Shannix11 Posted December 9, 2016 Report Share Posted December 9, 2016 Hello, I purchased a used 2009 Dodge Journey in March with only 93,000 miles on it and it really seemed to work great!! Love how it drives, although the cooling isn't all that great...but maybe that is an issue or just the way it is. At any rate, about a month ago after a trip into the City, about 40 miles I noticed the the distinct smell of overheating, the burning of antifreeze on a hot ..but I couldn't see anything wrong at all...and no smoke/steam or anything. This happened a few times, but nothing major and the coolant only seemed to be down a bit so topped it off. This past Sunday my husband came home from work and the area around the radiator was steaming like crazy, it really smelled bad of antifreeze and it was almost empty, so my husband topped it off and about an hour later checked to make sure there wasn't any leaking on the ground, and there wasn't, so we went to the movies...about 5 mile drive, it was cold so the heater was on, but only cold air for the first 5 minutes (odd it usually kicks in within 60 seconds), then it slowly got hot...again when we parked it was steaming and smelled bad, but no leaking. My husband picked up some more antifreeze and it was low again so he filled it up. Next morning we dropped it at the Dodge Dealership near us. Mechanic calls later that day and says it's the freeze plugs and it's 10 hrs labor...$1500. I have insurance for major issues, but these are not covered...but said of course go ahead. Got a call today that they discovered that the radiator is cracked and needs to be replaced...after asking if we saw fluid on the ground or if we were overheating at all...which we were not according to the internal sensors. So now we have to wait for the inspector to come by to approve the repair. My question is this...would the freeze plugs have ruptured (not sure if that is exactly the right term) because of the cracked radiator, or would the cracked radiator be a result of the ruptured freeze plugs? I ask because the whole repair will be covered by the insurance if the cracked radiator caused the freeze plug problem. Thanks Shannix11 weasey31 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2late4u Posted December 9, 2016 Report Share Posted December 9, 2016 freeze plugs usually just rust out due to age and fatigue. wow what an expense but first clues was having to add antifreeze so many times and amount, i doubt the rad ruptured due to the freeze plugs. and i dont see the plugs going bad due to the rad. some how there was fluid leaking somewhere that you all missed. good luck on the answer. keep us informed. OhareFred and jkeaton 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hankster Posted December 9, 2016 Report Share Posted December 9, 2016 Maybe the system froze up causing the damage. Was the freeze protection ever checked? sounds suspect to me 2late4u, jkeaton and OhareFred 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weasey31 Posted January 22, 2017 Report Share Posted January 22, 2017 (edited) On Thursday, December 08, 2016 at 9:16 PM, Shannix11 said: Hello, I purchased a used 2009 Dodge Journey in March with only 93,000 miles on it and it really seemed to work great!! Love how it drives, although the cooling isn't all that great...but maybe that is an issue or just the way it is. At any rate, about a month ago after a trip into the City, about 40 miles I noticed the the distinct smell of overheating, the burning of antifreeze on a hot ..but I couldn't see anything wrong at all...and no smoke/steam or anything. This happened a few times, but nothing major and the coolant only seemed to be down a bit so topped it off. This past Sunday my husband came home from work and the area around the radiator was steaming like crazy, it really smelled bad of antifreeze and it was almost empty, so my husband topped it off and about an hour later checked to make sure there wasn't any leaking on the ground, and there wasn't, so we went to the movies...about 5 mile drive, it was cold so the heater was on, but only cold air for the first 5 minutes (odd it usually kicks in within 60 seconds), then it slowly got hot...again when we parked it was steaming and smelled bad, but no leaking. My husband picked up some more antifreeze and it was low again so he filled it up. Next morning we dropped it at the Dodge Dealership near us. Mechanic calls later that day and says it's the freeze plugs and it's 10 hrs labor...$1500. I have insurance for major issues, but these are not covered...but said of course go ahead. Got a call today that they discovered that the radiator is cracked and needs to be replaced...after asking if we saw fluid on the ground or if we were overheating at all...which we were not according to the internal sensors. So now we have to wait for the inspector to come by to approve the repair. My question is this...would the freeze plugs have ruptured (not sure if that is exactly the right term) because of the cracked radiator, or would the cracked radiator be a result of the ruptured freeze plugs? I ask because the whole repair will be covered by the insurance if the cracked radiator caused the freeze plug problem. Thanks Shannix11 We had the same thing happen to us. We bought a 2009 used DJ with 50,000 miles. We purchased an ethos service Warranty from the dealer we got it at to protect us for engine problems. They would not cover it! It cost us 2500.00. They found 1 freeze plug broken and another one was leaking. So 2 of 6 plugs were replaced. It was only the feeze plug failures nothing else caused it or was harmed. It was a big blow to our pockets and peace of mind. Edited January 22, 2017 by weasey31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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