2010 4WD broken

The motor (and pinion) itself can be replaced without splitting the tcase. the motor turns a pinion which drives a rack on the shaft in and out. if the rack gear was stripped you would probably need to break the case to replace the whole shaft but highly unlikely. There may have been something else wrong in your situation...

 

^^^ What they said. When I first got mine, I thought somethin was wrong too. Then I read the little slip thing they put in the sun visor that tells you about the 4WD, and it worked like a charm. Someitmes ya just gonna finnagle it a little.

That's the one major thing I'd change about the 2nd gens. I hate the knob. I loved the floor shifter/manual hubs on my '94, even though you had to get out and lock the hubs.

 

wow, that's a lot of dough... another person from i remember reading a thread about his 1st gen locking rear was locked in place and did not disengage. What I recalled was him and his buddy superglued the actuator and it worked like a charm...

 

so...OP...whats the verdict did switching while driving work?

 

When mine gets wet the 4low and 4high will blink and not work, but if I turn it off and on a few times it starts to work. It has happened a few times after washing or slushy roads. I think its something near the tranfer case getting wet/ shorting out. I will get it into the dealer someday.

 

Op where are you?

 

its like the guy who says "hey how are you?" but walks away not waiting to hear the response...

 

...I figured out that I needed to step on the clutch a little harder; once I did that it goes right in to 4WD no problem. Good luck!

 

Just put the gear shift in neutral for a few seconds and then back to drive and the indicator will stop blinking and then it will be engaged.

 

You need to press the clutch for 4Lo, but should be able to shift into 4Hi on the fly without the clutch.

 

bump... need an update...what was the problem?

 

sorry to leave ya guys in the dark for a while there, they figured it out and said it was actualy a malfunction in the switch in the vehical.... weird right? well anyways they replaced it and it seems to work fine except it still slams in and out of 4wheel once in a while and is very anoying and sounds terrile dose this happen with other tacomas?

 

put the clutch to the floor as hard as you can then put it in 4wd it schould go right in if its blinking creap backword a little untill it goes in youll hear it,, then put the clutch clear to the floor and take it to 4 lo itl go right in

 

You mean "clunk" when engaging or disengaging. yep normal its vacum operated so it has to slide the ring in front diff noting to worry. replace front/ Transfer oils with synthetic it should make noise less loud.

 

did you test the 4x4 when you bought it? or since you bought it?

 

yes i had used the 4x4 many times before this happened. infact i had used it the night before. we get plenty of snow here in upstate NY so its a must

 

thanks for your update.
so it was the switch behind the knob on the dash?
Mine was the actuator and did the same thing you described. It worked great during the first 16k then one moment nothing. I did get it to go into 4Lo once afterwards thank god so I wasn't SOL up on the mountain. Nothing absolutely none of the tricks made it work other than the dealership diagnose and repair.

 

If you live in snow country USA, why don't you just leave it in H4 (4WD) until spring? If you lived in Siberia or Alaska or Canada, I bet the truck would never come out of 4WD...

 

Until they salt the roads and you have bare pavement...Even when it snows i drive around in 2hi until i NEED 4hi. (4-6in+) Driving a selectable 4x4 on pavement is no good...

 

Umm, unless the pavement is dry, there is no harm. Only dry pavement is there a chance of binding. Better to leave it in 4WD and be able to drive, then to not get the thing to engage from 2WD and stay stuck in the snow dift, right?

Haven't you ever used 4WD High on a rainy day for maximum control when driving? With the new '09 & newer Tacomas with VSC/ TRAC, we don't need to, but on the '05 and '01 I would often go into H4 on rainy days. 136,000 miles on the '01 and 102,000 miles on the '05 and NO problems doing so.