Numerous complaints read on the car randomly not starting. Same problem as the rest, However though I have not yet found the problem I have found that there is a cable that if you move around it will start! the cable is located under / behind and to the left inside of what appears to be a plastic cover over the exhaust manifold at the front of the vehicle. Reach your hand inside just under the "Y" where the "Manifold" comes together to a single pipe. It may be warm if the car was recently running but I have never been burned by it.

The cable feels like it may be a battery cable of some sort. I will investigate further and re post if I find anything.

I've owned this 2009 Dodge Journey for a couple years now and didn't experience too many problems, until it intermittently began not starting. Originally the car would start after a 20-30 minutes and only happened less than a month apart. Now the problem has escalated, so I had it taken into repair shop, where they told me the battery needed to be replaced. Had the battery replaced, but the problem still keeps happening.

Eventually it became so bad that I would have to leave it in a parking lot over night. At this point I had the car towed to a different repair place. When they got the vehicle, it started on the first try leaving them to only speculate on what the problem might be. I have heard the problem can relate to anything from the starter, WIN modules, security system, neutral safety switch, ect. It has gotten to the point where I am afraid to turn the vehicle off when I'm not home for fear that I may be stranded. I will most likely have the starter replaced and will keep this forum up to date if any solutions are found for this problem. Apparently it is EXTREMELY common for Dodge Journey's not to turn over.

While attempting to leave for home on our last day of vacation. I turned the key fob in the ignition...... nothing. Attempted to get a jump..... nothing. This car had just started 15-20 minutes before. When I put the key fob back in the ignition it displayed badkey on the dash for a milli second, so I tried my wife's key fob... nothing. After calling for a tow and waiting about 45-50 minutes the car started up before the tow truck arrived. We drove it to a local dealer when we got there I turned the ignition off and tried to start the car again..... nothing. We waited there for another 35 minutes for a service rep to come out and try to start the car then return to his station without saying anything to us. I tried the key one more time and it started again. we made a mad dash from Charleston, SC. to Ohio without ever turning the car off. The car is now at a dealership and the are wanting to replace the WIN module for $600 plus. They said that this is a "starting point". LOL/CRY.

After reading all the complaints, I'm glad I'm not the only one dealing with this car! For about the past 3 months my car has had problems not wanting to start. I put the key in and it clicks...radio comes on, lights come on everything works except the stupid thing wont start! I take the key out and try it again and sometimes it starts on the second try, sometimes on the 5th try sometimes it will start after 20 minutes of trying! It doesn't happen every day, just when it feels like it! I took it to the dealership they said it was the starter so they replaced it and guess what the very next day I picked it up from the dealership it did it again, wouldn't start! I'm so done with this car!!!

Dodge Journey 2009 - sporadic non-starting. All power works. Starter 'clicks' but won't turn over. Battery strong (new), Happened four times so far. Will start hours or days later. Very dangerous to be stranded.

Reports from others indicate Chrysler either doesn't know how to fix it or doesn't care. Excellent car otherwise. Wife will no longer drive it. Must buy a new car unless Chrysler will provide a RELIABLE fix. I'm very interested in a Class Action Lawsuit. Car is worthless as is. Thousands of money down the drain. Other interested parties please let me know of any lawsuits already in progress. I will consult attorney regarding individual lawsuit...damages for FMV of car plus penalties for stress and endangerment I'd think...will have to see what the attorney will say.

Probably would take years and Chrysler has unlimited amounts of OUR taxpayer funds to defend itself...probably hopeless. Ethics, where did you go?

A mechanic once told me..."Dodge means to avoid"...so what do I do? Of coarse, I buy a Dodge! My most recent issues are the non-starting situation. I say situation, because clearly this isn't a problem. If this were a problem, there would be a solution. My situation is very similar to everyone else, turn the key, click click click, no start. One day it only took 5 minutes for the car to start, I almost went and bought a lottery ticket this time! Most times, we are talking a significant amount of time. Most times it is at least an hour before I attempt to re-start.

I called a local dealer today, who, surprise surprise, hasn't heard of this problem! Thanks to this web-site I will reference TSB # 08-027-10 and ask them this question again. After they don't accept responsibility and don't fix it, I have a different game plan. My vehicle isn't under warranty so I am stuck, I have to resort to fixing myself.

One suggestion that appears to make sense that a person with an automotive background did mention. After 10/26, I ordered a new key, because I thought my keys were getting old, I had this issue first happen in May of 2010 and I was told back then my key was bad, so I used the spare, changed the batteries, etc... So, when this recent round of issues started, I got a new key and programmed it. This person recommended that I disconnect the battery and let it stay disconnected for a while. This can help re-set all of the systems. He tells me one of these old keys might have passed on a bad code, and the computer had saved this bad code. Since this is just a time committment, I am willing to give it a try.

I am ticked, I can't accept the fact that all of these other folks have these issues and still nobody has figured out what is causing this problem. I normally never subscribe to this type of forum, but this is a situation that might be corrected if enough people continue to report these issues. No need for a class action lawsuit or any of that, I would just like a reliable vehicle that I can transport myself to work, my son to school, games, etc... and for what I am still paying for this vehicle, it should not be that much to ask!

Lastly, if you youtube 2009 dodge journey starting issues, there is a nice video of a person that is having THE SAME EXACT PROBLEM AS I AM!

Update from Dec 9, 2012: My concern with not starting reached a boiling point after I posted my complaint at this website, I did put a new battery in, my buddy cleaned all of the ground wires he could see, I put new terminals on, still didn't help. 2 days after all of this, I finally took it into the dealer, I explained all of the information I had researched, etc... During this visit, they found it was a corroded ground wire to the starter. They replaced this and now for over a month I have not had any cocnerns. This cost me just over $200 with tax but it appears to have totally fixed the problem. Hopefully this helps somebody else that is having these similar problems!

ONE SOLUTION - I’ve had my 2009 Journey for just over a year and had many times when it wouldn't turn over. I have taken it into the Dodge dealership but the dealership couldn't find a problem so they said I’d just have to live with it. I saw another post on this website with a recommendation to tell the mechanic about a technical service bulletin ( TSB # 08-027-10 ). That’s what I told my mechanic and he said - you want a new NEUTRAL SAFETY SWITCH. Apparently, the car sometimes does not recognize that it is in “park”, so it won’t start up. We tried being more careful with how we stopped and put the car in park, but then had the problem again, so we told the mechanic. It turns out this is an unusual (for them) problem and the mechanic had to look for it in the computer (he said it was “hidden”) but finally found it and did the work. I don’t know the cost since I had an extended warranty and they covered it. I do know that it’s been 3 months now and I haven’t had the problem since.

Add me to the list of people complaining about their Dodge journey. I have a 2009 and it has been a nightmare. First the brakes went out, that cost me $600. Now it hasn't been wanting to start on and off for several months. I do everything short of standing on one leg singing the Star Spangled Banner to get it to start. The dealer acts as if they don't know what I'm talking about and they really don't seem interested in helping me. I just started a new job 17 miles away and I need a reliable car.

When this happens sometimes I get the message bad key, but not always. The lights, radio, blinkers, wipers work just fine but the engine wont do anything. I have decided this is my last Dodge product. If anyone knows the remedy to fix this (since the dealership cant seem to figure it out) please let me know. Thanks!

I bought my 2009 Dodge Journey in 2010 and after having it for about 9 months or so, one day I was out and about running a ton of errands and got in my car and it wouldn't turn over. Ever since then this happened over and over again. I have taken it into the Dodge dealership to look at because we bought the extended warranty- however we found out the dealership couldn't find a problem so the warranty wouldn't cover the issue and we had to pay $200 just to have the dealership look at my car. This problem has become worse and worse over the last 3 years and we have thought about trading the car in but also don't want to give some else a terrible car! Why isn't dodge doing anything about this with all these complainants? My cousin is a mechanic and just moved to my area so I'm going to have him look at my car. If I get answers I will post them here.

I have only had my Dodge Journey 09 for a couple of weeks. I got stuck out of town, my Journey made the trip without a single issue or problem. I notice after the second day, my Journey would not start right away. I would have to allow it to sit for a couple of minutes before starting. All it would do is makin a clicking sound, it was not the battery. All my lights, dashboard, horn, radio, were working properly. As the days went on, the minutes turned into hours and finally not starting at all. The Journey ultimately was towed to a Dodge dealer and a new starter was installed. In a couple of days I had my car vehicle back and on the road back home. Once again no issues or problems. The next day I am taking my daughter and son to camp and the Journey did not start!!!. I had the car towed back to the dealer where I purchased it. Just for the service man call me at work confused, because the car is now starting without a hitch...I might have brushed it off and said oh well no harm no foul, but after reading the complaints and similar issues, I am extremely concerned. I am more frustrated with Dodge!!!! I can only hope I do not expirence an on going list of problems with this vehicle.

So, went out to run errands this morning...3 stops later I go to start the car and it half starts then literally just stops. No bang..no click...no kachunk. So I decide to give it another whirl..and now I get lights, radio, etc...but it will not start. No clicks...nothing. RA sends out a battery van to jump-start...nothing. I want to get this repaired obviously, but after reading numerous complaints about this same issue and all the $ sunk into repairs that did not fix the problem I'm almost debating paying someone to steal the thing...it would probably cost less at this point. Has anyone figured out what the real issue here is? I've checked wires and everything seem legit, I've wiggled the shifter, I've wiggled the key, I tried my spare key, then I gave up and went back in the house. Any insight on this problem would be super.

Bought 2009 Dodge Journey used in March of 2011. Have had to take it the dealership three times since I've owned it to try and fix the problem of the engine not turning over when go to start, just clicks. Everything else works, lights, radio, etc. Dealership just replaced the key fobs, couldn't duplicate the problem while at the dealer. Has happened intermittently over the last year and usually if take the key out and try again right away it starts. But just tried to start my car about an hour ago (after using this afternoon with no problem) and it wouldn't start, just clicked. Tried multiple times and then let it sit for about an hour and now it just started. Extremely annoying since I'm still making a car payment, it's obviously out of warranty and the car only has about 48,000 miles on it! Not to mention I've had to have the brakes done twice, calipers and all. My husband just put new tires on earlier this year, so we'll see how long those last. Not all that happy with this car.

Love and Hate my 2009 Dodge Journey! Parts I hate was that at around the 40,000 mile range, start up issues started happening. Bad thing I never knew when it would happen. It would happen during the day when it was super hot (where I live) and at night too. In the beginning it would take 5 mins and then I was on my way. Once it reached the 50,000 mile mark, start up issues happened every other day and lasted ABOUT 1 HR to start. Took Journey to dealer to get serviced. Took it 3 times during the same month for the same start up issues, where the service tech tells me" strange I have never had anyone come in with the same problem u are having on your journey" Really ?! This guy expected me to believe this comment. C'mom. I even told him " I find that hard to believe" Anyways, service tech FINALLY listened to me, where I kept telling him that an ex Certified Dodge Mechanic Employee had told me it was the win module and fob key that was causing the problems. . The module and FOB got replaced and so far so good.

We purchased the 2009 Dodge Journey a couple years ago and the first time this problem occurred was actually in the car lot the day we picked it up. My husband went and got the sales guy and we explained what happened and he said that we may ave tripped a sensor when pulling the key out too fast. Huh???? Anyhow, he said to wait a few minutes while it reset itself and it should be fine.

We waited about 10 minutes and it started so off we went. It has intermittently since then but it would start quickly thereafter so it hadn't been a big issue until now.

Yesterday (Feb 2) my husband left early in the morning with the journey for his daily coffee trek and I was getting our son ready for his curling tournament at our local curling club. My husband arrived shortly before we were set to leave. We packed everything up in the car and it would not turn over. We tried everything. Because we were now running late because of this issue, we rolled the journey onto the street (we live on a cul-de-sac) and I took my husbands vehicle while he tried to figure the problem.

About an hour later he arrived at the curling club and said it just started on his own. He called the local Dodge dealership who could not help us. I drove it home after the tournament and it was fine. A few hours later my husband went to go out and the vehicle would not start - at all! Again we pushed it onto the street so we could pull out our other vehicle. Our neighbors helped us push it back to the end of our driveway (slight incline) where it still sits the next day. We have been going to out try and start it every few hours with no such luck!!!!

By the sounds of it, this seems to a common issue for the journey so why isn't Dodge/Chrysler doing anything about this?????