Rear Diff Light Turns on at 80 mph

I was driving through Kansas last night at 80 mph when my rear differential light turned on. Shortly after the VSC, ABS and TRAC lights turned on as well. It's the middle of summer so obviously I was driving in 2Hi.

I'm stumped by this one. What's going on here?

 

sounds like a wheel sensor going bad

 

What does your "rear differential light" look like?

 

The locking rear differential light is the red icon that shows when you've locked the rear diff while in 4LO. I'll take a picture and update the thread shortly.

 

Locker sensor or wiring or plug might be failing/failed

 

Was it flashing? If so you may have just bumped the diff switch with your knee. Happened to me once and I freaked out.

 

Okay, so I did the same thing going about 70 MPH through UTAH and bumped the Rear Diff button with my knee. Didn't notice for about 10 miles or so, then Red light started blinking. Freaked out and quickly disengaged it and blinking went away. But now every time I've tried engaging it again it automatically comes up red blinking. Even tried 4Hi today on a hill going about 5 MPH and Green 4WD light is fine but Red Blinking light came on for Rear Diff right away again.

any thoughts to the issue?

 

Does the diff lock light stay on if you actually engage it to lock the diff? Or does it still blink when doing that? I've only actually used my locked diff a few times and can't remember if the light is supposed to stay on or flash when in use.

 

it blinks when attempting to engage, and goes solid when engaged

 

Yeah that's what I figured. It would be nice if the diff lock switch illuminated when pressed as well.

 

yep, agreed. it is only barely noticeable when on or off, by the position of the switch itself, in or out. as compared to the adjacent switches.....

 

what's the precedure to engage it. don't you have to be in 4 lo ?

 

yep, be in 4 lo, come to stop, put in neutral, push button, roll back and forth while turning wheel one way or another to get it all to line up,. you will hear a click when it goes in (and comes out), and light will stay solid when engaged.

 

Lol yep! I bumped it with my knee getting into the truck once without noticing, then while driving down the highway (while heading out to the trails) it started flashing and freaked me out.

 

How close are you guys sitting to the dashboards in these trucks to bump your knees into the diff lock button? Or is everybody on here freakishly tall?

 

DeLoreans need to hit 88mph, but Tacomas only need to hit 80 to activate the flux capacitor.

 

you just have to be in 4lo. dont need to be in neutral to engage the locker. drive or reverse and it will engage

 

My kids were playing in the truck once. The next morning on the way to work, my dash was like a Christmas tree. Visions of repair bills flashed through my eyes until I realized they had pushed all the buttons and I just had to turn them all off.

 

sweet, I will try this next time.

 

I'm a perfectly average 6 foot 3, thank you very much...