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4WD Will Not WORK


kurtis_garcia

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
36
Vehicle Year
1999
Transmission
Automatic
I have a 99 ranger that I cannot get the 4x4 to work at all....The guy that had it before me that was working on it said he replaced the transfer case on it so I am crossing my fingers that he really did......I put on the new prop shaft and also purchased a new transfer case motor....The only thing I couldn't figure out was the dumb brown wire so what I did was splice the two brown wires and put them together so it should be working just fine....I put my truck in neutral and turn the switch to 4x4 high and sometimes I can hear it click but it just clicks clicks clicks clicks about 4 times and than nothing happens...The 4x4 high and low start flashing 5 times and than goes off....We just had 22 inches of snow here in texas and it was pretty bad and it just sucked that I have a 8inch lift on this truck with 33 inch tires and it is just basically parked there doing nothing....I am not that best with vehicles but I do have common sense and can do little things but this is beyond me so I was hoping I could get some help from the forum to see what they thought could be the culprit.....Could it be a fuse,relay,transfer case, etc. any help would be greatly appreciated thank you once again..
 
'99 could have Pulse Vacuum Hubs(PVH) but Ford was starting to switch 4.0l Rangers to Live Axle as early as '99, Live axle means front wheels, axles and front drive shaft are always locked, 2WD and 4WD is done in transfer case only.

Here is how you can lock PVH hubs: http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/Apr04/offroad.htm

Here is how to repair or check them: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/troubleshoot-fix_pvh_hubs.shtml

There is also a company that makes manual locking/unlocking hubs to replace PVH system, Rugged Ridge, Warn hubs won't work.


Did you check to make sure transfer case was in 2WD and that the new shift motor was in 2WD before installing it.

Inside the shift motor housing are contacts that move when motor does, these contacts "tell" the 4WD shift module if motor has turned to the correct position for the Mode selected, 2WD, 4High, or 4Low.

I assume you are in 2WD now from description, I would remove shift motor and then select 4High, make sure motor turns shaft connector, then select 2WD and make sure it turns back.
Also mark where the transfer case shift rod is now and then rotate it to make sure it is free to move.
Then reinstall so transfer case shift rod stays in the current 2WD position.
There is an adjustment in the motors case, but that should be OK if you just replace motor and not the whole housing.

Good troubleshoot guide here: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/transfercasetroubleshooting.htm

Pay attention to the YEAR of part being described, only some of this will apply to '99 4WD system


If all else fails or you just want to avoid future hassles get a Shiftster: http://theshiftster.com/installation-installation-instructions-shiftster

It is a knob that replaces electric shift system on transfer case, you do need to get under the truck to shift in and out of 4WD but if you know you will need it or really need to depend on 4WD then it is not that big of an issue.
And with manual hubs you can leave it in 4WD and just unlock the hubs as needed
 
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It is in 2wd drive I have the 3.0L in my vehicle wish I had the 4.0...If by locking the hubs like it is saying in the PVH thread will that do anything to harm my vehicle if it is left locked like that? I guess im new to the ranger ive had nothing but mustangs and I got this for the snow here in the texas panhandle.....I honestly could not tell you if the transfer case is working or not the guy who was working on it before told me they installed a new one because the old one was bad I paid him for it and I figured it was done..So I might end up having to check on that as well....But as far as the shift motor it was brand new and was installed in the 2wd position as far as the arrow was pointing..I will pull it off today when I get off work and try what you have suggested by switching it into 4wd and 2wd drive with it off and see if it does turn....Only question I have is I did not see a slot for the brown wire so I spliced the brown wire from the transfer case and connected it to a splice brown wire from the connector. My lights do flash on momentary when I turn my vehicle on and if I do try to switch it it just clicks a few times than my 4x4 h and 4x4 l light flashes 6 times and nothing happens....But once again thank you for your help I will try this today but if you could let me know what locking the hubs will do on this and if it will harm the vehicle.
 
2001 Rangers and up all have permanently locked hubs, wouldn't hurt anything, and MPG test showed you would lose .2-.4MPG with the front axles turning

Yes, most cut the Brown wire to remove shift motor to rebuild or replace and then splice it back together.
Shops will remove it from connector and then reinstall it, but same difference as long as splice is good.

read here: http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/499034-shift-on-the-fly-4wd-switch-motor-re-build.html

The newer 4WD system uses a 4WD module, it is basically a box with a couple of relays inside.
Since shift motor is a DC motor you can change the direction it rotates by reversing +/-, thats what the relays do, and that is most likely the "clicking" noise you here.

There is a fuse in the engine fuse box that powers the shift motor, #3(20amp)
Check it, it also powers the electric clutch(Brown wire) in the transfer case, so it may have blown the fuse because it was loose.
 
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I will check the fuse box when I get off work but I did notice that on my front hubs I have manual locking front hubs...It just switches from free to lock that is something I did not know until I looked today, I know dumb of me, but tried it and still the same nothing...I will go home today and take down the transfer case motor and if when I turn the switch if it will turn in the motor...I will also check the fuses to see if they are out or not....I am also going to see if I can turn the tcase pin once I take off the tcase motor to see if it isn't locked up or not....I will let you know how that goes and hopefully crossing my fingers it will come out just fine.....
 
Good news on the manual locking hubs, $250 savings plus the labor :)
 
So im not sure why I even tried again today to see if my 4x4 will work in the parking lot of arby's but yeah I did....I was in park at the window and switched it over to 4x4 h (click click click) bamn 4x4 h light comes on and stays on....Now even though the hubs were set to free and not locked I jumped out the truck went to the front and put those bad boys in lock. I ended up driving back to my work and thinking maybe it is a fluke turned my truck off and turned it back on and flipped the switch 3 clicks again and it came on so hell to the yeah it works now not sure what happened but I know I need to go back to the bottom and reconnect the brown spliced wire better right now it is together with electrical tape ill put a cap or something on it instead of the tape....And one last question will it harm anything if I leave my hubs in lock all the time or is it better to leave them on free and if I know it is gonna storm or something the next day before I head into the house just lock them........Thanks Ron for your help on this....And heck ya not sure if those locking hubs were aftermarket or if they were factory but with my 33 inch tires on them hell I love it!!!!!
 
Truck wont move

So my 4x4 was working but only in high...for some reason i tried to put it in 4x4 low and it goes click click than nothing happens and my 4x4 h and 4x4 l start flashing so i put it back in park move the switch to 2wd thinking it stayed there....come back to the truck and now it doesnt move at all and all that i see are the 4x4h and 4x4l flashing i need help to know what is wrong with it...is my truck stuck in 4x4l and that is the reason it wont move? I try to put in it reverse or drive and nothing happens it wont move at all i try to put it in park and it is like grinding gears so i just shut the truck off put it in park and thats where it is stuck.... i can get out and basically push the vehicle it is likes its stuck in neutral if you can help me please anyone!!!!!!!
 
In the '99 you will have a 4WD module, it is basically a box with 2 relays inside, this module powers the shift motor, these relays control the direction the motor turns, clockwise or counter-clockwise.
The Yellow and Orange wires on the shift motor are connect to this 4WD module.

On the shift motor you will see 5 wires going into the outside cover(usually a Blue Cover) where transfer case shift rod connects to motor housing.
These 5 wires are connected to contacts inside the housing that move when shift motor does.

In '99 these 5 wires are connected to the GEM(generic electronic module), the GEM controls many of the electrical devices in the truck, 4WD as well.

When you select 4WD high the GEM "looks" at the 5 wires to "see" current state of transfer case(shift motor's contacts), it will then power the electric clutch(Brown wire) in transfer case, and then open and close the two 4WD module's Relays to make shift motor turn in the correct direction to move shift rod from 2WD to 4WD high.
The 5 wire contacts will open and close as shift motor turns and when 4WD high position is reached and those contacts are closed the GEM turns off power to shift motor and deactivates electric clutch.

4WD High light will be on steady now.

If the 4WD high contacts are not closed, i.e. shift motor didn't move or can't move to correct position, the 4WD lights on the dash will flash, indicating a problem



In your case it reads like Transfer case shift rod is stuck between "gears", shift motor most likely lost power or couldn't move past a certain point, so you get the Flashing 4WD lights

Did you reconnect Brown wire?
The electric clutch makes transfer case easier to shift.

Check fuses again.
Fuse #3 20amp in engine fuse box powers the shift motor

You can remove the shift motor and manually turn shift rod to put transfer case back in 2WD or 4WD hi so you won't be stuck.

While motor is off and wires connected select 2WD and 4WD a few times to make sure it is free to move, also do 4WD Low again, and do it a few times as well.

To shift into 4WD Low, trans must be in Neutral, foot must be on the brake and speedometer must be at 0mph, I think Park is OK but never had an automatic so can't say for sure.
 
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So i tried the battery trick left it off for 30m and put it back on hoping it would work nope......... so next thing i tried was turn it on and than have someone turn the 4x4 switch and knock on the tcase and tcase motor to see if it would work nothing......turned off again and pushed the truck fwd and backwards since it seems like the truck is stuck in neutral and hoping it would unlock if indeed thats what it is nothing as well......looked and the fuses none blown and checked the brown wire its still spliced and connected to the other brown wire....its alil to cold to take the tcase motor off to see if i take it off and they turn and garage is full of supplies from the remodel at the house so im going to have to wait and see if it willturn or not...i havent had this tcase motor for even a month so that shouldnt be the case and the tcase ahould be fairly new as well since they got me a new one.....but hek i dunno kinda sux the vehicle wont even go into any gears what so ever no reverse drive nothing. ...
 
Transfer case is the final drive of a 4WD vehicle, drive shaft is connected to the transfer case not the transmission.
If transfer case is not "in gear" then there is no connection from engine and transmission to rear wheels(or front wheels).

So wouldn't matter what you select on transmission, it reads like transfer case is in "neutral" so no connection between transmission and rear wheels.

Do you hear the relays clicking in the cab when 4WD switch is changed?
The power to turn the motor comes from these relays
4WD modules are know for failing on these.
 
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Ok so im going to have to take off tcase motor and look at it either way correct....should i unplug the wires there or leave them connected and see if the motor will turn with the tcase motor off? I mean i know u suggested that already in the last one so thats what im going to do than....dang it just bugs me i mean 4x4 worked just fine and i dunno why i even tried to put it on 4x4 l........is there a reason why you think it would mess up like that by putting it into 4x4 l like that because i know before i tried the 4x4 l i did it in 4x4 h and it worked just fine....put it in neutral pressed brake and tried 4x4 l it clicked than nothing happened so i just figured it didnt work so i turned the truck off...came back about 30m later and bamn wouldnt move.....
 
Kinda the same thing happened to me recently.
Have a "spare" car, 1997 Camry 4cyl, auto, father-in-law bought it new, then lost his license in 2003, we bought it from him, and both our kids used when learning to drive and until they got their own cars.
Outside of our son blowing head gasket from overheating it 10 years ago it hasn't cost much at all and starts up every time.
Basically just sits in the driveway most of the year, when we have out of town family or friends visit they drive it or wife does and they use her car(CTS).

Well.................we had family coming to stay over Christmas, so I went out and started it up to take it out for a test drive and to fully warm it up and check fluids and for leaks.
So after starting I shift into Reverse and was going to back out and I am looking down at the shifter(floor shift), and why this popped into my mind I will never know, I think, "I have never moved the shifter into Low", so I shift into Drive and then into L...SNAP, shift cable broke, at the transmission end.

Turns out this is not that uncommon on Toyotas, new cable was $250+, so I fixed the one I had.
The reason it broke at that time was because the plastic end that attaches to the shift lever wasn't rotating on the shaft, lube had dried out, shifting from/to Park, Reverse, Drive put little stress on the rotating part so all was fine and would have been fine for many years to come.
Shifting to Low caused it to snap.................................why I did it I will never know.
But maybe I saved a family member or friend from getting stuck somewhere and thinking "they broke the car" if this failed while they were using it, so while hindsight is 20/20 and the future is unknowable maybe something was avoided.


You shifted into 4Low to test it and it should have worked fine since 2WD to 4High and back were working fine.
Could be, after finding and fixing this problem, you will need 4Low and need it right now to get unstuck or ??, and finding out it didn't work then could be worse than now :)
Glass is half full, lol.
 
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Yeah ur telling mebut i just hope i can figure out what is going on with it. ...it has been a thorn in my side for something i will drive only in the winter you know what i mean. ...and also not to ask a dumb question but im kinda new to the 4x4 world what is the benefits of having 4x4l? Would i be just fine with 4x4h or do i really need it? I'm going to take off my tcase motor prob monday when it is a little warmer here and i get over from being sick......but thank you for your help sir
 
4Low allows your engine to be in it's best torque range at lower speed, it allows low speed "crawling", with a manual trans this means less clutch work.
But 4Low can be a detriment in low traction scenarios, it is too torquey, easier to break traction than 4high.
In my RWD CTS it has "snow mode" for transmission, it causes 1st gear to be skipped, so you start off in 2nd from a stop, lower torque so less likely to break traction.

Unless you slide off a slippery road I doubt you would ever needed 4low in street driving.
But if you did, you WOULD NEED IT, so better to know it works and not need it, than needing it and not having it :)
 

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