Just got a new 2011 Journey SXT - 6 cyl w the 6 speed transmission. I live in a mountainous region and find the drivability quite poor on uphill grades. The transmission is reluctant to down shift. With ever increasing throttle pressure to maintain speed eventually it downshifts hard and begins to accellerate. Lifting the throttle slightly to hold speed constant causes it to upshift back to high gear where it can't maintain speed again. Its impossible to drive uphill at a smooth even speed.

It seems that its probably a fuel economy thing to maintain high gear ratio as much as possible, but its been taken too far such that it effects drivability.

I am sure I won't get satisfaction from the dealer, but it would be nice if there was a way to bring it to the attention of the Dodge technical department.

Anyone else experiencing this?

 

Welcome to DF
Then you have the new 3.6 motor. I have ck for TSB and did not find any. And no i haven't seen any problems yet, other than the underdrive compounder bearing. I would have the dealer take a look at it and if they can't find the problem you are having, then call the customer service center.

 

Thanks for responding. I'll check in with the dealer and keep an eye out for any flash chip updates that might come available.

 

Try running it in 5th gear and not 6th OD and let me know how that works.

 

This vehicle doesn't seem to have an overdrive disable switch ( unless I missed it ), so I am guessing you mean drop it into manual shift mode and select 5. And that does improve drivability during hill climbing. I do resort to manual shifting on hills a lot, but it would still be nice for the automatic shifter to be a little more willing to downshift when needed.

 

That is what I do in 5th , we recently went to Pittsburgh which to us is hilly and our Caravan was all over the place back and forth out of 6th...I know it's a pain to remember to select 5th as I wish they had and OD off switch. It says to drive in 5th in hilly terrain in the manual somewhere i think , also it's easier on the tranny.

 

Hi to everyone I just joined the Forum so I could ask the same question. I bought my Journey in South Georgia (flat land) everything was great by the time I got back to Western North Carolina I was just about sick of the Transmission. It will not downshift at all unless you push the gas almost to the floor the it takes of like out of you know where.
If the tq convertor would just unlock and the engine rev up a little it would help but no it won't do that either.There has to be something Dodge can do for this.
I did fell out the online survey about it and a Dodge Customer Rep called me back but he had no answers and offered no help.
Other then this we love the car.
Thanks for listening and any help.

 

I have the same problem with a 2010 Journey. It will drop 4-5 mph then it must down shift about two gears to catch up. Had it into dealer and they took test drive but we don't have any hills steep enough. Going to put weight in back so I can reproduce it for them.

 

I just had my Journey into the dealer for routine maintenance. There was a flash update available for the vehicle computer. ... and good news ... it completely solved the shifting issues. The service advisory didn't mention anything about correcting transmission problems, but it certainly did.

FYI

 

I'm from Gatineau, Quebec, Canada I have the same problem with my journey 2011 v6 it look like it those not down shift you go 100km the traffic slows down to 80km and goes back to 100km when I press on the gaz the car is missing you look at rpm and it is running not even at 10000rpm got the car in the dealer 6 time to get it flash but no change complaint to Chrysler Canada and the contact my dealer and the mechanic did not fine any error code so case close, Chrysler Canada close the book and there is nothing that they can do can not even talk to anyone now. it is very frustrating situation so they flash the car and flush the customer..... sorry for my writing I'm not to good in english writing(french canadian)