Starting issues?

Tiny
FAPRILH
  • MEMBER
  • 2013 DODGE JOURNEY
  • 2.4L
  • 4 CYL
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 180,000 MILES
My vehicle listed above will mostly only start from a neutral gear position and randomly it won't start no matter how our if you have it connected to jump battery you just have to wait and that sometimes is only minutes and other it's been hours. What could be causing this?
Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 AT 7:10 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 54,137 POSTS
By "start" I assume you mean crank over, correct? It sounds like the gear range sensor is going out, but there is a starter control solenoid that maybe getting weak or you have a bad starter motor. We need to see if the starter trigger wire is getting power when the engine is cranked over. Use a test light connected to ground and test the wire/terminal while in the crank position. You can even remove the wire for ease of testing. I added an image below for you with the marked wire.

This video can help as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YRW8fyNudY

If you upload a short video of the problem, I can see what is going on to help guide you better. :) Let me know.
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Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 AT 8:12 PM

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