Ranger not going into 4wd

[dpbeard]

I just bought a ranger ext 4x4,The guy I bought it off of said the four wheel drive worked so I trusted him (he is my neighbor).I had to completley replace the entire rear brake system before I could drive it, so yesterday I was driving it home from work and it was raining and I decided to see if the 4wd worked.I turned the button and the light clicked to 4 hi. When I goosed it only the rear tires spun.Pulled off to a side road and tried it again nothing. got it home in the driveway and tried to put it in 4wd and the 4 hi and 4 lo light started flashing. I took the shift motor off hit the button and nothing happened I didnt hear anything coming from the shift motor.So I turned the transer case to where it said 4hi and pulled it out of the garage and still no 4wd.

Can someone please explain what you think is wrong may be multiple problems idk this system or how it works winter is coming and I drive an hour to work so I really need to get this fixed on a small budget

 

[Doofy]

Check fuse # 27 in the fuse panel, in the cab. That was my problem.

 

[Earl43P]

You have PVH.
That system is "problematic".

See here:
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/troubleshoot-fix_pvh_hubs.shtml
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/99hubswap.shtml
http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/Apr04/offroad.htm
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/AVM_hub_swap.shtml

Welcome to The Ranger Station!

 

[JoshT]

Earl - Believe it or not, not every 1998-2000 Ranger 4wd problem is caused by bad hubs. I too have a 99 that started out with the PVH hubs. When they went bad the truck still went into 4wd and the front shaft still turned, there no blinking lights and only sign of problem was no power to the ground up front. Got home and replaced them with the AVM hubs. FF 7 years and I now have an issue similar to what OP describes, and I can guarantee that it isn't the PVH hubs. Already checked the electrical, so it should be in the motor. Probably that little stop bumper has gone bad, just haven't had a chance to tear into it yet.

Dpbeard - I doubt that you neighbor was lying to you, he probably just didn't use the 4wd system much or often. Once these systems get old it is entirely possible to have it work one week and not the next, but once fixed they go back to being reliable. It sounds like you might have more than one issue, but the first one to tackle is not working when put in 4hi manually. Are you certain that you got it into 4hi? How exactly did you verify that the 4wd was not working after putting it into 4hi manually? Were you watching the front drive shaft while the truck was under power?

If you look at the top of this forum there is a FAQ thread with links to troubleshooting. They are mostly for pre 98 trucks, but the transfer case stuff will still apply. There may be some minor differences like wire colors or fuse locations but you can find these in your owners manual or a good repair manual.

 

[Earl43P]

Thanks Josh, I believe it.

Still, if the dash light indicates that it's in 4Hi, that means the shift motor DID move to that position. No front wheel engagement at that point really does indicate a PVH hubs problem unless the drive shaft is not spinning, as Josh points out correctly. I'd be surprised to see that, but it's possible if the shift motor is bad, making the internal switch but not actually in 4Hi.

Moving the transfer case position manually will not engage the PVH hubs unless you also move the switch to 4Hi to engage the PVH solenoid (which is also another part that could be faulty). It will tell you that the shift motor is bad.

I also agree with Josh that both lights flashing typically indicates a bad shift motor or 4x4CM. The newer Control Modules do not have the self-test light / capability.

Here's links for that:
http://www.therangerstation.com/tec...roubleshooting.shtml#Flashing_4WD_Shift_Light
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/TCaseshiftmotor.shtml