4x4 Won't Engage - Brand New Tacoma - Looking for answers - Please Help

I own a 2019 Taco, a couple of months old with a couple thousand miles. I've had mine in and out of 4WD several times at various speeds with no problems. I traded an FJ Cruiser for the Taco, had it for 7 years. Granted the transfer case was manually shifted, but I never had a problem engaging 4WD whenever I needed, even at highway speeds.

The rear end has a differential that's engaged full time, it won't care if one tire is a wee bit larger. Move the odd-sized tire to the rear and try again.

 

Oh I meant if he lifted the truck on stands, with brake on, and tried engaging. In that case there would be no speed differential, right? I’m more or less just throwing that out there to determine whether the tread difference is to blame here for the initial engagement

 

Dont waste your time with that service center! 3/32 difference between two tires is less than the error of a couple PSI difference of your tires when measured as equal by your TPMS sensors. You can easily get more than that difference just parking half the tires facing into the sun on a hot day!!

Also, if you ever air down, its easy to have huge differences in tire size and 4x4 locks in without a hitch. Don’t accept their excuse!

 

You are qualified to call your Tacoma a $30,000 truck at the most. Your leather seats and moon roof are irrelevant.

There is absolutely something wrong with your truck. If 3/32" made a difference, it would be near impossible to actuate 4x4 with uneven tire pressures and road conditions.

I did not press play on your video. At this point you have been provided plenty of information on how to proceed. You don't deserve my "views".

 

It's also a first gen.

 

Should've said a different toyota dealership.

 

So you paid $44 for the O/R edition? I got my 2017 in 2016 and got it for $35ish. I dont have a sunroof or leather seats, but still, $44? sheeeiit. One of my friend paid $36 for his 2nd gen...USED. He got ripped off, but I guess it happens to everyone.

 

https://media1.tenor.com/images/82e79ca1048f213df9a788e8aa100368/tenor.gif?itemid=4456954

 

Yeah jack stands would work just fine. So would letting some air out of the newer tire.

 

Sorry to semi Hi-Jack the thread but I do know on AWD vehicles you can mess up the transfer case by having different wheel/tire sizes(tread). That being said I'm new to 4x4 and didn't know this was also an issue for these trucks. My truck is at 11k miles and I got a nail on one of my rear tires, right on the sidewall. I ended up replacing the damaged tire with the spare tire(full size). Will this mess up my truck? I've also engaged 4x4 a few times at speed (under 30 mph) and all seems fine. I am getting new wheels and tires within the next 2-3 weeks. Should I be more cautious and not engage the 4x4 until then?

 

In general, You should only be using 4wd in low traction situations. In those situations, your truck will never know about any slight difference in tires.

Just avoid using 4wd on dry pavement all together. And even on wet, it would not be recommended unless you are actually slipping.

 

I definitely do not use it on dry pavement.

 

The 4x4 engagement is very touchy on my '16 also. I tried to turn it on yesterday to lube up the parts a bit, and the first two times I turned the knob, nothing happened (no blinking light or anything). Then I third time I turned the knob, it took quite a while to engage.

Now today I tried again, and it engaged practically instantly. Mine has been pretty finicky since I've owned it, in terms of how long it takes to engage.

 

^THIS^ Exactly this is what I would do and recommend.

Additional, They need to be the exact same name brand and type or thread pattern as the rear ones. A different name brand of the same size is often a little different in size which could affect ABS, VSC, and other related systems.

I would agree.
Imagine how any issues there would be on cold morning when tires lose air at different rates or when I air down, I don't air down exactly even. I try to, but can't always be exact and the system better work or I'll be toast.

Such a small difference ought to not make such a big difference in the OP scenario, I'd have it towed to another stealership at my expense or let AAA take care of what I pay them for.

Cheers!

 

Easy solution. Tell the dealer to take 4 brand new wheels and tires from another truck on the lot and put them on your truck, then show you that it will shift into 4WD. If it doesn't work, then they get to fix it right instead of just telling you to buy new tires.

 

FIRST OP said he exercises 4wd every month.
AND It has been 3 months since the tire was replaced.
SO 4wd worked at least 3 times with current tire size differential.
THUS Dealer is full of shit.
END.

 

Thanks all for the comments.

Some responses:

I clearly never should have stated what I paid. I think when totaled with the extra warranty I was talked into it came to 43 and change so I rounded up for emphasis. Clearly Wixo, Inferno and others who are fixed only on this, and not helping me with my issue are not fishermen . Maybe I did get ripped off... I don't know.

Big props to BigWhite who I may take up on his offer and I'll be showing that page to the stealership when I go talk to them tomorrow.

I think the best quote from this whole chain is "The dealer is just doing process of elimination at the owners expense which could be construed as a material breach of his performance contract i.e. warranty between the owner and Toyota.". That is exactly how it feels to me. Especially since the first time they just rotated tires and gave it back to me saying it was fine... when it was clearly still broken.
What is disconcerting to me is that when I talked to the service manager over the weekend he told me flat out his technician told him the tread shouldn't make a difference but according to my assigned service guy (Dennis) they called some Toyota Headquarters line (IFT or TIF, or some weird abbreviation) and they were told that it was indeed my tread. So, having been told that they likely are just handing it back to me and telling me I need new tires instead of actually putting it up on a lift and testing the 4x4 or actually digging into how reliable my actuator is or any of the other helpful hints you all have suggested.

I've made an appointment at a local raceway center in Portland to shave my tires so that all 4 have equal tread depth. I only have 18,000 miles on them so I'd like to get a little more life before replacing all 4... I mean... at least a year of driving... I will drive them for a few weeks testing my 4x4 system and will record a video again if it ever acts up or "clunks" again when in use. Then I'll definitely have some ammo to go back to the/a dealership with. At least at this point I have a corporate case built and a hell of a lot of notes from this forum as well as on my trucks records at the shop.

If it does turn out that my shaved tires or 4 new ones solves the issue and my 4x4 works I will forever have this fear in the back of my mind that if my tire pressure for some reason is slightly off or that my tires haven't been rotated properly I may not be able to engage my truck into 4x4 when I desperately need to, either to get unstuck or to drive safely with my family and friends. I don't like that feeling and it's not why I bought an $85k truck.

- Jon

 

Oh - and txags92 - They did exactly that. They said they put 4 new tires on and it works perfectly. But they also told me it works perfectly the first time I tried to pick it up. My plan is to drive it a bit with the 4 new tires tomorrow to see if it's true. Then I'll put my old ones back on and leave to get them shaved even because I don't want to buy 4 new tires after less than year of driving.

 

Everyone is beating a dead horse here with the tires and conco mechanisms at a certain depth with each flux set at a certain psi.

It’s the actuator Torredo. It always has been #namethemovie

 

I am so Impressed by this entire thread (Sarcasm just a hint of it) first thing I saw in the Video is attempting to go into 4 x 4 on the highway that only has a wee little bit of rain on it is no reason to even attempt to engage 4 x 4 no slippage so it won't kick in due to speed and lack of slippage, second item is lack of details is this an Automatic or is it a Manual? the 4 x 4 will not engage / disengage until the clutch pedal is depressed on the manual ones as for the Auto ones I dunno much about those since I don't drive one nor will I. Then the Tire wear thing that is really total bullshit because if out wheeling in the mud what if one tire has mud built up on it and the other does not you going to think that 4 x 4 is not going to work due to that? that dealership should loose your business now because that is the lamest excuse I ever heard.

Edit: I been corrected for the 2018 speed, the 2000 is under 52 and 18 is under 64