stuck rear differential lock

Hello to all,



Today I used my Tacoma to haul some timber off road and therefore used the rear differentail lock to get out of a tight slippery slope which it did with little effort. I stopped the truck and pushed the "RRDifferential Lock" button to let go. Usually I would hear a click and it will let go of the lock seconds after taking off. For some odd reason that did not happen today, it is stuck on lock even after depessing the button and the led lights turn off. I also noticed the led lights flashing when I press on the "RRDifferential Lock" button.



Any ideas??



99 tacoma prerunner

 

Did you try backing up in reverse?

I know that helps when the 4WD gets stuck.

 

I did drive in reverse and also stopped the truck and turned it off and even unplugged the battery. I also went to the differential and took a look at the connector, it was clean and properly connected.

 

It got a little difficult for me to handle so I turned it over to a shop. I will post the findings for everyone to see.

I also believe it is the solenoid... we will see.

 

it will be intresting to hear what caused that - banshee most likely is correct.

 

O.K. here it is;

I took the truck to an electrical shop in hope the culprit be a simple switch, fuse or relay. The shop said all was well with the circuitry therefore believed it was the actuator. I went ahead and took it to our local toyota authorized dealers shop and after three days they quoted me $800 for the actuator and $300 for installation. Obviously I paid the $60 diagnostic charge and drove my truck away still stuck. A friend of the familiy who does light mechanic stuff took a look at the actulator, removed it and opened it up and found two pieces of magnet the go around the moter were loose. He added a bit of epoxy and put them back in place waited about six hours and installed everything back. walahhh ...... it worked!!! perfectly. We do not know what caused to fall apart but high humidity here in Puerto Rico could be a factor.

I hope this tread helps someone save over $1000 in the future.

Thanks Banchee for the link, I will definately benefit from it in the future.

Thanks to all.

 

this has been very good information - thank you