From base to loaded in _ _ simple steps!

[Dodgems]

My wife totaled her 2012 Mazda 6 just before Christmas. It was loaded with sunroof, leather, bluetooth, backup cam and sensors. Nice car but had a lot of miles. 5 days before her crash I bought me a 14 Ram to replace my 94 Ram. The month prior I was buying parts for my Mustang II as well as getting Christmas stuff for the grandkids. Our car budget was shot. Insurance gave us a pittance for her car.

 

A family member basically gave us a 2017 Journey SXT. It has 82k and well maintained. I know the history from new. Great condition overall. Needs tires and has a wiper washer issue. The bigger problem is it being a much larger vehicle to my wife. It is fairly basic. Cloth, 4" screen. No backup camera which is a must.

 

The goal started out as just adding a factory like backup camera. I worked out a deal with a local junkyard and was able to get the 8.4 with trim panel and heater control for $100. I called back to get the backup camera and was told I can have the complete interior for another $50. As well as a set of 19" wheels. All from a crashed 2016 r/t. We grabbed my go bag of tools and high tailed it to the junkyard and stripped that interior.

 

Here is where my wife will tell you she wishes I did not have a habit of making a minor project balloon into a major overhaul. I was adding the bigger screen to give her a backup cam. The junkyard basically giving me the interior changed that. I now have a heated leather interior. Everything down to and including the wiring harnesses. With sensors and modules attached. I even grabbed the TIPM and found the original window sticker. My new goal is to convert this car into a loaded model.

 

 I plan to correct the 22 degree issue by adding the complete auto temp control system. I will add the bluetooth system. Since I have it I will add the alpine system. The r/t came with remote start but has an aftermarket installed. I did not get the rf hub module so factory remote start is out. This thread will document my progress. 

 

This is her main transport and cannot be down any length of time. She works 10 to 12 hrs 6 days a week. I will have to do the project in small chunks. This prevents me from doing a complete harness change. I have culled a lot of the body wiring harness. I will overlay what I am adding and then tie it all into the existing harness.

 

I installed the 8.4 first. It is plug and play. Takes about 20 minutes on a cold day being very careful with trim pieces. The old radio had sirius so no need to replace the antenna. Booting it up it has the cannot unlock maps issue. Otherwise it works as it should.

 

I installed open maps and the nav mostly works. I had 2 maps on the usb drive but it only loaded one map. Northeast map loaded but midwest failed. We live in the midwest. I am now having reading usb issues. I will get back around to this problem at a later date but the nav mostly works. It cannot find every address locally but works well enough for now. I still get the cannot unlock maps prompt but pressing okay it works.

 

I then installed the heated leather front seats. It is plug and play wiring wise. I have not checked but assume the fuse block comes with heated seat fuse even when not equipped as I did not touch the fuse block yet. I used Alfaobd to set up the heated seats. Let car sit for 30 minutes and they work like factory. The dash airbags deployed on the donor so I was concerned the seat air bags might be an issue but they work fine. No airbag lights. The heater activates when it's below 40 degrees on startup.

 

Today I installed the sub, rear seats and rear backup camera. Changed out the rear cloth for the leather seats. I have the wiring harness run from the camera to behind drivers seat. I installed the side panel from the r/t which has the built in flashlight and sub opening. The backup sensor module is in the factory location. The wires to the sensors are cut where they penetrate the floor, I will eventually finish installing it after getting sensors and the wiring harness for them. I did not have access to the bottom of the donor car. I could not get the parking sensor parts outside the interior.

 

I found 12v switched power in the connector that would carry the camera wiring. It is in the white connector at the c pillar. I re-pinned the connectors at the c pillar to match. The hardest part of today was feeding the wires through the rubber tube between hatch and body.

 

I will keep this updated as I make progress. I hope to have everything working within a month. The only part I know I need is a clockspring for the heated wheel. The donor had melted wires at the airbag.

 

 

[John/Horace]

Some pics would be nice. Rockauto sells some clockspring harnesses.

[Dodgems]

Here is the old and new display. The back seats and wheels I will be installing. I am waiting on new rubber for them.

[Dodgems]

I guess I hit a 10 mb upload limit. I have some pics of the body harness before and after. I removed all the air bag, lighting and heater wiring. That was about half the body harness. I still have to get serious with the dash harness. Without a diagram it will be a little more difficult. I may break down and get one but that will a couple weeks. Seems Mopar is proud of the service manuals. I will remove one wire at a time from the bcm and fuse block connectors and merge the two dash harnesses. I hope to have just a handful of power connections and a few bcm connections. The body harness was easy in comparison. Since I have entire systems to add I think it's going to be problematic at times and will need some... well a lot of patience. The outcome will be a nicely equipped car to replace her old car. If it all works as planned.

 

I had half a day today with her car and spent it installing what I could. I placed killmat behind the amp. I used seat bolts to bolt the top of the amp. If you remove one from a donor get the clips that hold the top bolts from the body. The stud was already present for the bottom mount on the sub. It took longer to feed the wires through the grommet between hatch and body than any thing else. I finally used a thin long flathead screwdriver and taped the wires. Then slowly pulled them one at a time. Baby powder would probably have helped but I didn't think of it till now. Maybe next time.

 

I have all the rear seat work done. I will need to pull the front seats next session. run the body harness up next to the firewall and then down to the right b pillar to catch that door speaker harness. Then connect review camera. From there I will wire up what I can when I can.

 

I added the SRT pages and really like the added gauges. They will be nice if a problem arises down the road.

 

I changed the fog lights to stay on as well with brights. That has always annoyed me with modern cars.

 

[Dodgems]

 

 

First pic is the body harness circling the dash harness.

 

Second is the in progress culling. I had most of the interior electrical items. I plugged them all in and started cutting.

 

Nevermind. Site will not let me do second pic due to upload limits. These two pics are 4 megs each. Will only let me do one.

 

Mods... How do you prefer I do the pics. I belong to another car forum and we post larger pics so they can be zoomed in on as needed. If these pics are too big please let me know.

 

[John/Horace]

You must have the patience of a saint….and hands like raw hamburger from pulling all those harnesses from sharp dash and body brackets. Good point about the pics, moderator not very active here unfortunely.

[Dodgems]

My fingers hurt like hell. Pulling from the car wasn't bad. It's pulling the clips and tape off the harness that sux. The wires are so tiny I don't feel comfortable just cutting the tape away. So I just pick at an end to get some tape loose and unwrap it. I have had a few back surgeries so I can only sit on the floor an hour or so at a time. My surgeon will be mad again if he finds out what I doing. I am no longer working and have to keep busy somehow. It's wet and cold here so this is a great winter project.

 

I have rebuilt a few older vehicles. These wires the thickness of a human hair are a bear. Give me a test light and a pre obd car with 16 gauge wire and I am good. This can bus stuff can do a lot but really isn't meant for what I am trying to do. Modern cars are disposable. It's going to be rare to see modern cars on the road in 30 years.

 

First pic is the rats nest before going back in. This is the stripped body harness and sub just before install.

 

Second is sub after install. I used killmat behind sub and a small piece where the feet of the sub mount. Next time I pull the rear seats I will add noico and killmat under it. They both want warmer temps for better adhesion. The seat bottom is the only insulation back there. I imagine road noise will improve as well as interior sound.

[Dodgems]

 

The dash harness is a lot more involved than the body harness. I am waiting on tech authority usb for wiring diagrams. That way I am not redoing work. It should be here well before I am ready for it anyway.

 

First 2 pics are the current stopping point. That bundle is mostly the amp and associated wires. The large connector will be gone. I want to repin the existing connector but time will tell how that pans out. The coiled wires are most likely not needed but there again I am waiting to tie it all together just to be sure.

 

Last pic is the lucky recipient or victim. Which one it turns out to be is yet to be determined.
 

[jkeaton]

I don’t have any issue with picture sizes. 

[Dodgems]

Had a few hours this weekend to run wiring. My poor knees are not happy. My back is pissed. Spending a weekend crawling under the dash and kneeling was not kind to this old bag of bones.

 

I have the body and dash harnesses in place. The stereo is now converted to the factory alpine system. I used the donor radio harness. I connected the amps speaker wires to the factory speakers behind the radio. The bolts to mount the amp are present under the passenger seat. I plugged the radio CAN wire into the star connector. To get the monitor to come on I had to tie the radio telematics CAN wiring to the donor harness. I did this behind the radio as well. I depinned then plugged the amp B+ wire into the factory harness at the fuse block. I used Alfa to set the bcm to amp installed and it works as it should. Steering wheel controls work. I can not find any difference between a factory setup and what I have frankensteined.

 

The backup camera is not a success story just yet. It is wired in. I changed settings via Alfaobd. When in reverse the display comes on but looks like a 60's tv station at 3 am. A lot of snow. Looks like the vertical hold is afu. Image goes mostly red. Then back to snow. I can see the backup lines superimposed but they roll with the image. being used parts off a wrecked vehicle I ass-u-me the camera is bad. I rechecked my wiring a few times and it appears correct. There may be an issue along the harness or the 12v I used is not providing enough power but reading other posts I am going to replace the camera and see what happens. 

 

I swapped over the center console. The usb being way down in the front cubby was a pain in the buttocks. It's now inside the console. This also provides the provision to have the 120v inverter working. It is installed and wires are at the bcm. I zip tied the inverter to the metal frame for the dash. There is a lot of room for activities on drivers side of dash.

 

The hands free module was placed on top of the knee air bag just under the steering wheel. It functioning was not a priority this weekend but will be next time the wheel of Ka comes around. I still have to install the mirror and run that harness but I have the donor harness ran to the drivers A pillar. I will have to tie it into the fuse panel and figure out where to get 5v usb power. For whatever reason I cannot find the 4 wire connector in the harnesses. I have the wire attached to the module but I cannot find where it plugs into the vehicle. The factory wiring diagram is not very helpful. It points to a connector near the obd port but I have yet to find it on the car or the donor harness. The diagram shows it plugs into the Datalink Connctor USB. The circuits are labeled as UCI usb ports but the connector is a 4 pin non usb connector. I will spend more time looking into this next time I have the car for a few hours.

 

There is no wiring present in the vehicle for the auto climate control. I will have to add the temp sensor and humidity sensor wiring. This will be after I get the camera and hands free working. My better half doesn't really care but the 22 degree bug is annoying to me.

 

One word of caution. Be extra careful if repinning the white radio connector. I either do not know how to use it or it's a poor design. I pulled the power and ground from the factory connector and placed them in the donor connector. They would feel tight but when plugging the connector into the radio they would fall out the back of the connector. It took me a few tries and several fuses to discover pushing in on the wires while connecting was the only way to get them seated properly. They don't come out from tugging on them now but they were a pain to get right.

 

Some progress pics. Rats nest to just dirty and needs vacuumed out.

[Dodgems]

Hands Free Works !!!!!

 

Factory Bluetooth can be installed!!!!

 

It's not easy but so worth it for my peace of mind. I did the whole harness but looking over the wiring diagrams you do not have to do the same. I believe with the module, mirror, male to male usb cable and connectors you can wire it in yourself. You may need the black connector for the radio as well. If you have the backup cam you should already have it. Grabbing the dash harness would be nice but not at all required.

 

I installed the hands free mirror and headliner harness for the mirror and humidity sensor. Ran power to the fuse block. Activated hands free present in two places with Alfa. Just type "hands free" in the search box and alfa will show the 2 settings that need changed.

 

And...

 

It would not connect. Journey showed the phone icon. It said it was in pairing mode. The car appeared to work as it should. Our pixel phones could not see the uconnect system. I checked AlfaOBD on my pc to see if there was another item to change. I noticed uconnect showing up there as a bluetooth device but not on our phones. After some Google Fu I downgraded the bluetooth drivers in our cell phones to 1.4 and they now work as they should. It can send and receive calls and it appears to be factory installed.

 

The UCI USB is a diagnostic port for the usb system. That is why I didn't remember where it went. It didn't go anywhere. You can ignore that connector at the module all together.

[Dodgems]

So far we have heated leather seats, 8.4 uconnect, factory alpine amp and sub, bluetooth, and auto dimming mirror all installed and functioning. I have the backup cam installed but image is afu. I will be ordering a new camera to hopefully fix it.

 

I still have the heated steering wheel, 120v inverter and auto climate control to get working.

 

Not bad for a few minutes,,err umm hours,,, well actually days invested. I probably have 16 hours total involved at this point. That is pulling the parts from the wrecked Journey and installing into our Journey. I work slow and an hour or two here and there. I am sure someone more agile than me could cut that time in half.

[Appalachian Journey]

“minor project balloon into a major overhaul” 

 I used to tear into stuff with enthusiasm. Now I’m leaning toward short term leases. 

Edited February 18, 2023 by Appalachian Journey

[Armando G]

@Dodgems I get a feeling you're kind of enjoying this project, and it's freaking amazing. Hope the wife is really happy with the results so far and the end result eventually. This is a great read... FOLLOWING!!!

[Dodgems]

Yes I am enjoying it. Very much so. Mostly to give her a nicer ride but I have read several posts on how this cannot be done. Telling me I cannot do something is a great way to make me try. The only attempt I found to get bluetooth and auto temp control working on a Journey happened before Alfaobd was a thing. I think his limiting factor was the dealer would not program his bcm. Then the junkyard guy made me a deal of a lifetime and here we are. The way this played out I got really lucky. I know it's not going to pan out for most this cheap but if you can get your hands on a wrecked Journey it can really pay off.

 

I have some health issues and have not worked for a few years now. I am lucky enough my better half lets me play with cars to stay busy. I am slow, can only work in short bursts and have to plan my projects a bit more, but it keeps me moving and helps prevent cabin fever.

 

 Some back ground. I built my 78 Mustang II over the past few years. It was a v6 automatic and now is a built 302 5 speed. It needs paint but the body only has 40k on it. Otherwise it's now a new car. Chassis resurface with Por15 and painted. New suspension, trans, engine, carpet, dash, seals and seats. I built it all except the exhaust and the engine was rebuilt by a local engine builder. Otherwise I have done everything myself but the alignment, windshield and hatch glass. It was taken down to an empty shell by the previous owner and I put it back together. Better than Ford ever could back then. It came with no options. A stripped down car but it has factory T Tops with no real rust. A perfect blank canvass. I am adding every option but keeping the add-ons as factory as possible.

 

Just before she wrecked her Mazda I bought coil overs for the II. Then a loaded 14 Ram to replace my old 94 Ram. The 94 only has 130k miles, still runs great but the rockers are gone and my kid smashed the side of it when he first started driving. I feel bad having a loaded Ram, Feral Mustang II and a few other project vehicles. While she had to downgrade.

 

The Journey is a nice vehicle it was just that it was a base SXT. I started this project just wanting to give her a backup camera. I wanted it to look factory. Then.....gestures around the piles of wires.... this happened.

 

 I went back over the backup camera wiring today. I did not want to buy a new camera if I made a mistake. Everything looked intact. Checked continuity at the body to dash harness connector. All looked good. Checked power at the d pillar connector. Again looked good.

 

I had the better half hop in the car and put her in reverse. I noticed the image was black but was snowy earlier when I pulled it into the barn. Only difference was the hatch was open. I wiggled the wiring harness between the hatch and the vehicle and the camera started flickering. I was able to pinch the wire harness near the body and camera came on. That is one of the risks using used parts. I replaced about 1 foot of wire between the hatch and D pillar. Camera now works as designed.

 

I installed the left steering wheel buttons with the one from the heated steering wheel. She now has the VR and phone button for the bluetooth. No further programming needed. Plugged right in and worked.

 

Next up is the automatic temp control. Hoping next Sunday that is taken care of.

 

The owie that started all this and the toys that fuel the guilt driving me to make her car the best it can be!

[Armando G]

Nice, huge win figuring out the camera without having to replace everything. That's always a great feeling. 

[Dodgems]

Remote start now works. I purchased a key fob from amazon with the remote start button ($35) and a 1k ohm resistor for the hood ajar switch ($0.10). Activated the new remote with Alfa. Be warned. It came with a dead battery. I could not get the learn process to work. I thought I was doing something wrong.  After failing several times I installed a new battery in the new remote. It worked on the first try. Enabled the hood ajar switch and remote start in Alfa. Reset the RF Hub. Drove around for 10 minutes and we now have remote start!

 

I cannot understand the whole oem remote start kit. It is not necessary. Just a waste of your money and parts/resources. I assume Chrysler knows people will be mad paying.. what.. $600 for a remote start and finding out you only need a key and hood ajar switch. Then 10 minutes to program everything. I would have been even madder knowing I spent that and only needed the software enabled and a new key. I guess the antenna may increase range but for our situation the remote works fine from the house.

 

I still need to get the wiring for the temp sensor and sun sensor installed. Hook up the 110 volt inverter and I think I am finished upgrading for now.

[Armando G]

On 2/26/2023 at 4:52 PM, Dodgems said:

finding out you only need a key and hood ajar switch.

Are you saying anyone can program the remote start on these cars? Or was that included in one of the purchases you scored? 

[Dodgems]

Anyone can. All you need is a new key fob with the remote start button. A hood switch or 1k ohm resistor. As well as Alfaobd. I used no parts from the wrecked journey for this. All our Journey's have the ability with a hood switch and key fob.

 

Program new key to the vehicle. I purchased the key from amazon for $35. Install a new battery in the remote before starting this step. Mine came with a weak battery and would not reliably work at first. I could not get it to program. With a new battery it programmed on the first try.

 

Install the hood switch or resistor. The wiring is already there. Just taped up in cloth like tape behind the right headlight. I bent a resistor so it would slid into the existing connector and wrapped it in electrical tape for now.

 

Activate remote start and hood switch present with alfaobd. There is a setting for the resistor as well. It defaulted to 1k ohm. I checked it but did not need to change it. I then reset the rfhub using alfaobd. It does not change anything. it just forces the rfhub to check for any new settings or hardware and implement them if present.

 

Drive around for 10 minutes. I let the car sit for 15 minutes and it would not work. After a short drive it worked.

 

That is all there was to it. Only new parts are the remote and hood switch.

 

The oem kit includes a new rfhub and remote start antenna. I ass-u-me it gives better range but the remote start on our journey works fine from inside the house.

[Cesar Sal]

On 5/3/2023 at 9:20 AM, Dodgems said:

Anyone can. All you need is a new key fob with the remote start button. A hood switch or 1k ohm resistor. As well as Alfaobd. I used no parts from the wrecked journey for this. All our Journey's have the ability with a hood switch and key fob.

 

Program new key to the vehicle. I purchased the key from amazon for $35. Install a new battery in the remote before starting this step. Mine came with a weak battery and would not reliably work at first. I could not get it to program. With a new battery it programmed on the first try.

 

Install the hood switch or resistor. The wiring is already there. Just taped up in cloth like tape behind the right headlight. I bent a resistor so it would slid into the existing connector and wrapped it in electrical tape for now.

 

Activate remote start and hood switch present with alfaobd. There is a setting for the resistor as well. It defaulted to 1k ohm. I checked it but did not need to change it. I then reset the rfhub using alfaobd. It does not change anything. it just forces the rfhub to check for any new settings or hardware and implement them if present.

 

Drive around for 10 minutes. I let the car sit for 15 minutes and it would not work. After a short drive it worked.

 

That is all there was to it. Only new parts are the remote and hood switch.

 

The oem kit includes a new rfhub and remote start antenna. I ass-u-me it gives better range but the remote start on our journey works fine from inside the house.

Oh wow I've seen that connector and thought something was missing.

I thought I needed to buy the antenas, the factory box or whatever controls it and mess with cables, I would have to try on my base model 2012, hoping mine works too, 

[Locosiete]

The kid in me wants to add remote start but realistically I would never use it. ? ? ? 

[5rebel9]

4 hours ago, Locosiete said:

The kid in me wants to add remote start but realistically I would never use it. ? ? ? 

Well maybe not down where you're at. BUT we've already used it a number of times on 2 of the 3 I have due to the COLD morning temps we're getting lately!   

 Nice to hear from you, been a while!

[Locosiete]

Hey it gets cold here. Just the other morning it was 63° outside lol

Ya there was a mixup and I was banned by accident. I finally got around to asking why and it was discovered I was removed in error. 

Otherwise how you been. Miss anything fun.