Any suggestions??

2009 Ford F150

Took my truck out into the snow today. deep but not up to the undercarriage. 4x4 was needed and then the traction control stopped me and I was stuck. My buddy in an older Ford 4x4 drove around me laughing. We tried to disable the traction control so the wheels would turn but it wouldn't work. I had read that holding the button for 6 seconds would do the trick but nope!!

Eventually a guy in a Suzuki Sidekick drove over to me, hooked on and pulled me out while my buddy laughed and laughed. Im super confused as to how to get the 4x4 to work off road now??? If the engine cuts power to the wheels when they spin and you cant shut it off, then this is a decorative truck!!!!!!!!

Am I missing something here?

 

Did you loose engine power or your tires just would not spin? I was pushing snow with my bumper and grill from the storm in Illinois the week before. I had to only hold down the button once. If you were just "crawling" through the snow you could have tried 4low. That should disengage all of the traction control.

 

4 low will disengage all traction control, holding the button for 5-8 seconds *until the light flashes on the dash* will shut it off till you hit 35mph and then it comes back on, pressing it just once to make the light come on doesnt really seem to do much at all.

 

It wouldn't let the power go to the wheels?? Engine revving, traction control light flashing, wheels not turning. I assume the truck was overriding everything. All I needed was to be able to get power to the wheels. It was going to need to spin to get going. I held that button down forever it seemed and nothing happened. Also tried 4 low and nothing.

Thanks for the replies. Maybe I have a computer problem??

 

Crazy, the problem you had...and doubly embarrassing....lol! Suzuki Sidekick had to pull you out? Oh my God....I'll bet THAT made the Suzuki forums!

This is where I'd have reset the trucks ECU by disconnecting the battery and pushing the brake pedal a few times, then hook the battery back up and voila! You should be motivating again.
But yeah, you MUST have some wacky computer glitch going on. I was pulling out cars and trucks that were buried in the parking lot at work simply by using 4-Lo. It was like I was driving a tracked vehicle, I was unstoppable!

 

I think pushing the button "once" does do something...

I purposefully hit a patch of ice a few days ago while going uphill, such that tires were spinning with TCS engaged, and it immediately cut power / etc and kept me going "straight" (albeit still slipping due to the ice).

I then hit the same patch of ice, and as soon as I noticed TCS kick in, I pushed the button "once" to turn it off, and my truck immediately started to fishtail.