I have a Dodge Journey R/T 2010. I bought it in at the end of May 2017 from a dealership in Muncie, IN. I bought it as is, so there are no warranties or anything like that. It currently has about 86,000 miles.
It drives incredibly well and the only issues to begin with were small things. The horn doesn’t work, not sure why. It had a couple of services needed like brakes already.
I started having some issues where it randomly wouldn’t start. But I had read the Neutral Safety Switch can be picky, so I tried putting it in neutral and back into park and it worked.

So September, it was parked in a gravel driveway. It had been there for a day completely untouched. So at least hours, no movement. We go to start it and it won’t go. The lights turn on, I hear it trying to start. Starter clicking, trying to go. I try pulling it into Neutral and it is stuck in park. So we leave it for a moment. Try again, now it’s completely dead, and the key will not come out. The steering wheel is locked. So we try to jump it. For some reason, it doesn’t work. Great thick cables, no good. I call a place down the road, they jump it fine off of a portable pack. They say the battery is testing bad and I replace it. Seems like no more issues. The weather was not particularly cold.
It was around this time we started using the heat in the car. This car had three climate areas, driver, passenger and back. The back was receiving no heat. It was blowing air, and in the summer had A/C. There was heat in the front completely though.At some point, the front passenger would randomly not get any heat. The vents would blow air, and blew A/C in the summer. No heat on and off. The driver’s side most of the time had heat.
December 24th, it’s parked in the gravel driveway. It again won’t start, and I try the gear trick. Doesn’t work. Stuck in park. Wheel locked. Eventually completely dies, no lights, fob doesn’t work to unlock the doors. We jump it, it starts right up. Drive it the rest of that day, and on an hour long trip one way to a Christmas the next day, and back. It’s parked around 11-12 pm once we are back. This time parked in grass, not at the same place.
Around 6:30 am the next day, we try to start it, Lights come on, it tries. No start. Eventually, there is nothing. No lights, fob stuck in the car. Eventually locked into position. It is freezing outside and from about here until again mentioned it’s below freezing and in the negative degrees for at least a week.
We try to jump it using not super great cables, no luck. Eventually have it towed to a Midas only a few blocks away. They test everything. The battery is testing bad, everything else is testing perfectly fine. I tell them I just bought the battery, and they say, well sometimes you buy bad ones.
I manage to get in driven the half hour back to Anderson to have the place I bought the battery from replace it, since it was still under warranty. I don’t get it back until the 2nd of January at this point, a Tuesday. I drive to Muncie, a half hour. There is no heat on the driver’s side, or anywhere. The vents will blow, but no heat. I park it in the grass once again.
The next morning, after sitting from only 8, maybe 10 hours, it will not start. Same as the last few times. Wheel is locked, gear shift is stuck in park. Key eventually is locked in the ignition. Lights start on, and within 15 mins of the first try, the entire car is completely dead again. I have it towed to Midas once again, agreeing to have a diagnostic done to find the issue, because something is clearly draining the battery.
They test everything and look for a drain. They say they found a large parasitic drain, but they can’t find what is causing it, which should mean that it is a module switch. They can’t take care of module switch issues on this car because it’s not old enough. I need to take it to a dealership. They also inform me that my coolant is frozen and could be causing the heat issues. I, by the way, never put fluids in my car, for fear of messing it up.
They get it jumped and Friday the 5th of January I drive it back to Anderson to a dealership there that has the ability to get the car in sooner.Until this point, I know that there were never any lights being left on, no devices plugged in. I had even turned off the radio just in case that was doing something. That being said, I did accidentally leave a dome light on because I had to fill out an envelope in my car. The car sat until Monday.
They got into the car, and it started perfectly fine. They kept it until Tuesday afternoon, it case the negative temperatures caused it to not start again. But it started everytime.They did a $100 diagnostic and found nothing wrong. It started every time and everything looks great, other than disgusting coolant.
So I have my car back on the 9th of January. It drove fine all week. I even took it back to Midas to get a chemical coolant flush. They also “back flushed” (I think) the heater core and changed a filter. No change in the heat other than the driver’s side most of the time has heat. None anywhere else. $200. I even took it on a 4 hour drive to Michigan and back and it was fine.
So Monday, drive it all day. Tuesday, I drive it in the morning, early to drop my boyfriend at work and then to my office for work. I drive back home around 11:30, park in grass. Around 4 pm, I go back out, and the car is dead again. The next morning, I go and buy a portable battery thing, and jump the car myself, by letting the pack charge up the battery and then trying to start it after 30ish minutes of charging. It starts up.
I take it back to the dealership, because they have agreed to relook at it for free since they were wrong.
They have had the car since the 17th. They have absolutely no idea. It will start perfectly fine one day with nothing wrong at all, and then will be dead the next time. They have had the replace the battery at least once more since they’ve had it because it was reading bad and wouldn’t hold a charge. This is as of the 22nd of January. During this time, the time is now in the 50s or at least above freezing the last few days.
With extra money put into money for rides, uber and other people’s gas I’m over $300 into this with no answers. I just need something to help point them in a direction.
Thank you for reading though all of this. I feel like there has to be someone else in the world with this problem and found a solution that’s not just jumping it all the time and replacing batteries.

 

I feel your pain. I have had most of those issues, as well as some additional ones. I replaced the battery in mine 4 times. As well as starters, alternators. There never was a verified fix, however, there was an ignition recall. Once they changed mine and provided new key fobs, the battery drain problem stopped. All was good for quite awhile. Then it started another no start issue, this time there was power to accessories. I think you are referring to this as an issue with a neutral safety. I can't recall how I learned about this.... instead putting the car into neutral, try putting it into drive, then back to park. I call it a range selector, it seems to have something to do with your transmission sending unit or sensor not sending the info. I also have had some luck with taking the battery cables off, hoping to reset the glitches. I am not anything close to a mechanic, so hopefully someone can hop in! Everything I've learned I had to piece together thru this forum and reading. Even the dealerships can't seem to give you answers sometimes. It's frustrating, especially being a female. I know men who can't even lift that battery out of that location! Verify your ignition recall, I'm in Canada, not sure if we have the same recall. Keep reading and searching the forum. And other forum sources as well. Good luck!

 

Going through same thing, except the heating problems. Replaced battery 2 weeks ago, since i'm boosting and jumpstarting to use vehicle, dies overnight. Now its not shifting properly, going to garage tomorrow. I am hoping they can find out whats wrong but not holding much hope after reading up on it. btw its a 2010 Journey RT ALSO..

 

Hi Julius, We sincerely regret to hear of your trouble. We kindly recommend having a certified Dodge dealer inspect this concern for you as they are in the best position to assist. If you do work with your dealer, we would be more than happy to provide you with additional support. Feel free to follow up with us via private message if this would be of interest.
Rob
DodgeCares