So I went to get in my pickup this morning and noticed the snow plow had come by after I snow blowed the driveway and left about a 2 ft high and 3 foot wide drift. No big deal except at the edge of my drive it drops down about 12 more inches. So I put it in 4hi, the light came on, and I started backing up. Only problem is the 4x4 didnt engage.

I ended up going back and forth in the driveway about 4 or 5 times but never could get it to engage. I put it in nuetral and dropped it into 4lo and i felt it surge like it normally does, but the front tires did not engage then either. I then went back to 2wd, waited for my busy street to slow down, and just gunned it to get through the snow.

It has been crazy cold here lately, not getting above freezing for about 2 weeks, including the last few days of -25* or so wind chill. The truck does sit outside. Should I just try to hold out until it warms up, supposed to get into the 40s by the end of next week or should I start with the IWE Solenoid or just go right to the acuators and change them?

The truck only has 99k miles and has spend less then 1000 in 4wd and has always worked in the past.

 

I had the same problem just when I tried to switch it into 4h the light would come on but when I switched back into 2 the light would not go off and I just had to replace the transfer case shift motor it's about 70 bucks or so on eBay

 

try pulling the vacumn line that feeds the solenoid off and see if that works.

 

Ill try this when I head home for lunch in about and hour an a half and report back.

 

I just had the same issue. With mine I knew it was not the transfer case as I could get it into 4lo gearing but the hubs did not lock. It turns out my passenger side hub actuator was broken. The ring gear had broken free from the casting. Replaced the actuator and all is good.

 

thinking that is my problem. where did you get the actuators and what did they cost you? possibility the part numbers?

 

https://www.f150forum.com/f72/how-di...m-esof-186872/

 

IWE solenoid on the firewall, which dumps the vacuum for the hubs lock in, has been know to fail.
Pull the vacuum lines off the solenoid and see if the hubs lock up.
If they lock up replace the solenoid, they ran about $40. They redesigned it with a cover over top of it

 

Had the same problem but my fix was simple. The vacuum line going to my actuator had fallen off. Check to see its connected on both sides. It actually came off the side that was working causing a vacuum leak. So the pressure was to low on the other side and you could hear it grinding because it was in half mesh.

 

So this is what I did. I pulled the power to the solenoid, no change. So this led me to idle the truck for a minute, then shut it off and pulled the vaccum lines on the solenoid and I heard the hissing sound. So that led me to believe the actuators are the problem. Well we went away for the weekend and took the wifes car, allowing me to park in the garage from friday night until sunday evening. Last night I just backed out of the garage and parked, not fiddling with it. Then this morning I started it up and drove to a parking lot that was still snow packed and put it into 4hi and gave it the beans, and sure enough it worked.

Leads me to believe that it was so cold, been 0 or lower here most days for about 3 weeks and that my actuators "froze" and were the problem. I will inspect them when do my breaks when I get a warm weekend this spring. I am guessing that they are just due for a change.