Transfer Case Actuator

That's because government standards are asking for cars to go to park whenever the doors are opened in the near future...

I think Ford is the only manufacturer that has a car like that...So far.

 

I laugh ever time I read a post on here. A group of enthusiasts forget they may only be a small part of the market for a particular vehicle. MOST people push a button and go on about their merry way. Look to Jeep JK 4 doors as a prime example. They made a product that opened up their market to every soccer mom on the planet and sales went nuts. Sure the hardcore enthusiasts complain some features or designs ignore the core but lets be honest. Every manufacturer is trying to make money and money is generated by higher profit margins and higher sales.

My mother in law wouldn’t know how to select 4low or anything else. But she can push the 4wd button and that is what she wants. I am with those who are lever fans. Worst case is you have to go under and lube or spray rust breaker in the linkages and work the lever and all is good. I am in the minority and as long as the general public want buttons thats what we will get. No different than the world no longer knowing how to drive stick. The option is disappearing. I wish we had rubber floors and not carpet as I think this is the stupidest thing ever in a truck but I think Dodge is the last truck manufacturer to offer carpet delete. Seriously think about it. We get carpet and then cover it with every type of protector to keep it clean and we never touch the carpet unless we are actually cleaning it.

 

I think most people don't care. All Toyota 4wd trucks had levers up until 2005. 4Runners until 2003. In fact the 4Runner went back to a lever on the transfer case on the 5th gen in 2009. Didn't back then and doesn't now seem to hurt their sales.

So that's the target consumer for Tacoma, our mother in laws? I'd expect such a feature to be desirable in RAV4 for that market. In all honesty I do think the majority of people don't really care, otherwise Toyota wouldn't have gone back to it on the 4Runner and the Cruiser has always had a stick for the t-case. The Land Cruiser here in the U.S. is definitely aimed at a person who you'd think would, for $80K, never want to be bothered with something like that.

I think perhaps the argument that people don't want to get out to lock in manual hubs might be valid. I just wish Toyota would offer them as an option still, though.

 

Just got an update yesterday, Saturday the 4th, part finally arrived and the transfer case will have to be removed and split. The actuator is one with the shafts that run inside and have the clips that retain some parts, selectors I guess, as I have not been involved with 4x4's for years so don't know how they did it with this one.

Corporate have escalated my issue into a case and will contact me on Monday, tomorrow. I can’t wait to hear the excuses for the delay and problem.

Hope it all goes well and I’m back on the road and no more problems.

 

Keep us updated on what happens.

 

Everything old is new again. My dad had a Dodge Dart when I was a toddler (63 or 64 was the year I believe) with the push-button automatic on the left side of the steering wheel.

 

Meanwhile back on the topic...sounds like this transfer case is designed for the electric actuator. Any ideas on how to check fuses, relays, manually operate it, or check voltage on servo motor, or energize it - in case you just lost a switch? Maybe there is a Toyota mechanic out there with good electrical skills? Now you can see why serious off-roaders take an old gen Taco or 4 Runner and build/rebuild it to get what they want without the baubles.

 

With systems so integrated finding the fail point is the biggest problem. Certain parts have to work first before other systems will be allowed to function. One member here had a failure in the front axle actuator and it wouldn't allow the transfer case to shift out of 4-wd and he had to have the truck towed to the dealer. We need a operational flow chart that points out what the computers need to see before the next item operates. What's wrong is the Nanny sensors that sideline you for simple failures especially if your facing a backwoods 100 mile tow.

 

Got the Tacoma back last night. So far so good. Will take it into work today and put it through it's paces.

As many of us are curious as to what happened I asked for the old part but I was told I couldn't have the defective part as Toyota had it shipped back overnight, as it was the first 2017 this happened to and they wanted to examine it. Too bad they couldn't overnight the new part when it first happened. This make it exactly two weeks later I get the truck back.

I list of codes and parts used for the fix:

200 Replace Trans Actuator Assembly...
9346 Maldonado, Marco Lic#: Y
WT3
1 x 36410-71010 Actuator Assy, Trans
2 x 90520-13002 Ring, Shaft Snap
1 x

$35 00295-01281 Formed-in-Place Transmission Gasket - 3.5 oz. Tube

00295-01281 F. I. P. G., Trans.

From what I have been told during this ordeal is that once the truck was in the condition it was there was no way to shift it out of 4Lo. Time will tell as there are usually workarounds to most vehicle situations. Or Toyota may change the design.

Will post again tonight or tomorrow with real world test results.

 

Looks like 36410-71010 Actuator Assy, Trans retails for 803.59 ! + Labor? Off warranty, would be a real bend over for that little plastic box on back of transfer case.

 

This is not helping ease my inner voice to sell my bike and trade the taco for a 4runner.

 

4 Runner PRO!

 

Too rich for my blood. I wouldn't mind a nice trail I could mod. I think I'd really miss having a truck though, but Japan assembled piece of mind

 

Put the Tacoma through it's paces today and all things worked as they should. I just need to get used to pushing buttons and not look for a lever or two.

If anything else arises I will post it.

One good thing that came out of it was Toyota corporate gave me a $1,500 allowance for anything sold through any of their dealers. I asked for clarification, of parts and or only Toyota accessories, and was told it didn't matter what company made it as long as I purchased it through a Toyota dealer, in person, online or any other way as long as it came with a receipt from the Toyota dealer.

 

They sure did right by you.

 

Skybolt, Glad you got treated well by dealer. I've mentioned here on TW a good dealer in Denver area -Stevinson- and panned a shaft-oriented one. Please mention Dealer's name if possible.
BTW, I'm keeping my 01 Taco 3.4L Extracab 5spd, 4WD with levers.
Maybe this should be a separate post about vulnerability of electrical gadgets. Of course, inside the gadget or sensor there are problems as we saw here.
I noticed all the boxes and sensors on the 3rd Gen Taco with wires coming out of them- that are just loose wires from the connector/plug, before entering conduit wrap.
We have a problem with rodents chewing on wires under vehicles here in the mountains.
-Also with vibration, the internal strands can flex between conduit cover and connector/plug and break strands inside the wires. I first protected/stabilized the exposed insulated wires with a blob of silicone. Then I wrapped on a piece of flex plastic corrugated conduit over the connector going to the conduit cover of the cable. Finally, zip ties go over the conduit. This just protects the exposed wires.

There is problem with larger inter-dependent systems of electronics. If all parts must work to have the system -ie Taco drivetrain work, then you can use joint probabilities to analyze the system. For a very simplified example: If 15 devices have a reliability of 99%, and all are needed to make the system work, then you can multiply the probabilities- Prob(A)*Prob(B)...15 times to get joint probability- ie that all will function. So taking .99 (Y to the X) 15 =.8600, or the probability that the system will work is 86%. With 98% reliable individual components, the overall would be .738 or 73.8% . This suggests that each component must be extremely reliable to keep the system working. An old buddy Toyota lead mechanic used to say, "If that happens, you be walkin..."
Maybe us retro-grouch lever advocates are on to something?

 

It was not the dealer but corporate that made the offer.

It could be that I let them know what I thought of Toyota vehicles before and during this situation.

I used Toyota vehicles for years doing exploration work and my life sometimes depended on a Landcruisers getting me in and especially out of the middle from nowhere. This was my first personal purchase of a Toyota, although I had done so for exploration companies before, and was not impressed 3 days into ownership. The other thing was the Toyota system of "just in time" did not apply to customers as the part for my Tacoma took two weeks to arrive.

The service department at Toyota of Glendora sorted out the problem once they received the part. I was not happy that the dealership I purchased it from, Camelback Toyota, did not follow it up after I unformed them the day the problem arose. They did call me the next day, that was two weeks ago, to find out what happened but that was the last I heard from them about it. No follow up or after sales service.

 

On the 4Runner Trail models all the manual lever does is activate the electronic actuator so you can't seem to escape it on modern vehicles even with a mechanical end point lever. So even there it's not a fully mechanical action...imo

 

Latest update. Took the Tacoma up to Big Bear and tried the 2N02 trail to see how it was working. I shouldn't have been surprised at how well the truck handles but it was a hoot. Now I have about 900 miles on it and will try to get over 1000 miles before my trip to Moab. Haven't done anything else to the truck so I won't be doing any extreme or even difficult trails yet. Didn't even have to change the tire pressure. Just got my ezy-deflator and next is the compressor.

Getting back to the actuator, it worked as it was supposed to and I did change from low to high without any problems. The locker worked, the electronic LSD is still a mystery as whether it works or not, but didn't try the crawl os terrain settings but did that at about mile 400.

 

Same thing happened to me in Glamis this weekend. I am currently stuck in 4Hi with the green light flashing. Was everything covered under warranty?