by Nick Taylor

Real Fixes from the SureTrack® expert information resource are documented issues from actual shop repair records and community discussions. Read on to see how SureTrack can help you correct issues that are not easily diagnosed using OEM information alone. SureTrack is available at no additional cost in our ProDemand product.

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Nothing can be more frustrating than having a vehicle in your shop that won’t start and you check everything possible and it still won’t, except under a very specific condition. And then the one thing you don’t expect is the cause. SureTrack community member Dottrans had a Dodge Journey in their shop that they replaced the transmission in it and later on, would no longer start. They posed the question to the community, and with the help of fellow community member DAG1365 and others, they were able to resolve the issue quickly.

The following Community Fix summarizes the interaction between members of the community that led to the solution.

Vehicle
2012 Dodge Journey R/T 3.6L

Title
No start, make the car payments.

Complaint
Vehicle won’t start.

Diagnostic Steps Performed/Parts Replaced We had done a transaxle overhaul (62TE-AWD @ 60,000 miles) and installed a new vehicle battery. Vehicle worked well, including starting. Customer left vehicle here for 3 months. We started it periodically. One day the key fob would not work to unlock doors, etc. We put in two new batteries into fob in case first one was no good. It was after the fob went dead, is when the issue began. Placing fob against the start button does not do anything. We jumped the starter wire at the fuse box and starter worked and vehicle ran. We had ground straps cleaned and the fuse box inside the vehicle was checked. The fuse box in the engine compartment was thoroughly checked along with the harnesses attached to the box.

In order to get vehicle to start, connect snap on scanner, go to the Body Control Module (BCM); then functional tests; then tap the top of the screen where it says “Unlock Run-Start”. You will see ‘on, off, toggle’; the vehicle will not start in the ‘on’ position, but will start in the ‘off’ or ‘toggle’ position and is driveable and works well until you shut vehicle off, and it will not restart without repeating prior steps. (As you back out of the “Unlock Run-Start” screen and you see “return module to normal state”, vehicle will not restart without doing the prior steps.)

Don’t know where to go from here. It starts every time we do the steps described above. Customer lives four hours away by herself in a very rural area. Can’t find anyone locally who has experienced this issue/symptom, including the Dodge dealerships. We don’t wish issues like this on anyone, but has somebody out there experienced the same problem and is willing to help us out and let me sleep better after countless hours checking the electrical out on this vehicle.

Cause
Cause of problem was the vehicle owner missed one $243.00 vehicle payment. The finance company had installed a GPS to track the vehicle and immobilized it when she missed the one payment. She had made additional payments to the finance company and was in contact with them. At no time did they contact her or us (knowing that we had the vehicle in our possession). When I spoke to the finance company, they said that should never have happened, or at minimum, both the owner and we should have been notified. They were not sure who in their company did that, but while I was on the phone with them, they did their thing with the GPS and we were able to start the vehicle immediately without any issues. Once again, thank you to all. This was my first experience with Sure Track.

Correction
Finance company enabled car remotely after straightening out payments.