4x4 Question

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J

Joe Fay

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Recently my son switched the ST to 4 lo while I was sitting in park. I switched it back but the lights never illuminated and the vehicle did not come out of 4 wheel drive. I proceeded to put the vehicle in nuetral and and try the switching again, no luck. I then pulled out the book and made sure I followed the directions for engaging/disengaging the 4 wheel drive. I even backed the vehicle up(old school), nothing worked. I then proceeded to disconnect the battery at a friends recommendation. Low and behold the 4 wheel drive reset itself. I then tried to engage the 4 wheel drive and it went in but with no lights and again would not disengage. I then did the battery trick again and haven't messed with it since. Any recommendations?
 
Did you press the brake pedal? You must tap the brakes when shifting in and out of 4 low. When in park you switch it out of 4 low and once you press the brake pedal it clicks out of 4 low. The brake pedal is essentialy the switch. Took me forever to get the sequence right.



Chad
 
As chadmerry points out, you MUST have the brake pedal depressed to go in or out of four wheel drive, further, if you want low, you must ALSO be in neutral...
 
Yes I did push the brake pedal when I was reading the manual. Was I doing it all in the right sequence, who knows. I will read it again and try it again tomorrow and let you know. That still does not explain why I didn't get any 4hi or lo lights. I have used the 4x4, hi and lo, in the past and had no problems.
 
I had the same problem a year ago with turning the switch to 4 wheel.... and nothin happened it just stayed in 2 wd..... it ended up being some computer chip or something in the 4 wd... at least thats what i was told... and it was pretty expensive to fix...
 
The module, if that is the problem ranges between 160-200 dollars. Do not have the dealer put it in for you unless they will do it for free. It is simply unplug the old module, and plug in the new. Then they charge 1 hr labor for there 2-5 minutes of work.
 
Coastiejoe says:
As chadmerry points out, you MUST have the brake pedal depressed to go in or out of four wheel drive, further, if you want low, you must ALSO be in neutral..
Click to expand...



Reading that as written, I have to say that's not my understanding of engaging 4WD.



In my gen 1 '04 ST I would shift in and out of 4WD at highway speeds...no brake pressed at all. Coastie seems to be saying that you need the brake pressed to do that, AND if you want LOW you need to be in neutral in addition. That just doesn't seem right to me.



TJR
 
My manual says that to go INTO 4H from 2H, just switch it in on the fly. To get out of 4HI back to 2H, just throw the switch too.



INTO 4LO, you must be stopped, with the truck in Neutral and your foot on the brake. To get OUT of 4LO, same thing. Truck stopped, in neutral and foot on the brake.



I have gone all the way from 2H into 4L and back out all at once as described above about going into 4L. It just cycles through 4H to get there both ways.



Sounds like a module to me is going out, as long as you have tried to put it into 4L the way I described and it doesn't work... The module controls the lights on the dash and the relay to activate the motor that changes the transfer case. The relay and the module are in the same box that you replace. Can't replace them seperately. No lights, it's usually the module/relay box. No relay click, it's the module/relay box. If Lights work and it clicks, look to the transfer case motor.



I have an '03.

 
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