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- Jul 10, 2009
- Messages
- 331
- Reaction score
- 4
- Points
- 18
- Location
- Harrisburg PA
- Vehicle Year
- 97
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 4.0 OHV
- Transmission
- Automatic
I heard a funny under hood sound last week come from under the hood of my 97 Ranger Splash 4X4. The motor is a 4.0 OHV. So while trying to diagnose the issue I was looking at different things. The noise is completely random and sounds like a belt slipping for about 2 or 3 seconds then goes awayu and just reappears again about 10 to 20 minutes later. It may or not be related to the other thing I discovered. the sound is there and is not consistant with engine RPM in any way, reguard less if I am driving at speed or setting idle at a red light the sound is the same.
While diagnosing the source of the sound I flipped the transfer case to 4hi and got the click click from the GEM module. Good I thought, flipped the switch to 4Lo and again click click was heard. I said ok let it set and idel and wait for the sound to occur again. After setting there for about 20 minutes I still never heard the sound so I put the switch into 4Hi and no clicking sound heard, went to 2WD and still no clicking and the dash lights stayed on showing it was in 4Lo. I drove the truck 6 miles to the house from work and decided I would mess with it in the morning when it was not so hot outside. I am in Houston Texas and 5 out of 7 days last week were record high temps each beating the one before it. So I sat in the house that night looking on the web and every thing seemed to point towards the Transfer shift motor, I figured with everything I have seem on the web I could pull it out rotate the transfer case to 2wd and set the motor to work in 2wd adn be ok till I get time to determine why. Well the truck has put it self back into 4Hi bt I have no dash light s indicating that it is in 4WD. I have verified this as I can not rotate the front drive shaft and in 2wd I was able to rotate it freely.
I am kinda thinking the GEM module has gone out and is causeing the dash lights to flash the 4Hi and 4Lo lights every so often and when it does that I can hear a buzzing sound under the truck as if the motor is trying to shift the transfer case.
Does anyone have experience with a bad gem unit on a 97 Ranger 4X4 and if that could possibly be nailed down to the source on my issues? I still hav eto figure out what at the top back of the motor could make a totally random belt slipping sound every so often.
Thanks in advance
Tony
While diagnosing the source of the sound I flipped the transfer case to 4hi and got the click click from the GEM module. Good I thought, flipped the switch to 4Lo and again click click was heard. I said ok let it set and idel and wait for the sound to occur again. After setting there for about 20 minutes I still never heard the sound so I put the switch into 4Hi and no clicking sound heard, went to 2WD and still no clicking and the dash lights stayed on showing it was in 4Lo. I drove the truck 6 miles to the house from work and decided I would mess with it in the morning when it was not so hot outside. I am in Houston Texas and 5 out of 7 days last week were record high temps each beating the one before it. So I sat in the house that night looking on the web and every thing seemed to point towards the Transfer shift motor, I figured with everything I have seem on the web I could pull it out rotate the transfer case to 2wd and set the motor to work in 2wd adn be ok till I get time to determine why. Well the truck has put it self back into 4Hi bt I have no dash light s indicating that it is in 4WD. I have verified this as I can not rotate the front drive shaft and in 2wd I was able to rotate it freely.
I am kinda thinking the GEM module has gone out and is causeing the dash lights to flash the 4Hi and 4Lo lights every so often and when it does that I can hear a buzzing sound under the truck as if the motor is trying to shift the transfer case.
Does anyone have experience with a bad gem unit on a 97 Ranger 4X4 and if that could possibly be nailed down to the source on my issues? I still hav eto figure out what at the top back of the motor could make a totally random belt slipping sound every so often.
Thanks in advance
Tony
