Leaking AWD Transaxle (PTO)

[dp360]

Question about the leaking PTO unit. I got my 2010 SXT AWD 4 weeks ago and have put 3700 miles on it. I have noticed when I get out after driving, that it smells "hot", but I have not had smoke and have not noticed any leaks/spills on the garage floor. Maybe its because its new?

I can't attest to any of these problems because I don't have an AWD and haven't had any leaking fluids. I can attest to the initial smell, though. I bought my '10 SXT with 4 miles on the odometer, fresh off the transport truck. For the first few weeks, the burning, "plasticky" smell outside the vehicle was quite strong. I just attributed it to a break-in smell, kind of how new electronics always have that "new electronics smell". After a few weeks, the smell was completely gone. Hopefully that's what you're smelling.

[ckl]

I can't attest to any of these problems because I don't have an AWD and haven't had any leaking fluids. I can attest to the initial smell, though. I bought my '10 SXT with 4 miles on the odometer, fresh off the transport truck. For the first few weeks, the burning, "plasticky" smell outside the vehicle was quite strong. I just attributed it to a break-in smell, kind of how new electronics always have that "new electronics smell". After a few weeks, the smell was completely gone. Hopefully that's what you're smelling.

The day we picked up the vehicle, we drove around all day and we went out to Taco bell for lunch. Afterwards, when we arrived home, we also noticed a nasty burning smell, but I knew exactly what it was... it was the burrito that I had earlier ;-)

But seriously, we had that new car burning smell as well. Wait a couple of weeks to see if you still get it.

[A12Rag]

Question about the leaking PTO unit. I got my 2010 SXT AWD 4 weeks ago and have put 3700 miles on it. I have noticed when I get out after driving, that it smells "hot", but I have not had smoke and have not noticed any leaks/spills on the garage floor. Maybe its because its new?

The first thing I did after picking it up from the dealer was I drove it to Pep Boys and had them do an oil change and put Royal Purple in it I've driven the Journey alot and I am very impressed with it. It has a great comfortable ride and I like the creature comforts. I have leather (fleet vehicle) and the seats are very comfortable, but seem to pick up dust/dirt very easily. I haven't pushed it, but the V6 seems a bit under powered for the vehicle. Maybe its because I was used to my former car, a rocket Camry with 268HP V6 LOL All in all I am very satisfied. The UConnect drives me crazy at times because she won't recognize what I say, but every thing else is nice. A bit "trucky" looking inside with the dark plastic, but a nice looking vehicle outside (Silver Steel Metallic) Wondering if I should throw some Slick 50 in at 5000 mile oil change..

PS - I don't notice any brake dust either, but will keep an eye on rotors

I have to admit, I was impressed with the dealership here - have had many "bad" experiences with them, however I got a phone call on Wednesday morning - after the Friday that I had them look at it to diagnosis the PTO leaking. They had gotten the new PTO in and I took the car to them around 9:30am and got it back, around 2pm ! Heck, they even washed it !!! - WOW - they have NEVER done that in all the service work with my other vehicles I have brought there. All seems well . . .

What triggered me to the leak, was first smelling a bit of rubber or oil type smell after driving the car for a while. But then on my big trip, you could actually SEE the leaking fluid on the ground. I agree with you Mike about the power, somehow they need to reconfigure the shift points on the transmission - I find it loses too much speed when on the highway and using cruise control, usually I just downshift it myself manually before the computer decides it should . . . as for the power, well, I am used to a 5.7litre AWD Magnum R/T . . . so needless to say, passing in the Journey is a much LONGER process !

Cheers

Mark

[wangus]

i have a sim story...a whining noise for a couple of months, dealer said they couldn't hear it.

then one day it seemed to be worse than others so i made an appt....never made it in,

noise, smoke, smell....broken down on side of the road.

needs a new transfer case...national back ordered for 4 weeks (53 others on back order with me)

luckily its a company car and they got a rental car for me during the 5 weeks it was at the dealership.

funny thing was, it started leaking again last month and they had to install new seals again.....3 more days in the shop.

i got it back and i drove it home, noticing a bad vibration thru the entire car.

i climbed under it and noticed the an exhaust pipe near the manifold was leaning against the framerail.

back to the shop to have them fix it right this time....

all is fine now. i love the AWD, it kicks butt in the snow.

[shadino]

A few months ago I had a PTO leak. They replaced the seals, finally. Last week the car started whining. They couldn't hear it. I made an appt anyway, but didn't make it. I was approx 60 miles from home when it clunked hard, started grinding, whining, and lurching. Luckily I was able to pull into a parking lot. It was towed to the dealer on Friday and today is Tues. They haven't looked at it yet. I am assuming that it was the PTO again and now they will have to replace the whole unit. Hearing it is on back order is not going to make me happy. This is my work car and I need it! I have the lifetime warranty, but how much does that help when its going in for the same thing all the time. I'm getting frustrated. Will update with what they come up with if they ever get to look at it!

[shadino]

Update to my last post. The dealership had the car a week before I finally found out something and only then when I stopped in and was fairly irritated. They ended up replacing the entire PTO unit and had the car about a week and a half. I got it back and it had a bad vibration in drive, still clunked and lurched when shifting, and had a very hard start. It felt like there was a bad motor mount and the engine was moving. Took the car back in. Turns out the exhaust didn't get replaced into the right position or attached correctly and ultimately it was resting against the main cross beam. This cause the engine to move and the car to sound really loud since the vibration was being amplified. Took it for a test drive with the service manager today and could tell right away it is finally fixed...until the next time!

[Black_Pearl]

well 9500 miles and in for a total transfer case replace! Drove 20 miles to the dealership with the smell of yuck burning!

Gotta love this JOURNEY!! it truely is that! Stuck with a vehicle I won't get even what I OWE on it right now if I WANTED to trade it in!! Very frustrated with it!

I am lucky and Crysler has given me a full extended warranty! I know I won't keep it the amount of time they have it for :/

Love my Journey R/T but it is making me really angry!!!

[shadino]

I'm getting really frustrated now! The PTU seals are leaking again and there is a leak in the rear! I am afraid to take it to the dealer and not have it for weeks again, but I'm also afraid to not take it in and have it break down again. I have already decided to take it to a different dealer than previous because of all the hassles and issues I had.

A couple days ago I had the roof drain freeze, so I received a bunch on water in my lap. It leaks in from the ceiling console and literally came through the overhead lights! Not impressed. Took to the dealer and their solution was to pour more hot water in till the drain thawed...which meant the inside of my car got soaked and now there are water stains on the ceiling and pillars.

[bryon]

My wife had been complaining for the last few months that there was a burning smell after along drive, we have a pit in our shop and i drove over with no oil leaks. Took it to Dodge dealer where my uncle has been service manager for 40 years and put it on the lift and they found no problems.

The other day when i was driving Journey noticed a bad vibration in drivetrain , thought maybe it was ice in a rim. Then next day driving home and something when wrong in drivetrain, wasn't even drivable over 5 km/hr. Took it to dealer and they put new transfer case in other one was done for could hardly turn it by hand. My friend is the mechanic and he said the vent for transfer case has been updated to vent near throtle body. Just got it back today and the smell is gone.

Mine had no oil leaks , possible bad bearings? Would have been aroung a $2000-2500 fix if not under warrenty.

Edited January 25, 2011 by bryon

[dodgejourney09]

_{well i have an 09 journey awd with 93000 miles and no warranty i went out in the morning which was a very cold morning to start to let warm up and noticed a big puddle of greyish blackish liquid which im guessing is grease took for a drive of maybe 2 miles started hearing a grind when slowing so i parked it and took a look and cant see where its coming from from reading here possible pto seals, so i had it hauled to a dealer and waiting to hear back my guestion is can anyone give me a rough estimate i know you wont be not be right but a rough number will work thanks}

[pal]

I have done 74K Kms in my dodge journey AWD 09. It is a fantastic car. But I feel it is so only on the 3.6L V6. I had Transmission repair done on it after 62K. It was after trip to Lethbridge and running it in -35C without heating it up. All things equal it is a good vehicle. I have my doubts about the service people though....

[lifeisajourney2009]

My PTO problem, according to the dealer, stems from bolts not being tight in the back of the unit. Oil was leaking out of these holes when the engine pressure got too high. Hopefully this won't be an issue moving forward. On a related note- this car had one owner previously, and it was under warranty with Dodge. Can the dealership view prior service (before my ownership of it) that's been done with VIN search?

[palmergrad]

Well unfortunately I became another victim of the leaking AWD transaxle (PTO). I purchase my 2010 Dodge Journey last year with only 33,000 miles on it at the time. Little did I know that since my purchase everything that I correlated to a bad tire or something else was all related to this cursed part. It all started with a small vibration in the passenger front tire. Then we noticed every once in a while a burnt smell. The vibration only became much worse along with the burnt smell. It finally all ended when driving my family home from church one night we felt a sudden large jerk and then our car filled with smoke and a nasty jerking started along with what sounded to be a flapping noise. Thankfully we were pulling in the driveway when this happened. I got out and checked to make sure it wasn't once of the tires which it wasn't. After going inside to get a flashlight I looked underneath it only to discover an oil leak. I took the car to the garage to have it checked which I barely made it to the garage due to the jerking. They then told me THE DEATH SENTENCE it was not good and we needed to tow the vehicle into a certified dealership to have them look at it. Upon arriving in the new dealership they gave me the bad news of the transaxle (pto) unit was completely broken along with a seal that was causing the leak of oil. They told me not to worry it would be a quick fix and we would have a rental for the time it was in the garage. After 5 days in the garage my rental car was taken away and I was not offered another one due to the uncertainty of when the part would come in. This only complicated matters worse due to this vehicle was my primary mode of transportation for my family of 5. We were then told after 2 more days that there was no estimated time of delivery for the part. I was assigned a case manager with chrysler and was told they would be in touch and help us resolve this situation. This is only a GIMMICK in my opinion. The case worker stated there was a problem with the manufacturer of the parts and chrysler were trying to resolve an issue before the parts would become available. I was told there were over 219 of these on backorder with no estimated time of delivery. Since this time it has been in the garage now almost 4 weeks and still no estimated time of delivery. I had to purchase another vehicle which WAS NOT A CHRYSLER/DODGE nor will any future purchases be also. I believe that if an under warranty part is not available in a timely manner then chrysler/dodge should have to compensate the owner due to there inablility to provide quality service to their customers. Obviously they do not truly care to have returning customers in the future or they would do this. I have people ask me on a daily basis what is the status of my vehicle and when I tell them the situation they also agree to NEVER purchase another chrysler/dodge. I think we should start a facebook page to discuss this problem so that others will not purchase any of these also.

[EMSBronco]

Well, add me to the list. My PTO went right around thanksgiving. That time, I got it back within 3 days. 30 miles later, my check engine light came on, so I brought it back to the dealer, who then charged me $100 for a diagnostic to tell me it was an O2 sensor. Went to a local shop and he replaced the sensor twice and it was still a problem, so I brought my Journey to another dealer who found that problem in under 30 minutes, the original dealer put in the wiring harness wrong and the upstream and downstream O2 sensors were plugged in backwards. But, they also found that the new PTO, with just over 2,000 miles on it was leaking bad. That was Thursday and I was told that the PTO was on national backorder and I was told I am 109 on the list with no ETA.

[larryl]

EMS that is a nasty story did you go back to the dealer who charged you $100 for a misdiagnosis??

Scary

[EMSBronco]

Not yet. I'm waiting for the job to be done and see how they write it up on the invoice before I go back there about the misdiagnosis.

Also, just so anybody else who may have an O2 sensor warning after some major work, the code was P0133 which is slow response on bank1 sensor1. From my understanding, the Journey has 4 O2 sensors, 2 upstream and 2 downstream.

[Moparman]

Well unfortunately I became another victim of the leaking AWD transaxle (PTO). I purchase my 2010 Dodge Journey last year with only 33,000 miles on it at the time. Little did I know that since my purchase everything that I correlated to a bad tire or something else was all related to this cursed part. It all started with a small vibration in the passenger front tire. Then we noticed every once in a while a burnt smell. The vibration only became much worse along with the burnt smell. It finally all ended when driving my family home from church one night we felt a sudden large jerk and then our car filled with smoke and a nasty jerking started along with what sounded to be a flapping noise

So......you buy a 3 yr old used car, last year. Notice a vibration, and a BURNING smell, and don't think, gee, maybe lets get this looked at?????? Who sevices the car, they don't notice an oil leak from it???

. Thankfully we were pulling in the driveway when this happened. I got out and checked to make sure it wasn't once of the tires which it wasn't. After going inside to get a flashlight I looked underneath it only to discover an oil leak. I took the car to the garage to have it checked which I barely made it to the garage due to the jerking. They then told me THE DEATH SENTENCE it was not good and we needed to tow the vehicle into a certified dealership to have them look at it. Upon arriving in the new dealership they gave me the bad news of the transaxle (pto) unit was completely broken along with a seal that was causing the leak of oil. They told me not to worry it would be a quick fix and we would have a rental for the time it was in the garage. After 5 days in the garage my rental car was taken away and I was not offered another one due to the uncertainty of when the part would come in. This only complicated matters worse due to this vehicle was my primary mode of transportation for my family of 5. We were then told after 2 more days that there was no estimated time of delivery for the part. I was assigned a case manager with chrysler and was told they would be in touch and help us resolve this situation. This is only a GIMMICK in my opinion.

yep its always a gimmick when someone trys to help

The case worker stated there was a problem with the manufacturer of the parts and chrysler were trying to resolve an issue before the parts would become available. I was told there were over 219 of these on backorder with no estimated time of delivery. Since this time it has been in the garage now almost 4 weeks and still no estimated time of delivery. I had to purchase another vehicle which WAS NOT A CHRYSLER/DODGE nor will any future purchases be also. I believe that if an under warranty part is not available in a timely manner then chrysler/dodge should have to compensate the owner due to there inablility to provide quality service to their customers. Obviously they do not truly care to have returning customers in the future or they would do this. I have people ask me on a daily basis what is the status of my vehicle and when I tell them the situation they also agree to NEVER purchase another chrysler/dodge. I think we should start a facebook page to discuss this problem so that others will not purchase any of these also.

[EMSBronco]

So......you buy a 3 yr old used car, last year. Notice a vibration, and a BURNING smell, and don't think, gee, maybe lets get this looked at?????? Who sevices the car, they don't notice an oil leak from it???

Ordinarily, I would agree with this sentiment, but the random burning smell without noticeable oil leak is well documented throughout this forum and elsewhere online. I wonder if in many of these cases, a slow leak from the PTO is dripping onto the exhaust and burning off before anybody notices spots on the ground.

I can't speak for the other poster, but when I brought my Journey into the second dealer, they noticed the PTO leak while looking for the O2 sensor problem. My driveway was snow covered and there were no spots anywhere, so unless the leak developed during the 10 mile drive to the dealer, it wasn't leaving any noticeable spots.

[ghostone]

As I just purchased an 2009 Journey SXT AWD I found this thread very interesting and informative, so I will now at every oil change (5,000 k/m) at the selling dealer have them look at ptu and rear diff, unit for any signs of a leak, there is still eighteen months left on the power train warranty and also have balance of the Gold plan warranty.

[DodgeCACares]

As I just purchased an 2009 Journey SXT AWD I found this thread very interesting and informative, so I will now at every oil change (5,000 k/m) at the selling dealer have them look at ptu and rear diff, unit for any signs of a leak, there is still eighteen months left on the power train warranty and also have balance of the Gold plan warranty.

ghost,

Congrats on the 2009 and welcome to the forum!

If you ever have any issues you need help resolving, everyone here is very supportive and helpful and will be clad to lend a hand.

If you need any direct assistance, don't be afraid to PM me.

Have a great day!

[EMSBronco]

Just an update...my Journey is still sitting at the dealer waiting for the PTO. It is almost a month now.

Chrysler told the service manager last week they have 109 vehicles off the road for this part.

[larryl]

That is very sad on Chrysler's part WTF???

[EMSBronco]

Another update on my car...the dealership told me that the PTO is being released on March 26th and they should have it shortly after that. If they get the part on time, it will be a total of 7 weeks off the road.

[EMSBronco]

Another update on my car...the dealership told me that the PTO is being released on March 26th and they should have it shortly after that. If they get the part on time, it will be a total of 7 weeks off the road.

well, I got my car back yesterday, so it was a week earlier than Chrysler last estimate. So far so good.

[Jwh127]

New to the site....very good information here.

Just had PTO UNIT replaces at 69k miles. Started smelling propane and noticed the coolant reservoir was leaking. Dealer said this was the issue and replaced (not under warranty). One week later while driving a loud clunk and continued every time when trying to move. Towed vehicle in and dealer found bad pto unit along with a broke PLENUM INTAKE ASSY...and leaking rear axle seals.

All under warranty and drives like new.....now propane odor anymore.

I can't believe that the dealer didn't automatically know to check this when we had the tall tale sign of then propane odor and the fact that apparently he 2009 awd version has a known issue.

Fortunately no wait and done in 2 days.