what I could do with my last '04 T&C. But am beginning to really enjoy my current ride ('10 Lucerne)

This '14 Journey should be ready to roll by mid June without remote start installed, which will be done before WINTER rolls around AGAIN.

[5rebel9]

A bit more info about the BLUE '14 we ARE getting. Motor was shot due to the radiator breaking open at the upper hose and kept driving it. Replacement has 72k miles and is getting fresh spark plugs AND the aluminium DORMAN aluminum oil filter unit along with a NEW radiator. only other item seen so far is a rear wheel bearing that will also be done. YES all fluids/filters will also be done before getting it sometime around the 21st of June. Remote start will be installed after my friend recovers from hip replacement  around Aug./sept.

OH, and the odo. shows 160.5K miles on the car. I think this one will be a "keeper" just like the '11 we got for our son!

   

 

EDIT addition....... Granddaughter and Mom and Dad are doing fine. Even being born 6 weeks early, she is PERFECTLY healthy! 

Edited June 2, 2022 by 5rebel9

[John/Horace]

Congrats grandpa. I became one last year , COVID wasn’t all bad news.
 

There is a 2014 in our driveway; lost the oil cooler at just over 100k miles in January cold weather. Would have been Much easier repair with engine removed; the aluminum unit wasn’t being sold yet so I used a plastic oem unit. 
Alternator if original still will be due soon. Not terrible to get at with engine in place.

 

The rad actually split at the top hose to upper rad;  kinda odd.. We are almost at similar milage now; makes me wonder if I should swap upper hose now. Hoses get stiff with age and don’t flex as well.  Rad could be get too much vibration as a result.

Some people have had motor mount issues on Journeys, give them an extra look on “blue”, in case that was part of rad split issue.  

[5rebel9]

My friend has had a "spat" of filter housings broken/cracked come in for repair lately, and also had 2 brand new units he installed LEAK again at start up in his shop! He says since car is for my wife(he likes her), that he is NOT going to take ANY chances.

Mounts are all good engine is installed with intake manifold removed waiting for the Dorman part to arrive(supposed to come tomorrow).

Not too worried about an alternator down the road...all I went thru with the '11 of my son's has me pretty adept with working with the 3.6. Just don't care to have to do MAJOR work on it like cyl. head(s) and such     LOL

 

 and thanks to you for your congrats on our happy news !   

[5rebel9]

I just realized something today..........I've NEVER had 2 of the same make/model vehicle at the same time before!

[John/Horace]

 You said broken/cracked filter housing ; you mean thermostat housing outlet on engine, correct. 
I replaced the whole unit with a gates when I did the water pump. Not expensive, was over 100k on original. Seems flimsy a bit, so new ones leaking not that surprising. 
 

Had a drip from pump, bearing/impeller was fine, aluminum gasket against engine failed in one spot. Could have just changed gasket by itself really. Water pump seems very beefy and should last close to life of engine. 
 

But your new 2014, it was the top rad inlet that split on the bad engine, or was it the thermostat housing ? Just curious.

As V6/engines go I don’t find the 3.6 terrible to work on really. 

[5rebel9]

8 hours ago, John/Horace said:

 You said broken/cracked filter housing ; you mean thermostat housing outlet on engine, correct. 
I replaced the whole unit with a gates when I did the water pump. Not expensive, was over 100k on original. Seems flimsy a bit, so new ones leaking not that surprising. 
 

Had a drip from pump, bearing/impeller was fine, aluminum gasket against engine failed in one spot. Could have just changed gasket by itself really. Water pump seems very beefy and should last close to life of engine. 
 

But your new 2014, it was the top rad inlet that split on the bad engine, or was it the thermostat housing ? Just curious.

As V6/engines go I don’t find the 3.6 terrible to work on really. 

 

Not the coolant T-stt housing. THE OILFILTER housing, just as a number of members have posted of.

 The cause of the original engines failure was the readiator broke open at the upper hose connection area and the owner kept driving it till the motor way overheated. It got so hot that the upper and lower intake manifolds started melting!

[John/Horace]

The plastic heat oil heat exchanger was added during the time the Germans were running things; the 3.6 engine was developed by them . This style of plastic heat exchanger is used by lots of other cars companies without big failure rates. . Most failures happen on the Journey 2014-15 years when the original design was changed a bit. The first version used on 2010-2013 Journey 3.6’s never seemed to have any failures from leaks.  If it was strictly a plastic issue the older 3.6 heat exchangers would also have all failed by now.

 

Seeing metal over plastic is always more comforting to us gear heads. No argument on better strength stability etc.

But valve covers oil pans and all kinds of other critical parts have gone that way, usually with no noticeable issues. 

 

If it was strictly bad design I think FCA would have changed it already, 3.6 is used extensively. This seems like a manufacturing quality issue more than anything. Not 100% of all units are failing at close to the same time etc.

 

My brothers 2017 Ram 3.6 has this heat exchanger. He is trying to decide what to do, reading up on forums. Lots of 2014-15 failures docuemented. I think it’s too big an issue to chance it. If super low miles you can maybe wait a bit longer. But beyond 100k miles you a are probably on borrowed time. Replacing this thing is the logical move IMO.

 

The high operating oil pressure on these newer engines could be part of it. Staying with the 5w20 spec in the cold weather zones might be a good idea. My oil cooler failure looked like seals only, no cracks or plastic molding issues.

[5rebel9]

I agree that it's a part mfg. quality control issue AND from reckless tightening of the filter cap. 3 of the replacements my friend has done is from the later. BUT 2 were brand new and "popped" on start up that he had done.

    The replacement motor is from a '13 model and had the old style, he wanted to keep filters matched up to the car;s year and went with the aluminium unit for peace of mind. Either way the intake was off for the motor swap anyway so all was "handy" to put in the upgraded unit. BTW... seems the aluminium ones have come up short on the "supply chain" availability end of things recently.

[John/Horace]

Dorman’s official version…warping from age. They also make some aluminum upgrade parts for 3.6 cooling system.

Just the plastic lower housing can be replaced and stainless heat exchanger and oil/coolant sensors reused with new gasket set;   
more labor but might avoid wait for complete assemblies.

 

 

 

[5rebel9]

Just got back from a visit to my friend about the Journey's progress.

   Had a longer wait than anticipated for delivery, but it's there and is a COMPLETE unit with an aluminium cooler(not the plastic one). All fittings, sensors, filter,and cap. This is NOT like what rockauto showed as just the aluminium base portion and price was not much more than the plain base part!. Says Thursday is the back on front burner to getting all things done on the car and should be ready by my wife's birthday on the 21st!     

[5rebel9]

Well the '14 SXT is in our driveway as of noon today (Friday).  only "glitch" found so far is for a clicking HVAC actuator that I suspect for the recirculation door, have not had enough time to properly investigate it yet as only happens at startup and shutting down. 

  So that to fix and get the remote start kit.

Wife now has the newest car in the yard and gosh what a jump in Insurance cost when compared to our '11 mainstreet, but still "managable"

 

My friend is going in for hip replacement surgery on Tuesday, I gave him $5k last week for the SXT and am sure there will be a little more needed to him, but he said take her home and come back next week for NY state insp. (2 IM monitors neeed to reset yet) and then discuss if more is needed to "pay off". I hope ALL goes well for my friend!

Wife very happy with the Journey, even though it does not have all the "bells and whistles" her G6gt had.

Edited June 25, 2022 by 5rebel9

[John/Horace]

I have an unproven theory about the clicking in the dash of the Journey.

A few years back cars often got a mold smell from water sitting in the evap coil. There was even special sprays to get rid of smell. I think the clicking is the actuator moving to fresh air vent position when the car is sitting. To avoid the mold smell accumulating in the a/c coil in dash.

 

A two Journey family, maybe only one on site. ?

 

 

[5rebel9]

Went for an 80 mile round trip with the wife driving HER '14 Journey Sat. afternoon in the 91* heat yesterday. Got it's first "fill up" and shopping. Only other "glitch" found besides the clicking recirc. door is that the cruise control switch is not working. MINOR things to check out, and yes the A/C worked marvelously, now for some COLD night to check out HEAT from the trouble prone heater cores these Dodges are known for!

[5rebel9]

On 6/24/2022 at 11:19 PM, John/Horace said:

I have an unproven theory about the clicking in the dash of the Journey.

A few years back cars often got a mold smell from water sitting in the evap coil. There was even special sprays to get rid of smell. I think the clicking is the actuator moving to fresh air vent position when the car is sitting. To avoid the mold smell accumulating in the a/c coil in dash.

 

A two Journey family, maybe only one on site. ?

 

 

 

 

"UNPROVEN", but a possibility. Our '11 Journey does not "click" at all, and all doors for HVAC function properly.     

Next wek I'll get with my friend and use his "high end" scanner and test things out.

[5rebel9]

 

Well.......A little over 1 week having the 14 on the road (with about 300 miles put on).

   All is doing great, the computers I/M monitors have all reset with no trouble and ready to pass NY State inspection.

The cruise control worked twice on various runs, so I think it is the steeering wheel mounted control switch, and still have an intermittant HVAC click.

Last night was the first night time drive with the car(my 1st time to drive it) and I have one more "glitch" to remedy. The previous owner had film tinted with 85% tint all around (except for the windshield). For NY the front doors can be no more than 30%, and I had effortlessly already removed those. BUT I found that while looking "cool" in the daytime, at night one can also NOT SEE OUT. The side and rear glass are already factory tinted anyway to a lesser amount, so today I'm going to remove the rest of the film on the car. It was an ultimatum by the wife that either taken off OR want a BACKUP CAMERA SYSTEM installed(and PRONTO)!

 

 Otherwise this '14 is going to be just as well liked as our '11 model, I was very happy with the ride/performance of this car when I finally got the chance to drive itlast night!  Just still bemusing myself that for the first time in all my decades of car ownershio to have TWO of the same make/model at the same time!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[5rebel9]

Two "glitches" down with one to go.

 Took off the "privacy(deep tint) and back to OE glass.

removed the cruise switch and disassembled it (not for the clumsy finger type folk) and "adjusted" the metal contact "button" for the ON/OFF portion and reassembled it....... Cruise control now working as supposed to!

Next is to test with scanner of my friend and determine which HVAC actuator is clicking and repair that.     ...   Stay tuned! 

[5rebel9]

30 minutes ago, Locosiete said:

Sounds like a broken/worn gear for blender door 

Agree'd, but it does not happen ALL the time, so with his scanner I can "cycle" each of the actuators till I find the culprit and replace it.....A lot easier than climbing under the dash and listening/feeling for the dying one.