no 4x4

[Voymom]

I needed to go to Wal-mart to grab a few things. We have about 3 maybe 4 inches of wet heavy snow on the ground and barely plowed/sanded roads here. I used my 4H on the way to the store and everything was gravy. I did my shopping, checked out...got in the truck....backed out of my parking spot and before I put the truck in drive...I turned the 4x4 to 4H and my little orange light went off on the 4x4 knob...and no 4x4 at all. I slid and skidded my way home. I shut the truck off and waited 30 sec at one point to see if it would come back on...and nothing.

So...I freaking broke it. Go me

 

[blazinlow89]

That sucks.

Try it again in a little while, mine will intermittently decide it doesnt want to work. I know its the switch, one day it works fine the next not so well.

On the other end it could be bad, crossing my fingers for you.

 

[RayVoy]

Probably not too serious (but I can't promise ), you may just have a stuck/frozen front disconnect (the spline on the front passenger axle).

My '05 did the same thing, I used 4x4, parked for an hour and 4x4 worked for only 10 feet after I tried to move it in about 6" of new snow.

If it is the front disconnect, it's an easy fix, I just took it off, took it apart, washed it out and re greased it, worked like a charm.

But, it may only be a frozen slush problem, do you park it inside?

 

[Voymom]

No parking inside as my garage is to small. I have never had an issue like this before as I have used my 4x4 in snow, ice and mud without any issues. I have driven with 4x4 on 4A for 100 miles and 4H for 100 miles an no problems.

I'm just pissed lol I fixed the t-stat then the p/s pump and now my 4x4 is being a PITA. I want to punch my truck in the danglies...

 

[RayVoy]

. I want to punch my truck in the danglies...

Oh, I can feel that , have a drink and get some sleep, , if temp warms up it may work in the morning. It it does, it may be the grease in the disconnect motor. The shifter that actually locks the axle is fairly rugged, by the actuator motor and shaft are not.

Try it tomorrow afternoon and let us know (the roadie has a how-to open and regrease on the os, something to read tonight)

 

[Voymom]

Oh, I can feel that , have a drink and get some sleep, , if temp warms up it may work in the morning. It it does, it may be the grease in the disconnect motor. The shifter that actually locks the axle is fairly rugged, by the actuator motor and shaft are not.

Try it tomorrow afternoon and let us know (the roadie has a how-to open and regrease on the os, something to read tonight)

Yeah I plan on a nice cold one to warn me up lol I am so angry at both myself and the truck. But hopefully tomorrow will bring better news. I doubt it will be warmer, but Tuesday is supposed to be about 70 degrees, so we will see.

 

[Me007gold]

You didnt back out of the spot in 4wd did you?

 

[Voymom]

You didnt back out of the spot in 4wd did you?

No I backed up first. I put it in 4x4 right before I put the truck in drive.

 

[blazinlow89]

Not trying to Hijack your thread, but the last trip to Florida we drove my TB. It was the week between Christmas and New Years (big mistake for Disney). Well we had a nice snow storm on the 26th, and we left at 1 am. The drive was smooth til NC, 5 inches of snow on the road with out a single plow in sight. I drove pretty much the entire state in 4wd high, stopped once for a rest break, someone comes flying at me (i was stopped), so i throw into reverse and avoid a catastrophe. Get much further down the road like the middle of SC, stop again go to back out of a spot, and the trans make a nice clunk and starts whirring loudly (4wd off now). Turn the truck of try again, same thing. I push the truck out by hand (by myself, glad the ground was pretty flat, and I was pretty pissed off so I am sure that helped) So we stop to eat in GA I test the reverse, works perfect. No problems since then 4wd still works fine and all gears work perfectly.

The frozen thing sounds like a good possibility.

 

[George]

this should cheer you up
Chicago Blackhawks at Detroit Red Wings Game Recap - 03/04/2012

 

[Voymom]

this should cheer you up
Chicago Blackhawks at Detroit Red Wings Game Recap - 03/04/2012

Yeah no lol It was a lucky win that's for sure!!!

I hope it's just frozen. I'm going to go out in 15 minutes for food..so we will see if it works then.

 

[ConeKilrAutoX]

Yeah no so we will see if it works then.

hey...I had a short in the fuse box before that caused this (really scared me). Is there any sound at all like its trying to go into or out of 4wd? Maybe try taking out the fuse for active transfer case and then putting it back in. FUSE 8
View attachment 19334

 

[Voymom]

hey...I had a short in the fuse box before that caused this (really scared me). Is there any sound at all like its trying to go into or out of 4wd? Maybe try taking out the fuse for active transfer case and then putting it back in. FUSE 8
View attachment 4668

Nope that's not it either, hubby checked all the fuses last night. And no noise at all, silent as can be. We still don't have 4wd as of this morning. My husband is in the process of tearing into the dash of my truck. It's just odd. We had absolutely no sign, noises, or weird vibes coming from the rear/front or 4wd. I have backed out of my driveway in 4A before and had no issues. It just decided to be a PITA during a snow storm. I tell you what though, if this truck starts laughing because he thinks this is funny, I'm going to slip some sugar into his fuel tank.....

I have full coverage insurance who's laughing now Phantom?!!

 

[navigator]

when you turn the switch to 4H you don't hear anything, even with the windows down and the radio/fan off?
You should hear the actuator try to engage when you turn the switch to 4Hi. If you don't hear that then I would guess the switch to start, I think it is a common failure item.

You might try cycling the switch several times when the vehicle is off to see if maybe it "cleans" the contacts off.
If you turn the switch and you hear the actuator working but it still fails then it could be the actuator itself or the splined disconnect needs cleaning/re-greasing or repair.

 

[The_Roadie]

My husband is in the process of tearing into the dash of my truck.

Why is he doing that? Troubleshooting the 4WD system doesn't have that as an early step.

1) Observe the lights on the 4WD mode switch during each of the mode transitions.

2) Describe the motor noises you hear especially during the 2HI->A4WD and A4WD->4HI transitions.

 

[Voymom]

Why is he doing that? Troubleshooting the 4WD system doesn't have that as an early step.

1) Observe the lights on the 4WD mode switch during each of the mode transitions.

2) Describe the motor noises you hear especially during the 2HI->A4WD and A4WD->4HI transitions.

1)We observed the lights on the 4wd mode...the yellow light which is over the mode you choose went out when I put it in 4H. The light will not and has not came back on.

2) There are absolutely NO motor noises when switching from 2H to any of the 4wd modes...never have been since I have owned it. I have used 4wd before without incident.

We looked at the switch and nothing seems burned out at all...as far as the light goes. Unless there is some type of electrical short/failure altogether?

 

[navigator]

I have to have it pretty quiet in the TB to hear the actuator.
If you didn't have it pretty quiet before and were listening for it before you likely wouldn't hear it.
I think the contacts that cause issue are inside the switch.

You might try cycling the switch a bunch while off and see if that will help.

 

[Voymom]

Thank you everyone for your continued support and help, but we have decided to drive our GMT to an empty corn field and take care of this truck once and for all.....nothing a few gallons of gasoline and a match couldn't handle..

Just kidding!!! We fixed the problem. We had a loose connection in the TCCM from when we did auto fogs and quad light mods last week.

And you all seriously thought I would burn my baby

Spoke to soon...And now I feel like driving it to said field and setting him ablaze!!
Hubby took it around the block to test 4wd. Now truck is making a sputtering sound idle weird...and the SES light came on so he is going to have it read as we don't have a reader. I will update with the code shortly. BURN BABY BURN!!!

The code was for the crankshaft/camshaft. When the mechanic canceled out the code the light went off. And now it's idling fine. The 4wd light went back off when we tried to put 4wd in 4H. Time to do some forum searching lol

 

[blazinlow89]

I would look at the inside of the switch, or source a new one. Cheap on ebay.

Im leaning toward electrical, loose harness, bad wire, switch etc. Then again someone who has had this issue might have a better solution. Like I said mine decides when it wants to work, I know it is the switch. I just need to pull it apart and clean it real good.

 

[The_Roadie]

The indicator lamps in the switch are totally separate from the mode selection.

To see if the lamps themselves work, just turn the ignition on. They should ALL flash on as a lamp test.

You can listen for the front axle actuator and the transfer case encoder motor noises because you can exercise the modes with the engine off! Except for going into or out of the 4LO mode, which is interlocked to only happen in neutral, you can do all the modes while in PARK.

When you change from 2HI to 4HI, what is the EXACT appearance of the light? What happens to the 2HI light? What happens to the 4HI light?

 

[Voymom]

.

When you change from 2HI to 4HI, what is the EXACT appearance of the light? What happens to the 2HI light? What happens to the 4HI light?

There is/was no light. My normal switch when working has white lights lighting up the 2H 4A 4H 4L modes on the bottom of the switch. Then on the top of the switch there is supposed to be an orange round light which moves over to the mode you put it in, for example if I am in 2H the orange light is above the 2H if I am in 4H the orange light is above the 4H...I do not have that orange light anymore. I did go out and listen for "noise" when switching from 2H-4H and I do hear noise, but I have to be outside the truck to hear it...my engine is loud for some reason.

My husband played with the TCCM and after we cleared the SES light p1345 code, everything has been working fine. I ran it with 2H through 4H and it worked like it should. The yellow light is back, and no SES light and I took it out and about for an hour or more.

I think we fixed the issue, but i'm not holding my breath lol

 

[The_Roadie]

I did go out and listen for "noise" when switching from 2H-4H and I do hear noise, but I have to be outside the truck to hear it...my engine is loud for some reason.

As I said, you can switch modes with the engine off. It's very important to memorize the noises that it makes when it's working, so you can identify the different noises it makes if it partially fails. You can tell the front axle actuator from the encoder motor easily because the actuator ONLY makes its distinctive high pitched noise in 2HI->A4WD transitions and vice versa. The encoder motor makes its lower pitched and shorter noise in all possible mode transitions.

Hop to it. Everybody.

 

[Voymom]

As I said, you can switch modes with the engine off. It's very important to memorize the noises that it makes when it's working, so you can identify the different noises it makes if it partially fails. You can tell the front axle actuator from the encoder motor easily because the actuator ONLY makes its distinctive high pitched noise in 2HI->A4WD transitions and vice versa. The encoder motor makes its lower pitched and shorter noise in all possible mode transitions.

Hop to it. Everybody.

Thanks Roadie!! Finally got what you were trying to say lol I was in fact able to identify both high and low pitched noises when going from 2H to 4H and back.