Annual Vehicle Average Cost/Value of Ownership

[Eneto-55]

Well, it's been a long time since started this, and high time I came back to it.  My wife insisted that I not try to fix this myself, so I took it into an area shop. It's been a long, drawn out affair, where they tell me, after around 7 weeks, that it's fixed.  But it wasn't.  So in the meantime my wife (who is the primary driver for this vehicle - I mostly only drive it to church services on Sundays) has lost all confidence in the Journey.  So our 'journey' with the Journey has come to an end.

I'm a dyed in the wool MoPar guy, but the 2009 Journey is leaving this family.  I guess it did well, outliving the entire production run.  We purchased it used right around Christmas 2010.  Manufacture date was in July of 2008.  My wife wanted something else this time, so we now own one of those "ferrin" cars, but built here in Ohio, I think. 

 

The Journey went into the shop July 27th.  They had it until September 13th.  Said it was fixed, but it wasn't.  Took it back again September 30th, supposedly for a 1 or 2 day deal (to install the new crank sensor).  Finally just went & got it "as is" today, October 24th.  It did fine on the short drive home (less than 2 miles), but it's still throwing the one code, C121C.

They don't know how to fix it.  Traction Control light comes on after starting the engine, usually before putting it in gear.  Error Code C121C "Torque Request Signal Denied". 

 

Stuff they did that I know about (I asked for a complete list several times, but I finally realize that I'll never get one.):
Cleaned the throttle Body, and replaced the TB sensor.
Replaced the main computer.
Replaced the Crank Sensor.

He now thinks it might be in the wiring, but at this point my wife is ready for a different vehicle, so it's "game over".  (Bought a '19 Honda CR-V on Saturday.)  So now (with only just over 105,000 miles on it) I have to decide whether to take it elsewhere, pay more, and maybe have someone else tell me that it cannot be fixed, and just throw more good money after bad (or maybe spend more getting it fixed than I can sell it for), try to sell it as is, sell my work car (2010 Dodge Caravan almost 140,000 miles) and drive it as is.  (The mechanic thinks that the problem, what ever it is, may be the reason the ECM went bad, and that using it as is will result in burning out another.  To be honest, however, I’m not convinced the original one was really bad.  I asked him, among other questions, how much better it ran after they cleaned the throttle body, which they did first, but he never answered.)  And now, although the past two days have been warm, even almost hot, here in Ohio I know that won’t last, and I don’t have a heated shop to work on it myself.

So, once again, if anyone can give me a good idea of what the issue is, it would be much appreciated.  How hard would it be to replace the engine wiring harness?  (I can't help but think how easy it would be on a P15, and then I cringe to think of this Journey.)

[kencombs]

Well, a quick look at the code info leads me to believe it has either a wiring fault with the anti-lock brakes or a defective ABS module.    That makes sense considering your traction control light is on.  The anti-lock system is also used to control wheel spin.  There is nothing that I found that connects that code to the ECM in any way.

 

Here is some info:https://www.obd2-code.com/2017/05/c121c-torque-request-signal-denied.html

 

If it were mine, I'd look very carefully at the ABS sensor connections, and if not found maybe search for a cheap module source to try.

[Eneto-55]

16 minutes ago, kencombs said:

Well, a quick look at the code info leads me to believe it has either a wiring fault with the anti-lock brakes or a defective ABS module.    That makes sense considering your traction control light is on.  The anti-lock system is also used to control wheel spin.  There is nothing that I found that connects that code to the ECM in any way.

 

Here is some info:https://www.obd2-code.com/2017/05/c121c-torque-request-signal-denied.html

 

If it were mine, I'd look very carefully at the ABS sensor connections, and if not found maybe search for a cheap module source to try.

Thanks for the link.  I saw something similar, searching on this code after bringing the car home yesterday.  (What I had seen was a video on youtube, but they may have just copied the text from a source like yours.)

 

Does the fact that the traction control light comes on while the car is not even in Drive (let alone in motion) indicate anything, to perhaps eliminate one of these possible causes?

 

During the brief time we had it back (about two weeks), one Sunday on the way home from church services the traction control light (as well as the engine light) went off and on several times, dinging each time.  And the engine would loose power momentarily as well.