2009 Dodge Journey - Seemingly electrical problems, lots of codes, not sure what to check next

Solved

I've got a 2009 Dodge Journey with about 140k miles on it. It's been pretty reliable until the past 6 months. Things seem to be going south, and continue to head that direction.

I have gotten P1128/P1129 (always together) codes several times over the years, and the dealer has told me not to worry about them. They only happen when it's colder out (mid-winter, generally).

This year, since late summer, things have gotten worse. I've had P0300 and P0339 codes (misfires and crankshaft position sensor) going off. On occasion, I get all 4 (P0339, P0300, P1128, P1129) at once. The P03XX codes are ALWAYS associated with a bump in the road. I'm also noticing that when I hit a bump, small or large, I am often having the tach drop, the engine chug/stutter, and sometimes the check engine light comes on.

Last week I was traveling for work, and things were more interesting. I had the engine die on me twice. Once I was moving slowly (10mph), the other time at a stop. Both were horribly inconvenient times which almost led me into accidents.

I have done some research, and it's sounding like electrical problems to me. I was watching a graph of my O2 sensors once, and when my tach dropped, all 4 of the O2 sensors pegged their voltages and stayed there for about 5 seconds. I don't necessarily know what normal looks like, but this was definitely uncharacteristic of the rest of the graph that I was watching.

I've taken this to a dealer, and they've got no ideas. They want me to bring it back in, but I've asked them to give me some sort of idea of what I can do to try and provide more info to them. I want them to have an idea of what they're looking for before I bring it in (I can't go without a car for long).

Anyone have thoughts on this one? I'm starting to regret not trading this in for my wife's new car last fall and keeping my Saturn. But, now I'm stuck with it.

Thank you in advance.

Posted Feb 19, 2019, 6:29 PM UTC

17
PetersonAutoRepair•

I would look for a loose connection or connector. Could be a wide variety of things

1
uid_zeroOP•

The dealer claims they checked for loose wiring and found none. I haven't looked myself.

1
aCreditGuru•

It often corresponding with a bump in the road makes me think of a bad electrical connection. If it were me I'd move some of the main wiring harnesses around with the engine running to see if I could reproduce the issue, do a voltage drop test on the electrical under the hood especially to the TIPM. I'd inspect the plugs to the TIPM and PCM. Look for things like corrosion or wire breaks especially if moving the wires makes it act up. Issues which are intermittent are the worst. First see if you can get it to reproduce.

Don't take stuff like this to the dealer. Ideally find a good local, independent, mechanic IMO.

1
uid_zeroOP•

That's what I'm thinking. My TIPM looks good on top, I need to look up where the PCM is. I'm not usually one to dig into my car that much, but since I'm getting nowhere with the dealer (and it's intermittent) I'm trying to dig in more. At least if I can give them a way to reproduce it, that's better than nothing. Because it's not every bump.

Don't take stuff like this to the dealer. Ideally find a good local, independent, mechanic IMO.

I don't disagree, but this has a warranty, so everything they're doing is a cheap deductible. And since they didn't fix it last time, they're waiving it next time.

It also sucks that it's cold, I don't have anywhere to work on this that isn't freezing. Makes it that much harder.

1
aCreditGuru•

I don't disagree, but this has a warranty, so everything they're doing is a cheap deductible.

Yeah then I can't blame you for taking it there. It's not typical for a 2009 to still have some warranty coverage especially when people post here :P

1
uid_zeroOP•

I think the original owner had paid for it and it's transferable. So I have it.

That doesn't mean the dealer knows wtf is wrong, so I'm at least trying to help figure it out. Then they can fix it and I'm happy. In theory.

1
uid_zeroOP•

After significant time, the dealer replicated the symptoms. They replaced the crank sensor, and all my problems have gone away.

Granted, it's only been a day, but I had issues frequently enough that I can safely say it's resolved.

1