[Redacted] Ruined My Truck?

As a weird habit, I leave the hood up from job start to job finish. Though, with an ex like that, I would have been tempted to pull and secure the battery too.

 

Reminds me of a time I changed a water pump on my car many, many years ago. Buttoned it up except for coolant refill. Borrowed my girlfriend's car to go to the parts store and when I got back my car was hot as you know what...................yep, she took the car to run to the store with basically zero coolant. Luckily it was a short drive and nothing disastrous happened although it cost me some sleep. I kept that car for another 10 years and tons of miles. Old small block Olds in a Cutlass. Awesome car!

 

Divorce

 

Sure but she will probably get the truck!

 

Yep

 

More than once I have driven into a plowed parking lot in FWD after driving there on snow covered roads. Kind of lets you know right away your in FWD never damaged a thing.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Slap her on the butt and tell her to get in the kitchen and fix you a samich.

 

Put some duct tape over the 4wd switch if she drives the truck on a regular basis.

 

Totally agree. I had a Bronco at one time and wife drove it with park brake on for about 5 miles. She arrived at destination, got out and noticed smell and thought she ruined it so she took it to a dealer and called me. I went to dealer and could smell it and knew right away what happened. If she's a keeper then you can't replace her but the truck will be fine. If unlikely something is wrong it can be fixed and way cheaper than a running issue or divorce.

 

Not that it matters, but that's not true. The front end has a differential unless you've put in a locker, so the left and right front wheels don't care about the difference in distance. It's the difference in distance between the front and rear wheels, as the Transfer case is "locked". The Tfer case is where the pressure/binding is built up. Not a big deal, just thought I'd share.

 

I normally drive my wife's car to work since it gets like 4x my fuel mileage. One day I forgot she needed the car as she had to drive into Seattle and the truck won't fit in the parking garage where she was heading. She drove the truck to where I work and swapped rigs. I got in and tried to back outta a parking spot while turning and found it was in 4wd. Was not her fault... I had put it in 4wd to back up our steep lawn (and left it parked there). She had no idea it was in 4hi. OOPS. I am happy to take the blame on this one. Stuff happens. Teach the wife how 4wd works and it'll be good going forward. Sounds like these transfer cases can take a lot of abuse before popping.

 

I did the opposite...so, she could drive and now five years and she still hasn't driven the truck.

 

My wife has done this too. Came to pick me up on a circular drive way. I could hear the tires scrubbing all the way around. Like nails on a chalkboard. The truck is fine.

 

Chicks dig the Tacoma's

 

It would surprise a lot of folks on TW that an entire generation of boomers leave their trucks in 4HI 24/7. My neighbor has a 3rd gen and hasn't once taken it out of 4HI.

The trucks are incredibly resilient and differential failures are catastrophic. They don't usually break a little or in subtle ways. They just explode.

You're fine.

 

Unless something is not working in the 4WD system now, I wouldn't worry much. In the absolute worst case, the transfer case got a little hot. You could change the fluid for peace of mind, but that is a bit paranoid.

Is driving in 4hi good for the truck? no. But even on dry pavement, when the system binds up, you are more likely to break traction at the tires than actually break an axle.

 

Consider it a favor as the truck needs to engage 4WD every month.

I also wouldn’t show her the title of this thread, or tell her she ruined your truck. Lol!