4 Wheel Drive Not Working

Black Pipe:

Can you give me the URL where you bought the actuator?

Thanks.

 

I bought mine from camelback Toyota

4140035032 front drive axle, drive axles, differential, actuator Tacoma $272.89

 

Wish I persisted and tried doing this myself. I asked the mechanic to take it apart and soldier the area described. He told me I could not believe these forums were anything other a bunch of 15 year olds posting. He did not do anything other than test it without taking it apart, and charged me $475 for the actuator, and $262.50 for the 20 min it took to inspect and determine the diff actuator failed - duh! I got the actuator back, opened it and was able to get it to function, although I did not test it with juice as I am not sure how. He told me the actuator was frozen in place when he applied current.

It took me about 4 hours to earn the money he charged. Not to mention the 2 hours driving time to get there and back and the hour research time. I think that mechanics are trained nowadays to diagnose and replace. And then charge the book rate for time spent when they probably took 1/4th the time to do the job. Next time I have a simple problem such as this, I will, at the minimum, order the part and replace it myself. Good lesson. Just wish I knew of honest mechanics on Kauai that were not trying to make $3-500 on every repair and were willing to offer a repair to a perfectly good part!

 

FOUND THE MOTHER LOAD. THIS IS A LINK TO TOYOTA 4WD TRAINING GUIDE AN FLOW CHART. YOU CAN EVEN DOWN IT. ALSO UP LOADED FILE IN PDF
http://www.itpstrategic.com/samples/UOT/QT312H 4WD COMPILATION FINAL.pdf

 

I'm a new member but I've visited Tacoma World, literally THE foremost authority with everything Tacoma. Probably, like many, I've found my way to the site because of a problem with my truck. This thread seems to be closely associated.

My Tacoma will shift into 4Hi without difficulty. It will only shift into 4Lo at startup, then will not shift into 4Hi (from Low) unless the battery negative is disconnected (sometimes when starting the truck). Based on this thread, it may be the switch or the front Diff Actuator.

Does anyone have thoughts, advice, recommendations, theories, anything other than "it's a PreRunner wannabe."

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Seems as though I've been having a gremlin in my switch as well. My 4x4 will sometimes light the indicator but not actually be engaged. Other times it simply won't even light up anything as if I hadn't even turned the knob. It used to work if I cycled the truck on/off.

 

It seems like this is a common enough a problem, it's hard to believe there isn't a clear cut solution.

 

Check the control switchs first. It sends a ground to ecu in hi2, no ground in h4 an gound in Lo.
Undo the batt neg to get it out LO is the samething the switch does.

 

Thanks. I will try that and post if it does the job.

 

Mine will engage normally into 4h or 4L like once/day, or once per trip, etc. Let's say it engages normally, I then switch back to 2wd, try immediately after disengage to re-engage to 4H and I get nothing, no light, no click, nothing. If I cycle the key from on-off-on, the 4wd dash light will flash, I hear a click behind the glove box and again nothing if I crank the truck and switch to 4H while running. However, if I switch from 2wd to 4H while the key is in run position but with the engine not running it will shift like it's supposed to.

I wonder if there's a speed sensor or similar that might malfunction and cause this issue? AS in a speed sensor that will not allow the truck to shift if travelling over a certain speed?

To clarify, my ABS light is currently on, codes relate to all 4 wheel speed sensors and one for a short in ABS system. food for thought.

 

Had exactly the same problem with mine. It is not the switch and it is not the ECU. There are two separate electric circuits affecting the transfer case - which is why your shift on the fly doesn't work and you can get it into 4x4 while keying on. The limiter switches are gone and is a $3,000.00 or more repair as 11 hours required to take apart transfer case and new part is $1,200.00. I just got used to stopping, pulling over, and restarting when I needed 4x4 - like back in the old days when you stopped to 'put in' your hubs.

If it was your front ADD, the 4L light would be blinking and no access to 4x4.

 

Do you have a copy of the warranty from the dealer or a copy of the recall

 

Would that be like having a neutered truck?.....

 

It wasn't a recall. My truck was within 3/36k at the time it stopped working.

 

Within the past year I've had the switch not work for 4wd a few times. It just doesn't do anything when I turn it to 4wd, hi or lo. Thankfully not when I needed it. Can't reproduce the cause twice it was right after I was using 4wd and once I was going to put it in during the summer to excerise the parts and nothing. I think it happened once more but I can't remember what was going on. I've tried cycling it in different circumstances and it works. Nothing happens but it just started working after that without issue.

 

No I would trade it in on a Dodge 4x4

 

Similar problem on a 2002 Tacoma (after 250K miles). So far, this is the only thing that works:

1) turn key on (but don't crank),

2) shift to 4WL,

3) press 4x4 switch (on), (no green light).

4) press 4x4 switch again (off).

5) Now with truck still in 4WL and 4x4 switch off and key on, turn key off.

6) Leave in 4WL and turn key on.

7) Press 4x4 switch (on) (green light on).

8) Start truck. Truck will now be in 4WL with green light on.


Now, while running and in 4WL, can shift back to 4WH or leave in 4WL as needed.

Turn 4x4 switch off to disengage when finished with 4x4 duty.

 

Took my ADD off and it was heavily corroded, looks as if moisture got inside the module and got to the solenoid. Truck is a 10 with 145,000. Honest I aint mad. Luckily I have a complete spare front diff and was able to pull the ADD off that one. It looks brand new on the inside and the 4 wheel drive works again.

Thanks to this forum I would have a hard time figuring some things out.