2018 Dodge Journey

The Dodge Journey is a solid vehicle for the money. Keep the all the hinges and locks well lubricated. Some Chrysler products had an affinity for corroding door hinge pins and springs.

Also on the tailgate you should have several drain slots at the bottom. Make sure they are free and clear. One trick I have seen many hatchback owners do is to open the hatch and spray a thin film of lubricant up in the hatch to protect the inside corrosion. You dont need to get carried way, all your trying to do is keep the moisture out of the areas where the hatch skin seam with the inner metal structure.
 
The Dodge Journey is a solid vehicle for the money. Keep the all the hinges and locks well lubricated. Some Chrysler products had an affinity for corroding door hinge pins and springs.

Also on the tailgate you should have several drain slots at the bottom. Make sure they are free and clear. One trick I have seen many hatchback owners do is to open the hatch and spray a thin film of lubricant up in the hatch to protect the inside corrosion. You dont need to get carried way, all your trying to do is keep the moisture out of the areas where the hatch skin seam with the inner metal structure.
thanks. I just went all around under the hood dabbing marvel mystery oil on bolts and any place showing any sign of rust. I had to lube the hood hinge and latch mechanism. . I have white Lithium grease spray. that should help the hinges.
I see a lot of debris in the screen under the windshield. I'll need to pop that off.
I assume the cabin filter is behind the glove box. often that gets overlooked.
 
Keep me posted on your Beetle project I love Beetles. It’s a shame their aren’t more of them still around. I knew someone who wrecked one it was unfortunate. I like your plans with yours I always try to leave mine as stock as possible lol.
 
yeah, I decided to modernize it. going to put a/c in, change to an alternator, killer stereo and lower the front give it a slight jacked up look. I always liked that on muscle cars. I definitely will document progress to you. I am now building a garage for it so, the body work can start. maybe a month or more before I can get that started. gotta do the permits, pour the slab and start laying blocks.
work, work! work!
I'm also going to build a 4-lane bowling alley out back but that's a totally different type of oil. lol
 
yeah, I decided to modernize it. going to put a/c in, change to an alternator, killer stereo and lower the front give it a slight jacked up look. I always liked that on muscle cars. I definitely will document progress to you. I am now building a garage for it so, the body work can start. maybe a month or more before I can get that started. gotta do the permits, pour the slab and start laying blocks.
work, work! work!
I'm also going to build a 4-lane bowling alley out back but that's a totally different type of oil. lol
That’s great. I need to build a garage lol I was going to transfer my carport into a garage but no one would help me lol and we have so much stuff under there that my parents will not part with for anything so I would have no room to put my beetle in there anyway lol.
 
That's a really great price for an AWD suv type vehicle this time of year for sure. Especially with the COVID thing and the current car market. Not that it matters, but did it have several previous owners? Ex-rental maybe?

I don't have any experience with this specific vehicle, other than owning two pentastars in the past, a 2013 Grand Caravan and a 2017 Ram 1500.. I think the only major complaint I've read of on the Journii other than your typical FCA stuff, is weak suspension design. I don't know if that's in regards to ball joints, bushings or the whole control arm.

You've probably read on the oil filter / cooler scenario for pentastars. To me, it's the only bad thing about these engines.

I'd do all the driveline fluids and shoot fluid film or the likes in all the door, hatch and hood cavities like mentioned. Do the whole undercarriage in the spring/summer if you're a rustbelter.
 
No, I live in Florida so we get no salt on the roads here. I was just looking at the spark plugs and what might be involved in changing those. Looks like that might be a job in itself. For the most part I found Dodge is easy to work on it but this one may be the first that's not.
This is a one-owner vehicle and it doesn't look like it was too abused other than for some reason the passenger door kick plate and door seal was messed up which I had the dealer replace it is a reach to get out of it for a heavier person. I imagine that's what happened in this case. Since I've had it my door seal has taken a little bit of a beating as well I'm going to fill it with something that hardens so it lasts longer than it looks like it will.
I've been getting in the 24s as high as 26mpg on the highway with it so it seems to be a good runner.
The mileage dropped to around 20 in the city but that's if you let someone else like a girlfriend drive it. LOL. I can keep it at 22 to 23 in the city just by watching the fuel efficiency while I'm driving.
 
Yeah start with alignment. That’s an awesome beetle I see the Virginia plate on it are you in Virginia as well? What year is that? Mine is a 1973 sitting on a 73 chassis but the body is a 71 Super.
oh. I did get the beatle in that boat deal. I sold a boat to a guy up there and got him to throw the beetle in as part of the deal. So I kept the first tag that I registered if under and in Florida there's no front tags so I can just put anything I want on the front of it.
 
Ah! Liviin' in FL you got it made! LOL

For ~300hp, you can get some impressive fuel economy with the pentastar and 62TE trans. Even when I had one in my 2017 Ram 1500 4x4, quad cab i'd routinely get 23mpg tank to tank without really thinking about it. A lot of that has to do with the ZF8 trans in those though..
 
Chrysler seems pretty adamant about using their transmission fluid in this transmission. Do you or anyone else know what would be an even better transmission fluid to use or at least equivalent?
 
No, I live in Florida so we get no salt on the roads here. I was just looking at the spark plugs and what might be involved in changing those. Looks like that might be a job in itself. For the most part I found Dodge is easy to work on it but this one may be the first that's not.
This is a one-owner vehicle and it doesn't look like it was too abused other than for some reason the passenger door kick plate and door seal was messed up which I had the dealer replace it is a reach to get out of it for a heavier person. I imagine that's what happened in this case. Since I've had it my door seal has taken a little bit of a beating as well I'm going to fill it with something that hardens so it lasts longer than it looks like it will.
I've been getting in the 24s as high as 26mpg on the highway with it so it seems to be a good runner.
The mileage dropped to around 20 in the city but that's if you let someone else like a girlfriend drive it. LOL. I can keep it at 22 to 23 in the city just by watching the fuel efficiency while I'm driving.

Yeah, any transverse V6 will be impossible to work on for many things. Unfortunately, most of them require pulling the intake to change the spark plugs in the back :mad:

When you do replace them, use ruthenium or iridium, so you never have to do them again! Also, replace the valve cover gaskets while you're in there, even if they're not leaking when spark plug time comes.

The only transverse V6 I know of that doesn't require pulling the intake for the spark plugs is the 4th gen Maxima VQ30. Nissan was smart enough to put cutouts in the intake for easy access to the rear plugs and coils. The coils for the rear bank are also of a different shape to better facilitate easy spark plug changes :)

If your transmission uses ATF+4 then you can use anything on this list. I know that CQA site looks fake, but it actually is a real company. Note that Walmart brand ATF+4 is on the approved list.

Although it isn't licensed, the best thing to use where ATF+4 is called for is Redline C+
 
Yeah, any transverse V6 will be impossible to work on for many things. Unfortunately, most of them require pulling the intake to change the spark plugs in the back :mad:

When you do replace them, use ruthenium or iridium, so you never have to do them again! Also, replace the valve cover gaskets while you're in there, even if they're not leaking when spark plug time comes.

The only transverse V6 I know of that doesn't require pulling the intake for the spark plugs is the 4th gen Maxima VQ30. Nissan was smart enough to put cutouts in the intake for easy access to the rear plugs and coils. The coils for the rear bank are also of a different shape to better facilitate easy spark plug changes :)

If your transmission uses ATF+4 then you can use anything on this list. I know that CQA site looks fake, but it actually is a real company. Note that Walmart brand ATF+4 is on the approved list.

Although it isn't licensed, the best thing to use where ATF+4 is called for is Redline C+
+1 on using ATF+4. Easy to get and and a no-brainer.
 
I just rented one last week. A 2020 Journey Crossroad. It was mediocre at best. The brakes could have been a bit stronger. I think it had the base 4 cylinder engine which wouldn't win any races and was quite noisy. Also, it only had a 4 speed trans. No standard tech features like lane keep/change assist etc. I wouldn't think I would ever need something like that, but I've grown to love it on my Fusion. The backup camera resolution was CRT quality. lol.

Nonetheless, it was upgrade from the Ford Ecosport I reserved.
 
Yeah, any transverse V6 will be impossible to work on for many things. Unfortunately, most of them require pulling the intake to change the spark plugs in the back :mad:

When you do replace them, use ruthenium or iridium, so you never have to do them again! Also, replace the valve cover gaskets while you're in there, even if they're not leaking when spark plug time comes.

The only transverse V6 I know of that doesn't require pulling the intake for the spark plugs is the 4th gen Maxima VQ30. Nissan was smart enough to put cutouts in the intake for easy access to the rear plugs and coils. The coils for the rear bank are also of a different shape to better facilitate easy spark plug changes :)

If your transmission uses ATF+4 then you can use anything on this list. I know that CQA site looks fake, but it actually is a real company. Note that Walmart brand ATF+4 is on the approved list.

Although it isn't licensed, the best thing to use where ATF+4 is called for is Redline C+
yea the intake doesn't look too bad. I'm not sure what I have to disconnect or if it is more like a cover with the mechanical under it. kinda looks that way.

someone gave me Chrysler coolant. 2 jugs. I did bleed the older coolant and clean the reservoir. used radiator flush and just shook it all up after it soaked out of the vehicle awhile. rinsed it good before I installed and then bled it.

I hear ya on using top quality plugs. although these seem fine for now I was just looking over things I might need to do. battery changes look interesting.

battery is OK too. just the clank in the front end, check the very slow oil leak and check engine light for O2 code I need to address.
 
When you replace the plugs, please make sure you put some anti seize on the threads. My 4.7 litre Durango has easy access spark plugs, but they can be hard to get out if the previous change did not include anti seize application. Cabin filter is behind the glove box door. It is pretty simple to replace, just be careful removing the plastic clip on the damper cord......these get broken quite regularly.
 
Congrats on the new ride, great drivetrain, and a great price. I too always liked the lines on this one. It’s well proportioned and blends in, which is more my taste. This was a curious model for me - it was forgotten about in the market, and the 4-banger model was the bane of mediocre reviews. But the 6 should be a really nice power plant and it should drive well with a lot of carrying capacity. it kinda reminds me of the plymouth acclaim/dodge spirit sedans of the 90s, rather underrated practical transportation which just settled in and did its thing, very well. I hope it serves you well. Wonderful engine, and that’s really good mpg too. I wish my sedan would get that.
 
Like the heavy duty outdoor carpet idea and the steel wheels. Strut mount bearing seems to be one re-occurrence of a noise I am getting with the fwd V6 set-up. The Toyota 3.3 may also be one of the few you can change plugs on without taking off the intake plenum. I'd likely just change out the O2 sensor and it might even come out easy being it hasn't been in there for a decade or more...
 
Back
Top