4x4 Disappear?
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 1
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4x4 Disappear?
I have a 2005 Ford 150 4x4 that I love.
Yesterday, in a Colorado snowstorm, it seems like the 4x4 capability disappeared. I'm hoping someone can help me - I'm not a real hands-on, technical car guy.
I did an hour drive around town in snowy conditions mostly in 4WD High, and it was working well. I switched to the 2WD setting for the 10 minute highway drive back to my house. As I approached my street, I switched to 4WD High on the fly because my home is that the top of a fairly high hill.
The idiot light for the 4x4 did not come on, and I was only able to make it part the way up the hill because the street was icing up. I took about 4 trys at the hill with as much of a running start as I could, and was not able to get up the hill.
I normally can get up the hill in these type of conditions by just taking it easy and letting the 4wd do the work. I ahve ~300 lbs. of sand bags centered over the rear axle to give me more traction.
The fact that the 4x4 idiot light didn't come on plus the fact that I wasn't able to get up a hill that I can normally conquer in 4wd led me to believe that the truck wasn't switching to 4WD High. And of course the truck sounds different in 4WD High than it does in 2WD, and I didn't hear any difference when I switched to 4WD High. All of which lead me to the conclusion that my 4WD wasn't working.
I did also try to switch to 4WD Low and nothing happened.
I ended up parking on the cul-de-sac behind our house and walking through the snow to my house.
I hope that someone can point me in the right direction. I'd like to be an educated consumer when I bring the truck in for service (if that is necessary).
Thanks in advance for your help.
Dave
Yesterday, in a Colorado snowstorm, it seems like the 4x4 capability disappeared. I'm hoping someone can help me - I'm not a real hands-on, technical car guy.
I did an hour drive around town in snowy conditions mostly in 4WD High, and it was working well. I switched to the 2WD setting for the 10 minute highway drive back to my house. As I approached my street, I switched to 4WD High on the fly because my home is that the top of a fairly high hill.
The idiot light for the 4x4 did not come on, and I was only able to make it part the way up the hill because the street was icing up. I took about 4 trys at the hill with as much of a running start as I could, and was not able to get up the hill.
I normally can get up the hill in these type of conditions by just taking it easy and letting the 4wd do the work. I ahve ~300 lbs. of sand bags centered over the rear axle to give me more traction.
The fact that the 4x4 idiot light didn't come on plus the fact that I wasn't able to get up a hill that I can normally conquer in 4wd led me to believe that the truck wasn't switching to 4WD High. And of course the truck sounds different in 4WD High than it does in 2WD, and I didn't hear any difference when I switched to 4WD High. All of which lead me to the conclusion that my 4WD wasn't working.
I did also try to switch to 4WD Low and nothing happened.
I ended up parking on the cul-de-sac behind our house and walking through the snow to my house.
I hope that someone can point me in the right direction. I'd like to be an educated consumer when I bring the truck in for service (if that is necessary).
Thanks in advance for your help.
Dave
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,234
Likes: 9
I would suspect tapping on the transfer case motor while attempting to shift out of 2hi may free it up.
OR
Some people have had luck driving in reverse for a while
Other than that, lots of things could cause this. Anything from the switch being faulty to a bad relay, to an unclipped harness, to a wire pulled out of a harness, etc etc etc.
OR
Some people have had luck driving in reverse for a while
Other than that, lots of things could cause this. Anything from the switch being faulty to a bad relay, to an unclipped harness, to a wire pulled out of a harness, etc etc etc.
