4x4 not engaging

Sorry if this is in the wrong place..

I'm a new 2007 toyota tacoma owner as of 2 weeks ago, truck has 50,000 miles.. 4x4 auto 4.0l v6.

I hadn't tested out the 4x4, and was assured that it was functional from the dealership i bought it from (i know always test it.. but where in the city?). today i decided to read through the manual and see if i can get it going.. the manual said something along the lines of (dumbed down) , that "the 4x4 light will come on in 4HI, and blink until it locks in all the way? then the light will remain on (not blinking)"... At least thats what i thought it meant.

I put the truck in neutral , pressed the break , and put it in 4H from 2H.. Light came on and blinked, i accelerated maybe 50 feet to see if it would lock in and i don't think it did..

i got my neighbor who has had a lot of trucks over the years to see if he could help me out on this one.. we went to a little sand lot and promptly got stuck. So now we tried 4LO.my method; neutral, brake, pushed in the switch and moved it to 4LO and nothing...

It led to an hour of us digging out and eventually jacking the truck up and putting wood under the tire to drive out.. I'de appreciate any insight as to why it isn't working OR what i'm doing wrong. If i can't figure it out i'm going to be raising hell at the dealership that assured it was 100% functional in all test.

 

It can sometimes take a while to engage. I had the same problem with mine when I first got it. You're supposed to stick it in 4wd for a few miles at least once a month. If it hasn't been in 4wd in a long time, it could take a while. For 4hi, drive about 50mph, then engage it, and wait for the light to stop blinking.

 

Keep it in drive and try switching from 2wd to 4Hi on the fly. You can shift on the fly up so something like 60 MPH (look at your sun visor, detailed instructions on on the back of that).

You can NOT switch from 4Hi to 4Lo until 4Hi is locked in. You also need to be stopped to go from 4Hi to 4Lo, again all on the sun visor.

If it still doesn't engage, take it back to the stealership, that could indicate something wrong with the ADD system.

 

Try switching from 2H to 4H while rolling in low speed, in gear, then accelerate and decelerate.

If that doesn't do it - well, the actuators do sometimes fail.

If you bought it from a Toyota dealer, they ought to make it right at no charge.

 

Good catch, and yes, that is an important typo

Edit: What typo?

 

What chops

 

^Good advice..

Thanks for the help everyone i'll go try it out.. hopefully it's just being slow from sitting in the lot for awhile.

 

Driving on the street, going straight, and putting the transfer case into H4 will harm nothing. Turning (much) should be avoided if the pavement is dry, as there will be 'binding' (difficulty steering) since the front tires rotate more than the back when turning, and in 4WD the front and back are 'locked' together. On dirt, water or ice, slipping is allowed to relieve the bind. Go back into H2 to turn on dry surfaces.

You can shift in and out of H4 anytime, up to 60 mph, and as said above, should do so monthly for several minutes. The info card should be in your sun visor... looks like this:

 

Just got back from trying to get in 4H at around 50mph..
at first i didn't feel anything and the light just came on and blinked.. after trying a couple times i could have sworn i was feeling it lock in, it almost felt like a shift right when i turned the knob to 4H.

but of course the light is still blinking.. I'm going to take it to the Toyota dealership and have one of the mechanics check it out i guess.

i did stop, put it in neutral and try to shift it into 4LO but it still flashed then made a buzzing noise.. i guess that means i did something wrong, or something is wrong.

 

Beeping just means it didn't go into 4Lo at all.

Which isn't a surprise since it wouldn't go into 4Hi either.

 

You cant go to 4L from 2H you have to hit 4H first...

 

Sorry for the confusion- i had it set to 4H , stopped, and tried to put it in 4L .. Not from 2H.. but yeah not surprising i guess if it didn't go into 4H in the first place.

 

Yeah if you dont go into 4H first then 4L is a no go.

 

It is on the card, and I posted the card above... to get into (or out of) L4 in an automatic, you need to be in N Neutral (not P Park), then rotate the dial... To go into L4, you also depress the dial while rotating it past the H4 position. You CAN go into L4 from H2... you do go past the H4 position, but you don't need to stop at H4... Same goes for leaving L4 to H2.

 

Let us know what the dealer says.

My money's on "remove/replace/reinstall front diff actuator."

 

How long did you leave it in 4hi on the drive before assuming it wouldn't go in? I would let it sit there while driving for at least 5 minutes before turning it back to 2hi.

 

around a minute or two.. I'm starting to feel it switch over to 4H i think, like i said above; it feels like the vehicle is shifting, but right when i turn the dial from 2H to 4H.. Maybe it just needs to get back in the swing of things. ill try it again tomorrow on my way to work and get back to you guys.

 

Five Minutes? If I'm on a snowy road going 25 mph that's over two miles before it engages!

The thing needs to engage within a couple hundred feet of when you turn it on.

 

Well, since mine currently isn't working - I'm certainly inclined to agree.

 

make that either 2 or 3 of us, I gave up and handed it over to a shop, if it breaks again Im going cable actuated or permanant 4wd or tank treads.