A possible 3 DJ family?

[5rebel9]

YES! 

 My son likes his '11 AWD and wife has our '14 AWD 3 row sxt and I have our '10 BUICK LUCERNE. and are ALL well satisfied with our rides.

BUT my friend just acquired a '13 AWD 2 row RT that has everything but sunroof and BU camera to sell.

I'm in for going after it but either the '11 goes or the BUICK goes.

The wife is not well "sold on it as it's the 2 row, but likes that it has about everything else she wants that her '14 does not.

 

STAY TUNED for further updates as to how this deal goes along!

NEVER have we had 3 vehicles of the same make and model at the same time.

[5rebel9]

UPDATE"

  Well it has been decided that the '11 DJ will be sold off and my son will take over the '14 and I keep my "old peoples" Lucerne!

My son had to "borrow" the use of the Lucerne for a few days while his '11 had some maint. work done on the trans. And came to realize what a nice ride it was.

I had been concerned about shift "feel" of this '11 DJ since getting a used trans for it shortly after buying the car and since getting the'14 DJ made me want to investigate further on the '11.

My friend and I tried replacing TTC solenoids and trans oil/filter, which made shifting WORSE. This was HIS preferred "fix" as I wanted to try a different Valve Body, as he had a few blown Differential section trannies on hand. We did swap out the Valve body and now the '11 is better than the '14's {which is shifting perfectly}. Yeah, It cost my son $400.  to do, but he needs to drive it for another month till the '13 RT is ready.

 

SO this will still be a 2 journey and a BUICK family!

[5rebel9]

Hey all!

  Well the "new to us" 13 DJ is now in our driveway! Got to adjust to the added features of this R/T model, like navigating the controls on the big screen audio.

BUT I have to admit that I'm not so excited about having this now third DJ. Nice ride and features....just feeling a little "underwhelmed" already having 2 other journeys

Grey color, 2 row leather seating, 3.6 AWD.

[2late4u]

well at least you will have no problems with your knowledge on what maintenance and how to do them.i still think our Journeys are a good looking and great value vehicle for the price they cost ,wont ever be able to replace them for what they cost us.....I have been waiting on ordering a new Ford maverick hybrid truck, I didnt really want a first yr one, they open up the order book in july this yr, just wait and see if i can get in the book this yr....LOL

Edited May 27, 2023 by 2late4u

[John/Horace]

Yeah I agree, good value and reliable enough for the price. A lot of the similar size SUV’s have serious flaws that make them too expensive to own. Lots of pretty looking, nice features vehicles you don’t really want to have long term.  No cvt, or turbo, or servo  drive electric power steering etc to cost $2k to repair on the Journey. Some times simple and practical is good…especially if your the mechanic fixing it.

 

I had the first year of Grand Cherokee in 1993 , with the V8. Bought it  used after owner got tired of fixing it.  Although we it on the road up to 200k. A lot of unusual break downs. Could barely keep refrigerant in hvac system.  It was my second and last Jeep. 

Son in law has the new Bronco Sport. Very noisy compared to Journey,  but lots of fancy tec. Seems slow compared to journey, it’s the 1.5 turbo 3 cylinder model. Higher step in height for some people, not great.

[5rebel9]

YUP it is a nice car no qualms about that fact of costs and maint.

I will add that for the short time being ...  WE ARE A THREE DJ FAMILY{all at the same time} and a '10 Buick Lucerne!

[5rebel9]

Well a bit more than 2 weeks worth of driving and just a couple MINOR glitches were found by the wife. ALL fixed within 10 minutes time with NO PARTS needed. BUT the largest complaint is that the analog speedometer is KPH primary {bigger size numbers} and MPH secondary {smaller size numbers}. She says she can "live with it", and overall likes this '13 RT quite well! She should for $5,000.!

 My son is VERY HAPPY getting the '14 SXT, and I'm broke from paying for a new torque converter/labor and 2 rear upper control arms{$1,200.} and 2 new rear tires {$266.} for the '14 before turning it over to him!

I debated in my mind about keeping the '11 for a SPARE VEHICLE, but MONEY {or my lack of it} won out and the "11 WILL BE SOLD.

Edited June 13, 2023 by 5rebel9

[John/Horace]

Curious about rear upper control arms $1,200. Was that all three rear components lower lateral link, trailing arm and lower lateral arm. And alignment. Or was strut also included. Mopar suspension stuff is pricy. 

[2late4u]

1 hour ago, John/Horace said:

Curious about rear upper control arms $1,200. Was that all three rear components lower lateral link, trailing arm and lower lateral arm. And alignment. Or was strut also included. Mopar suspension stuff is pricy. 

from his post i would assume the  new torque converter/labor was included in the 1200 price

[5rebel9]

It was $1200 for all the work and then I had to buy the rear tires. My friend gave me a pretty good break on parts and labor, as it is no small job to pull the AWD model trans. 

[2late4u]

11 hours ago, 5rebel9 said:

It was $1200 for all the work and then I had to buy the rear tires. My friend gave me a pretty good break on parts and labor, as it is no small job to pull the AWD model trans. 

i bet your right on the  trans, i believe you got a great deal there

[5rebel9]

22 minutes ago, 2late4u said:

i bet your right on the  trans, i believe you got a great deal there

Our LONG relationship as friends and professionally and GREEN CASH goes a LONG WAY ....LOL   

[5rebel9]

On 5/27/2023 at 7:24 AM, 5rebel9 said:

Hey all!

  Well the "new to us" 13 DJ is now in our driveway! Got to adjust to the added features of this R/T model, like navigating the controls on the big screen audio.

BUT I have to admit that I'm not so excited about having this now third DJ. Nice ride and features....just feeling a little "underwhelmed" already having 2 other journeys

Grey color, 2 row leather seating, 3.6 AWD.

8/4/23 UPDATE

  After our recent heatwave a couple weeks ago... Started showing electrical gremlins. Ended up getting at the battery and cleaning the connectors and posts along with all grounds on the strut mount and even power on the fuse panel. That fixed the as I call it "micro shutdown" of the engine while driving that showed up. Put in new spark plugs and that fixed another "buck" under load situation. Mechanically, this DJ seems pretty nice. BUT this is the wife's drive, so I don't get to use it to find and determine "issues" with it.

   NOW she is complaining that her Tracfone will NOT stay paired with the car after she shuts the car off. Also said that yesterday the digital speedo switched from MPH to KM and that the clock had jumped ahead an hour or so when she got into the car after work.. I can't do anything to check the situation this weekend, as she went directly to our daughter's home from work for the weekend to love and care for our 16 month old granddaughter!

 Any suggestions about these electrical/electronic function glitches is appreciated....I don't even have a cell phone to know anything about using and pairing one to a car!    LOL

[5rebel9]

On 8/4/2023 at 9:51 AM, 5rebel9 said:

8/4/23 UPDATE

  After our recent heatwave a couple weeks ago... Started showing electrical gremlins. Ended up getting at the battery and cleaning the connectors and posts along with all grounds on the strut mount and even power on the fuse panel. That fixed the as I call it "micro shutdown" of the engine while driving that showed up. Put in new spark plugs and that fixed another "buck" under load situation. Mechanically, this DJ seems pretty nice. BUT this is the wife's drive, so I don't get to use it to find and determine "issues" with it.

   NOW she is complaining that her Tracfone will NOT stay paired with the car after she shuts the car off. Also said that yesterday the digital speedo switched from MPH to KM and that the clock had jumped ahead an hour or so when she got into the car after work.. I can't do anything to check the situation this weekend, as she went directly to our daughter's home from work for the weekend to love and care for our 16 month old granddaughter!

 Any suggestions about these electrical/electronic function glitches is appreciated....I don't even have a cell phone to know anything about using and pairing one to a car!    LOL

 

OK, so wife got back to home and what I figured out so far is that somehow the car lost battery power for a "blip" of a second and reverted the infotainment screen back to primary {NON US} configuration. She had been using steering wheel controls to "reset" speed back to US MPH, which would not hold after shutting the car off. I went to main screen settings and under display reset to US and not METRIC that was showing. Phone came up ready and worked without re pairing and all seems good. I just don't know yet WHY another electrical micro shut down occurred. 

Going to have the battery load tested and would NOT be unhappy if it proves to be a weak battery and needs replacement. We've only had the car 1 1/2 months and don't know the maint. history, but when I cleaned the posts/cables, it didn't look real old{3+yrs}.

[Locosiete]

Not to ever critique someone but 3 is such a odd #. You really should get a 4th. A much more even and fun # ? ? ? ? ?  

 

[5rebel9]

On 11/11/2023 at 10:48 AM, Locosiete said:

Not to ever critique someone but 3 is such a odd #. You really should get a 4th. A much more even and fun # ? ? ? ? ?  

 

Somehow I missed seeing your post.

NO I don't want to give up my Buick just yet!

AND I have a status update on the three. 

 

After much normal maint. for the 2011, the car is now titled and plated to our son. This was the car he had been using for the last 4 years and likes it, even though it is lower trim. My auto insurance costs are cut almost in half now....HOORAY!

After the crank sensor replacement, the 2013 rt is doing WONDERFUL, and wife very much likes it!

NOW the bad news

The 2014 has seemed to come down with a myriad of problems lately

Was wearing the inner tread of rear tires badly. Parts replaced were upper camber links...still the same wear on new tires

tape measure toe check found toe out of 3/4"  . So I replaced the toe links and eccentric bolts and total toe now at 0", but have to get another 2 tires, the fronts have not even worn 1/32"

Worst problem. A while back the torque converter clutch failed. My friend replaced with a new torque converter. BUT 3 months later with easy use driving and all gears engaging perfectly, we have a funky scraping noise coming from the trans bellhousing area. My friend is 99.5% sure it is a defective torque converter. He has the vehicle and is waiting for another converter to arrive to take the trans back out and replace the converter. The real BUMMER is that we had also suspected a cracked FLEX PLATE...and it was so the trans was just out for that but still had the noise. Says he's going to work big time with me on all this transmission related work {$$} and if I spend the $20 will also replace the crank sensor{as a precautionary due to our '13's crank sensor failure}, since the trans will be out and easy to change then.

Last and most minor is still getting intermittent RF tpms drop out and message so much talked about on the forum.

Still like all 3 DJ's, but the '14 is on my "bad list"!

 

[Locosiete]

6 minutes ago, 5rebel9 said:

Somehow I missed seeing your post.

NO I don't want to give up my Buick just yet!

AND I have a status update on the three. 

 

After much normal maint. for the 2011, the car is now titled and plated to our son. This was the car he had been using for the last 4 years and likes it, even though it is lower trim. My auto insurance costs are cut almost in half now....HOORAY!

After the crank sensor replacement, the 2013 rt is doing WONDERFUL, and wife very much likes it!

NOW the bad news

The 2014 has seemed to come down with a myriad of problems lately

Was wearing the inner tread of rear tires badly. Parts replaced were upper camber links...still the same wear on new tires

tape measure toe check found toe out of 3/4"  . So I replaced the toe links and eccentric bolts and total toe now at 0", but have to get another 2 tires, the fronts have not even worn 1/32"

Worst problem. A while back the torque converter clutch failed. My friend replaced with a new torque converter. BUT 3 months later with easy use driving and all gears engaging perfectly, we have a funky scraping noise coming from the trans bellhousing area. My friend is 99.5% sure it is a defective torque converter. He has the vehicle and is waiting for another converter to arrive to take the trans back out and replace the converter. The real BUMMER is that we had also suspected a cracked FLEX PLATE...and it was so the trans was just out for that but still had the noise. Says he's going to work big time with me on all this transmission related work {$$} and if I spend the $20 will also replace the crank sensor{as a precautionary due to our '13's crank sensor failure}, since the trans will be out and easy to change then.

Last and most minor is still getting intermittent RF tpms drop out and message so much talked about on the forum.

Still like all 3 DJ's, but the '14 is on my "bad list"!

 

 

Well to be fair it was my first post in a long time so easy to forget about me lol. 

 

I learned a long time ago that if you already have something apartment you might as well replace other things while accessible as preventative maintenance. No point in taking something apart twice if you don't have to. Not to mention with the way things have been lately in the world the odds are a year or 2 from now it would cost you even more.

 

I laughed a little when you mentioned the RF TPMS going out and how it's a common issue, a couple months ago I had to replace my RF TPMS on my 2013 SXT DJ since it stopped working unexpectedly. Took car in and had them rotate tires and replace it at the same time. Apparently at some point I hit something and bent a wheel a little. Ended up killing 3 birds with that stone lol but the other 3 TPMS are still going fine

[5rebel9]

14 hours ago, Locosiete said:

 

Well to be fair it was my first post in a long time so easy to forget about me lol. 

 

I learned a long time ago that if you already have something apartment you might as well replace other things while accessible as preventative maintenance. No point in taking something apart twice if you don't have to. Not to mention with the way things have been lately in the world the odds are a year or 2 from now it would cost you even more.

 

I laughed a little when you mentioned the RF TPMS going out and how it's a common issue, a couple months ago I had to replace my RF TPMS on my 2013 SXT DJ since it stopped working unexpectedly. Took car in and had them rotate tires and replace it at the same time. Apparently at some point I hit something and bent a wheel a little. Ended up killing 3 birds with that stone lol but the other 3 TPMS are still going fine

I now know why I missed your post....I was home recovering from a medical "scare" that sent me to the ER on Friday of Veterans day, and not on my computer for some time.

Yes, of course I'll buy the crank sensor. I sure don't want a repeat of the hassle the '13 gave me in figuring out that problem. As my "overanalyzing brain does, I am HOPING that it is NOT the front pump of the trans and just the torque converter. He had unbolted the flex plate and converter, moved back the converter from the plate and run the engine....NO NOISE. And when he had replaced the flex plate there was no sign of trans fluid leaking in the bell housing from the trans front seal to give clue of "deeper in" trans trouble like the pump. 

But yeah, I'm going to wait on a replacement tire sensor till after the shock of the holidays and cost of whatever my bill will be for this '14!

[Locosiete]

6 minutes ago, 5rebel9 said:

I now know why I missed your post....I was home recovering from a medical "scare" that sent me to the ER on Friday of Veterans day, and not on my computer for some time.

Yes, of course I'll buy the crank sensor. I sure don't want a repeat of the hassle the '13 gave me in figuring out that problem. As my "overanalyzing brain does, I am HOPING that it is NOT the front pump of the trans and just the torque converter. He had unbolted the flex plate and converter, moved back the converter from the plate and run the engine....NO NOISE. And when he had replaced the flex plate there was no sign of trans fluid leaking in the bell housing from the trans front seal to give clue of "deeper in" trans trouble like the pump. 

But yeah, I'm going to wait on a replacement tire sensor till after the shock of the holidays and cost of whatever my bill will be for this '14!

 

I'll keep my fingers and eyes crossed for you that the car gods bless you with nothing too crazy to fix.

 

As far as your health that is the most important thing to fix. Besides who else am I gonna chat with on this forum ? ? ? 

[5rebel9]

On 12/1/2023 at 7:25 AM, Locosiete said:

 

I'll keep my fingers and eyes crossed for you that the car gods bless you with nothing too crazy to fix.

 

As far as your health that is the most important thing to fix. Besides who else am I gonna chat with on this forum ? ? ? 

Thanks !

  Health is pretty much back, but still need to see my Dr. about some lingering "issues".

Just heard from my friend that yes indeed it was a defective torque converter, and all is good now. BUT he wants me to come over and bring doughnuts and sit down and discuss the bill with him. Out of one frying pan and into another as also today a major part in my son's house furnace went bad, NO HEAT and overnight temps in the 20's with daytime temps around 32*. Luckily forced air and not hot water baseboard. He has only been in the house he just bought for 3 months.... Dad to the "rescue"????

[2late4u]

On 6/14/2023 at 9:05 PM, John/Horace said:

Curious about rear upper control arms $1,200. Was that all three rear components lower lateral link, trailing arm and lower lateral arm. And alignment. Or was strut also included. Mopar suspension stuff is pricy. 

the Mopar upper links are non adj,,,I went with 2 upper lateral links adj and a 4 wheel alignment and this was yrs ago and cost me between 350-400

Edited December 6, 2023 by 2late4u

[5rebel9]

1 hour ago, 2late4u said:

the Mopar upper links are non adj,,,I went with 2 upper lateral links adj and a 4 wheel alignment and this was yrs ago and cost me between 350-400

Camber link arms were replaced on the '14 and '11 with moog non adjustable units, and NOT hard to do. I had also bought thru rock auto 2 sets of adjustable units due to a very good price but have not used them yet. The '14's main problem turned out to be the toe link arms, which I replaced and installed greaseable eccentric bolts. That was NOT easily done due to WNY RUST. I set rear toe by alternate {non alignment machine}method, and have a total toe of 0" as it should be. I spent a lot of my auto tech career doing suspension/alignment work, so am pretty confident all will be good on the '14.

In my opinion the toe links should have been designed like the adjustable camber links.

[Locosiete]

6 hours ago, 5rebel9 said:

... Out of one frying pan and into another as also today a major part in my son's house furnace went bad, NO HEAT and overnight temps in the 20's with daytime temps around 32*. Luckily forced air and not hot water baseboard. He has only been in the house he just bought for 3 months.... Dad to the "rescue"????

 

? ? ?  as I am writing this I am waiting for my son to get home to look at the damage on his car. Apparently hit and run and he didn't get the other person's plates. It baffles me how the youth of today always has a phone to record random dumb things but never things they need. But he's not hurt that is all that matters to me. From photo he sent it is cosmetic. So yes Dad to the rescue ? ? ? 

[5rebel9]

Well, the '14 is back home and I drove it 60 miles with NO NOISES from the trans. and running quite nicely. $14 for doughnuts and settled at $550 for flex plate and fluids with a bit of labor. Going to Christmas gift him before the holiday of an additional $100.

Part for son's home furnace won't be here till a Tues. install time, and already have quote for part and labor that he says he can well handle. Probably going to have 3 overnight "guests" with us tonight and Sunday night, son, his fiance and her cat. It will be interesting to see how our old cat will take to another cat being in "her turf"! We have a veritable heat wave for the season coming Friday and Sat.

Edited December 7, 2023 by 5rebel9

[5rebel9]

Well the '14 is still on my bad list. It just seems to want constant attention. Now the rear hatch won't open from the outside handle and it's 30* and windy out and no shelter to put it inside to work on!. So this car wants me to fix it and come down with pneumonia just before Christmas!!!

 I will post up just what I find as the culprit, I suspect broken wire in the body to hatch rubber boot or the cable from handle to latch.