Help! Stuck in 4hi

long story short I was on a trail in 4lo and I thought I put it in neutral to put it in 4hi but it was in drive. Heard some grinding and immediately stopped. I put it in neutral and it went into 4hi. However the green light continues to blink and I know for a fact it is in 4hi and I can’t for the life of me get it into 2WD. I’ve tried about everything. is it the actuator I messed up or something ?

 

My guess would be the actuator. I’m not an expert but I’ve had my fair share of people with that actuator. It’s pretty easy to pull it apart and check it out.

 

From what I’ve seen, that’s my guess as well. Was just hoping it was something else. If my warranty doesn’t cover it, any chance know if it’s expensive ?

 

Backing up didn’t help I guess?

I thought the computer knows you’re in drive and it wouldn’t proceed with the change….it’s all electronic, nothing mechanical.

I still would prefer to have manual hubs and transfer case like my 1993 pathy.

 

Curious, done any water crossings? If so, your actuator case may have leaked and the solenoid may had gotten wet and is now corroded.

If you are stuck, one could take off the rear drive shaft to limp home in front wheel drive, or manually disengage 4h by opening the case and leveraging the actuator.

 

I would try to have it replaced under warranty 1st. They replaced mine under warranty. I had a water issue with my actuator. It went out again and I removed it. Cleaned and grease it up and it works great. No more issues. I don’t know how expensive a new one is.

 

I did do hit some water. I’ll check out the warranty. Gotta hate the electrical transfer cases now

 

Most likely water got inside. The dealer told me that the unit is waterproof but you can’t submerged it. You can take it apart and test the motor out to see if it still works. Clean up the corrosion and rework the connections.
There are a couple of good write ups on removing and repairing the actuator on here. I would also replace the breather tube. Mine had a small hole in it that was hardly noticeable. I double wrapped the breather tube so I won’t have the same issue again.

 

Thanks for the help! I took a look at it and the breather tube came off and even cracked. Luckily my warranty is barely still good so now I have to wait for the dealership to repair it. So you suggest reinforcing the breather tube once fixed?

 

Here’s an update. The actuator was replaced under warranty at the dealership and when I got home I tested it out and now it’s stuck in 4lo smh you would think they’d test it before telling me it’s fixed

 

Dang!! I'm not sure what happened to the dealerships, but I've had several problems with a couple different service department. Even with the FREE oil changes, having to go back to the dealership to fix their mistakes cost a lot of time. Good luck...

 

warranty on a 2017?

 

How’d you get it to the dealer, flatbed?

Sounds like it needs to go back…..pretty bad a dealer couldn’t fix it.

 

Which actuator did they replace?

The ADD, my current issue I think, can mess up the whole system, but that can go for either of any of the actuators if either are showing something the truck does not like.


Pretty sure mine, well now I am defiantly sure after splitting the transfer case actuator, the selector rod is all the way forwards, in 2Hi, but front is locked. tried applying power to the ADD, just some little sparks as pin 1 and 2 are energized, but no sound of anything moving.

 

Yeah I’ve heard the oil change nightmares. I’d definitely prefer doing stuff myself or anything but a dealership. Thanks!

 

Extended warranty when I bought it

 

Yeah thankfully I get free towing and they put it on a flatbed. I definitely sent it back the next day

 

That’s interesting. I’m assuming they replaced the front actuator on mine cause stripped gears and now they’re gonna diagnose it again today and think possibly transfer case but idk yet

 

Really don't like how finiky they are, every start up the truck reads the resistance off any activated connector/switch to determine position, the motor, monitors the load on the motor as it moves everything into the desired position. Kinda annoying that the ECU sees and can test all this, and all I get is a blinking green light with no other information. Was it so hard to make a code or message that just says what is wrong when the truck already knows what is wrong?

Don't even get the 4x4 disabled, go see service center message that everyone else seems to get.

 

I agree 100% my buddy has a 2012 tundra and says if he needed up operating 4x4 such as going from 2wd to 4lo it beeps and lights flash and it won’t engage but oddly our 3rd gen’s don’t do anything but blink and then they engage anyways and mess up or get stuck like mine did. Turns out that was the only issue. I went from 2wd to 4lo and it got stuck