marc - edgewater MD - 97 taco

sorry guys just read this is for intro's only so disregard my problem below as I don't read directions real well and put it in the wrong forum.(unless u might have this problem too). But I'm Marc from MD, just got a good deal on a 97 taco, runs good but got some gremlins in the 4wd.

i know im a newb and there's prob a bunch a threads already posted about this but havent been able to track one down that exactly explained how to troubleshoot this. heres the background: just bought a 97 A/T v6 3.4 with elocker. The guy i bought it off barely used 4wd over last 5 years. I hit the pushbutton a few times since i owned it and no problems engage and disengaging 4wd. past weekend, i drove up to pittsburgh and hit big time snow on the hiway, so i hit the button on the fly goin about 40 mph and engaged no problem. when i got to where i didnt need it, i pushed the button and and it wouldnt disengage. tried every combination of pushing the button, shifting gears - forward/reverse, accelerating to try to get it out of 4wd but no luck.

I left the pushbutton in disengage position and drove with in 4wd in hopes it would pop back out (don't know if this is bad idea and caused more damage?) Sure enough I hit a big pot hole and somehow jarred something that knocked it back out of 4wd. i then hit the button to test if it was fixed and same thing got locked into 4wd and wouldnt come out. So I had to drive from pittsburgh to baltimore around 65 mph with it in 4 wd again with button in disengage position. when I got home to baltimore, I turned it off, got underneath and wiggled the shift control rod and electrical connections on the tcase actuator, then turned the truck on and bam-4wd was off. don't know if these were just coincidences or its a loose wire or what, but haven't put it back in 4wd since.

before i tear into this thing, if anybody could offer some direction or links, it'd be kindly appreciated...from looking at alot of the other posts, it seems like it's a common problem. I'm thinking of startin with the easy stuff and testing the pushbutton switch cuz no problem engagin just wont' disengage. sorry for the longwinded description but I figure the more details, the easier it is to diagnose.

 

Welcome!
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