Stuck in 4hi 2018 Tacoma OR 4x4 DCSB

Frustrating. At least they have it noted in their database. I don't know why rain would cause this issue. But next time it happens, I would drive straight to the dealer.

 

Low and behold lol it happened again when I went to a off road trail in the outskirts of the city. I’m stuck in 4HI again LMAO. I switched back to 2HI and the light stays green flashing. Hopefully in the morning it fixes itself again so I can go to work. When I get back from annual training I’m going to induce the problem and activate 4HI and hopefully it stays stuck (for dealer diagnosis). before I get to the dealer so they can see it first hand. My guess is what all the forums say. Either the front diff actuator or transfer case actuator is the problem and they get stuck. So IMO anybody that has a 3rd gen Tacoma 4x4 should actively engage 4HI (at appropriate dirt roads). To make sure it is fully working to weed out any possible factory defects like my suspected one. Will update results in a month or so when I get back lol. I’m already dreading the field

 

I’m going to say no it wasn’t the rain....



(Sorry had to grab the photo from the video of me crossing.)

 

Hey, it was an ‘85 and I said 30 feet! But it does work if it cant disengage most of the time. I also found that turning (on dirt) did it too. I have not had the issue in my 3rd gen though, and it sounds like OP certainly has a issue (and a warranty fix) with his.

 

Good luck, let us know where it goes. And thanks for your service!

 

Yoo! Update to who ever cares on the Tacoma 4x4 issue. I switched to 4Hi and it switched fine the green light stayed solid worked great. Then the next day I went off road again it worked again then I switched back to 2Hi (on the fly) btw...and it got stuck again in 4Hi it would not go back to 2hi and stayed blinking green I know I’m still in 4Hi because it binds. I took it to the dealer and they manually unstucked and switched to to 2Hi. They said it was my fault to user error. They charged me 130$!.. so I leave thinking maybe it is my fault? I try 4Hi again on my usual off road trail and it gets stuck AGAIN and light blinks green. I leave the truck over night in parking lot then in the morning it’ll unstuck itself like it reset. I tested this for 2 weeks straight! It’ll get stuck in 4Hi green light flagging then the next day boom back to 2hi.


To make my point clear. 4x4 works when it wants to some days it will get stuck some days it won’t. Completely random. And Unreliable. For example yesterday I switched to 4Hi in the morning and it would engage but the light will stay blinking green. When I switched to 2Hi it wouldn’t go back. Waited till morning then all of a sudden it’s back to 2hi. Then I tried it today and it works fine. All this started happening at around 7000 miles. Oddly enough this happened the first time the truck EVER SAW RAIN since bought new.... maybe water has something to do with it.... Never happened before those miles or rain . Anybody know what Acutator could be the culprit? Front diff or transfer case one?

ONE THING I forgot to mention. When it all works great I’m able to hear some audible clicks when I switch from 2hi to 4Hi.... when it doesn’t want to work anymore there are no clicks at all.

 

The dealer charged you $130 for “user error?” That’s nuts. It’s also unacceptable.

Clearly, your truck is having an issue (perhaps with the actuator). Try another dealer and/or contact Toyota Corporate to open up a ticket; let them know you expect the original dealer to either issue you a refund or for Toyota to give you some accessory bling for what is obviously poor customer service.

Be the squeaky wheel.

 

Yea man. They charged me 130$ For manually removing the actuator (not sure witch one) and switching it to 2hi... they said I used my 4x4 system incorrectly. they quoted user error. Idk if it’s just me. But I would imagine 4x4 should work on demand. Not one day yes and one day no. This is embarrassing to the family LOL. I told them I got a Toyota because there the most reliable trucks on earth.

 

Toyotas are still man made so there going to break. Toyotas service department stays in business some how.

 

If they told me user error, I would of told them to show me the right way then.

 

its toyotas weak link

 

There is an issue with the wires connecting to the actuator. Mine does the same thing. There are threads about it but right now I cannot find them. Essentially people have been re-soldering the wires after cleaning up the contacts. I really need to do the same thing so if anyone finds the thread about this please post a link. Could not find it through search with various search words.

 

I don’t know if I would go this far in the beginning. I might start cleaning the contacts first then progress from there.

https://youtu.be/ZJESG91GbCQ

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-trouble-shoot-4x4-actuator.263525/

Here it is. Had to search through google.

 

It really does sound like user error.... So I'm with the dealer on it. Learn how it works so you stop having these errors

 

I don’t think so, at least in my case. If you check out the thread I just linked above, lots of people are having this issue. Looks like a design flaw but fixable. Mine behaving exactly as others describe: flashing 4WD indicator and won’t switch back to 2WD even in grass or gravel, turning truck on and off, disengaging battery for ECU reset, etc. it finally disengages on its own when it chooses. I will say my dealer disengaged it by tapping on it with a hammer. I am going to try this fix but that thread has 20 pages of discusssion on it.

 

I live in an extremely wet place and haven't had any issues. I also use mine regularly

 

I’ve driven through a fair amount of floodwaters down here in the Deep South so that could be a contributing factor for mine. I just read the first 15 pages of the thread above. Seems. A lot of people have had issues with either their front diff actuators or transfer case actuators. Wondering if that is a large enough sampling to say it is an issue or just a collection of people who put their trucks to heavy use.

 

It happened again today... I’m driving on a dirt road... come to a stop put it in neutral! And. The switch to 4Hi.as how the dealer said I should.. I can hear it engage. But the light stays green flashing.and it won’t switch back to 2w...
I’m taking her back tomorrow and Explain again... and will open a case with Toyota

 

It’s actually shift on the fly for 4hi, and you should be able to engage or disengage up to 50mph or whatever the magic number is. If you are over that speed it will blink until you back down the max engagement speed then it will engage. Sounds like you have that actuator issue to me. Check out the thread I linked further above.