First time tacoma owner.

I tried it once I can try again.

 

Still same result, flashing and beeping. My 4h works but not 4lo. I guess its something failing now. Mechanically or electrical I don't know.

 

Bummer. I'm just guessing but probably not actually a bad part. These things seem to get 'sticky' if they aren't used. Maybe somebody else will pop up with a trick for you to try.

 

Well thanks for your help John. I am glad I joined the Tacoma family. Every vehicle has its quirks. No vehicle is perfect. Previous owner must have not used 10 miles a month like manual clearly states

 

Oh Boy, another Reg. cab guy, seems pretty intelligent. I got my 2013 Taco, reg. cab, 4X4, auto., appx. 2 yrs. ago, First time I tried to go from Hi to Lo, it beeped & light flashed several times till it went in Lo. Got back to hard ground & went back to HI, but it wouldn't shift to HI. Probably spent 20 min. turning knob to HI, LO, HI, LO, neutral, reverse, back up a little, pull up a little, turn wheels left, right, HI, LO, left, reverse, drive, reverse. HI, right, LO drive, till finally it came out of LO. Worried there was a problem. Trying it several times for the following wk. or two, it worked much better, It's got to the point I rarely give it much thought. Still sometimes I'll need to rock it from Drive to reverse or turn the wheels R & L a couple of times, but shifts without much trouble. I Never had trouble going 2wd to 4wd. I was surprised reading the service manual, I forgot exactly what it said, but something like shift it to 4X4 & drive appx. 5 mi. every month. Where will city dwellers go to be able to drive 5 mi. every month, but not driving on concrete or asphalt? I do try to remember to shift mine every month, but don't pay much attention to how far I drive in 4X4. just make sure it shifts......Also highly recommend LED interior light & intermittent wiper switch, both relative cheeep & easy to install. Welcome to TW & Good luck

 

You're welcome. There have been multiple posts about this in the past that you can search-up. Just in case it's an actual electrical problem or something.

 

Thanks for your insight as well Rick much appreciated. If I can't get it after a few days I'll take it and have it checked by professional.

 

Okay after some more reading I believe I may know what's going on. Mechanically I have 4hi. I know because of climbing hills. But electronically I have nothing. It sounds dumb but hear me out. The first step in the 4wd is 4hi which I can achieve. But the 4wd light never stops flashing so that puts the whole system at a stand still. Mechanically I have 4 hi but electronically the truck still thinks it's in 2h. Hence the 4wd light never stops flashing and i cant go into 4lo. Which is why both lights never stop flashing and the beeping.So now I am gonna have to take to mechanic to see what is malfunctioning electronically.

 

As suggested do some digging on the forums the 4wd issues pretty well documented.

When you get it checked out by a pro see what they diagnose it as and maybe do a forum search before going forward with any repairs.

Sometimes my 4wd won’t engage (light keeps flashing). When it does this I hammer on the actuator (ADD) and then it works. This makes me suspect it’s the actuator (well known problem). Solution is to either replace the ADD or you can fix it by re-soldering the connections inside (the stock solder on the motor inside is junk). Here’s a vid:
https://youtu.be/ZJESG91GbCQ

My 4wd only started acting up when I didn’t use it for a while. Got my truck brand new and would drive minimum 2mi daily in 4wd never had a single ssue until around 160k when I stopped using my 4wd as much and even sat the truck for a few months. After that is when it started acting up. So now I try to use my 4wd at least once a month. I plan to re-solder mine but just haven’t gotten around to it but it’s on the to do list this year.

 

Welcome to TW, use the search function and read up on this. There are many things you can try yourself to trouble shoot the problem . Ask us questions when you don't understand something. It could be something rusted in place and a tap of a hammer , in the right place might free it up. Even if you don't want to do the wrenching, knowing what's wrong will help you from being bent over a barrel by a dealer or service shop.

 

Make sure the truck is in neutral and stopped before going into 4LO, if it flashes instead of going into 4LO drive very slowly forward and backward until is engages.

 

I tried forward and backwards, turning wheels left and right. It goes into 4hi flawlessly. But the 4wd light never stops flashing which it should once 4hi is engaged. So I believe the signal is sent by the switch for the transfer case to engage. But the signal doesn't come back to the truck. So the computer thinks it's still in 2h even though mechanically it's not. Thus not allowing the 4lo to engage no matter what I do. Because according to my knowledge you have to go to 4lo from 4h. You can't go from 2h straight to 4lo. So is it a solenoid that carries the electric signal? It's a very simple system this 4wd. There's the mechanical which I believe is working fine then there's the electrical part. If I know what carries the signal throughout the whole system I believe that is the problem. Also would explain why I can't come out of 4hi without shutting truck off and restarting it. It make sense after thinking about it so much. The signal between the switch and the computer is broke. If it were mechanical I wouldn't have 4hi. Which I have already determined is working. So the loop between the transfer switch and the I guess the 4wd ECU is broke.

 

Thanks to everyone who has commented on my thread. I am sure you all are very busy with your own problems. I am truly blessed by the lord even on my darkest day.

 

Welcome to TW. Hope you get this solved.