98 ranger 4x4


rosco_59

10+ Year Member

Joined
Sep 21, 2008
Messages
3
Points
3,001
Vehicle Year
1998
Transmission
Automatic
My 98 ranger 4x4 has had a new switching motor installed on the transfer case. It worked fine then one day I turned the switch for 4x4 and all that happened was the 4 hi and 4 low lights blinked 6 times and would keep doing so every 5 min. or so. Then out of the blue one day it went into 4 wheel drive and would work correctly. a month later it went back to blinking again. then a week after that it started working correct again. What is going on? Does anyone know what the blinking lights 6 times means. Thanks for any help.
 
My TwoBits

See'n hows no buddy else tried to help...

It means that allowing anything to be done by a computer will eventually control you too. So unplug the damn thing, then do what you should have done in the first place: Shift it manually. The cool way to do this is replacing the xfer case with one that has a lever sticking up thru the floorboard. A more cost effective way is to remove the big gear out of the (probably good) motor you took out, and after taking the new motor off the xfer case, place the gear on the shaft to select from 2wd to 4wd (there are position indicators on the xfer case housing). Dont leave it on while driving tho, cuz it'l fall clean off.

I had alot of problems with both the vacuum actuated hubs and the electric operated xfer case. I eventually concluded that the "automatic" operation needed to be castrated, and then bypassed the "commitee" control of both. (Anyone want a 4wd dash control switch?) What I done to fix mine would not be appropriate for the faint of heart tho (involves operating the hubs with a manual, adjustable vacuum source and wiring a toggle switch/relays to the xfer case motor circuitry = no shift-on-the-fly).

There is a troubleshooting sequence that maybe helpfull (tho I havent gone thu it myself) in another thread of this forum: http://therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97

One other thing I havnt seen discussed here: Ive observed where the position feedback circuitry of the motor (the hermetically sealed thing with wires coming out) will overtravel and give false information to the computer. Essentially, the computer thinks its already in the position that you are trying to move to. Tho I havent tried this, (its about this time that I decided to assume control myself) there is an adjustment for this thingie. First mark the initial position (in case you want to start over) then loosen the 3 screws, try another position and tighten the screws. Repeat as necessary. Hey, you were going to toss the damn thing anyway, right?
 
Last edited:
check your fuse panel in cab I believe fuse location 26 (may be wrong about that #) but we were having same trouble and it was the fuse
 

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