Dodge Journey Problems

Any time you have a dull, thudding or clunking noise inside an engine, it’s best to not drive it any farther and have that noise checked out. You may be right and the problem is an injector, but if it’s a serious mechanical problem inside the crankcase, you may find it suddenly lets go with catastrophic results.

Even if it doesn’t fail completely, you may be doing extra damage to the crankshaft, con-rods and bearings (and more) by continuing to drive the car. The problem could also be with the gudgeon pin(s) which secure the pistons to the con-rods. This is also something a mechanic would investigate.

The fact that the noise comes and goes with engine speed could be related to changes in the oil pressure masking the noise as engine revs rise. Bottom line? Have the car checked by a mechanic who should be able to pinpoint the noise. But be prepared for major expense if the engine has serous internal wear or damage.

Definitely not the Journey; the Territory is solid and good value; but my current favourite in the class is the Kia Sorento. It gets The Tick and is well worth the extra, even though the starting price of $40,990 is well beyond the $33,500 base of the Journey.

Brake wear is a serious problem with the Journey as we reported in  our used car review recently. Your experience is common. Some owners have had success in getting Chrysler to cough up for the new pads and rotors when their cars are under warranty, like yours is, so I would continue to press your case with the company. The unfortunate thing  is that you can expect to have to replace the brakes at regular intervals of the sort you've already experienced for the life of the car. I would suggest legal action if you feel strongly about it.

Even though the Journey was not a particularly popular model in Australia, I’m still a bit surprised that we don’t get this question a bit more often. Because the answer is a real doozie. While a lot of car-makers find that underbonnet space is too limited to place a battery, some resort to locating the battery either under a seat inside the car or in the boot. But not Dodge in the case of the Journey.

To access the battery in that case, you need to jack up the car, remove the front passenger’s wheel, peel back the plastic inner-guard and there, behind the corner of the front bumper, you will find the battery. For jump starting a car with a flat battery, Dodge placed a positive and negative terminal in the engine bay near the front-left suspension tower, and you’ll identify the positive by a small, red plastic cap with a `+’ moulded into it.