06 4runner 4wd light flashing

[TACTICALJEEP]

Hey guys and gals,

I did a search, no luck...and all of my experiences with 4wd repairs has been jeep related. So...I work at a dealership and we have an 06 4runner came in on trade. Its the limited with 2hi, 4hi, and 4 low with a center diff lock button to left of steering wheel. I can get it for around 1/2 of retail because the 4wd light just flashes and it has significant body damage to the right rear 1/4 panel (I could care less about the body damage). I checked with the local Toyota dealership, and my friend there told me it was meticulously maintained and any and everything recommended to the customer was performed. The pass seat and rear seat appear like they've never been sat in. The driver's floormat has a hole in it, and any crack and crevice on the exterior has mold growing in it. so...from this I can gather
1) a lady was the primary driver, most likely a professional (her high heels wore a hole right through the mat)
2) 4wd has never been used (underneath the truck looks brand new, and if it 4wd wasn't working and the customer was aware, she would of had it fixed at the dealer, but I believe she never tried it, therefore didn't know it didn't work)
3) based on the mold and mildew on the roof and crevices, it didn't belong to an enthusiast, just someone who relied on the automatic touchless car wash or the dealer to clean when serviced

so, this being said, I believe maybe an actuator is stuck either on the front diff or transfer case because of lack of use.

my gut is telling me to remove the accuator off the back of the transfer case, disassemble, clean and reinstall. But from what I've read on other sites, it's like a watch...once you open it, parts going flying and you'll never get it back together.

Where would you guys and girls start?

 

[TACTICALJEEP]

Oh, I've already scanned every module on the truck, no codes and all readiness monitors are set

 

[Adventurous]

When it comes to 4wd actuators, it's true, if you don't use it you lose it. IIRC, Toyota recommends at least 10 miles/month on my Tacoma to keep things functioning properly. Seems like the most likely culprit.

 

[TACTICALJEEP]

yeah, I just pulled the cover off of the accuator housing. I can push/pull the shift rod in and out of t-case. I sent 12v directly to motor and it barely turned....I believe it's just a 540 style RC motor, so I may start there. 1st I'm going put it together, cuss a little, and try it just to see if it works lol

 

[TACTICALJEEP]

i was able to remove the electric motor inside of the actuator assembly. it was almost completely seized, i sprayed it out with contact cleaner and reassembled. could tell a drastic difference immediately just holding the motor and turning the shaft by hand. it's true, if you don't use it, you loose it. reinstalled...

good news: 4hi works fine and front diff engages. all wheels are spinning with it on the lift.

bad news: 4wd light and center diff lock light flash constantly, even in 2wd. and 4lo is sill mia.

i disco'd the battery, immediately as soon as you turn the key forward to on posistion, they went back to flashing, no change.

-either i have a gear out of posistion inside of the accuator...or i've discovered the next broken link in the 4wd in-op chain

thoughts?

 

[Adventurous]

Not to insult your intelligence (seen plenty of people get tripped up on this sequence), but are you following the 4wd shifting procedure properly? As in, shifting into 4H, waiting for that to engage, then shifting the transmission into neutral before shifting into 4L? During bench testing, could you get the 4wd actuator to move both when 4H is selected as well as 4L?

That of course wouldn't explain the constantly flashing 4wd and center diff lock indicators while in 2H...

 

[lathamb]

When I got mine, the CDL light would flash and flash. I changed all the fluids, then it took 10 minutes or so of engaging then disengaging over and over until it all finally worked. I had to drive around a bit to get the CDL to finally lock. If you don't use that mechanism, it gets gunked up and slow to engage.

 

[dman93]

Not to insult your intelligence (seen plenty of people get tripped up on this sequence), but are you following the 4wd shifting procedure properly? As in, shifting into 4H, waiting for that to engage, then shifting the transmission into neutral before shifting into 4L? During bench testing, could you get the 4wd actuator to move both when 4H is selected as well as 4L?

That of course wouldn't explain the constantly flashing 4wd and center diff lock indicators while in 2H...

My 3rd gen Tacoma is my first vehicle with electric 4wd controls (no lever connected to the xfer case, though I know there’s other electro-mechanical-vacuum bits with Toyota ADD and other brands) and even after owning it over a year, I sometimes skip too fast to 4L without waiting for 4H to engage first. And if 4L isn’t engaged, then the rear diff lock won’t go. You can have quite a few flashing lights if you jump the gun when you need maximum traction in a hurry. So the reminder is always good.

 

[JLee]

Is it blinking rapidly or slowly? My GX470's light flickers intermittently and sometimes goes into a rapid blink -- I think the actuator is shot. A slow blink usually indicates it's attempting to lock or unlock.

 

[4runnerteq]

Most likely the transfer actuator is bad or sticking. Unfortunately its pretty common and its a PIA to repair if its bad. Transfer comes out and apart and has to be all timed correctly and stuff to work properly when reassembled. Is it V8 full time 4wd? or V6 part time. Either way its still likely the transfer actuator. We just did one on a Tundra today. We have gotten one or two freed up and worked temporarily before, but they came back and had to be replaced.

Wife drives a 04 V8 full time 4wd. Ashamed to say its never been in 4 lo and at this point there is no way on earth Id try it unless I absolutely had to. We did one last winter that was put in lo and couldn't get it back out until we put another actuator in it.

 

[TACTICALJEEP]

yeah...it's the actuator...

I was able to take the lower portion apart and clean the motor, reassembled...and although it now shifts, the truck doesn't know what range it's in...so the lights blink constantly.

It's a really simple design and foolproof in a Toyota type of way...unless you never use it

As always, thanks for the help and lending an ear

 

[Drunner]

You probably messed up the timing on the actuator when you pulled the motor out of it. They're VERY finicky about that. There's a thread on T4R.org about retiming it. I had some issues with my transfer case last year and just picked up a used one with working actuator for 650 after knocking mine out of timing and finding that the shift rod wouldn't shift. FYI for future peoples reading this, 4HI is controlled by the ADD in the front diff, 4low and the center diff lock are controlled by the add in the transfer case.

 

[TACTICALJEEP]

Your right Drunner and 4 Runnertec, tha'ts exactly what i did. that little encoder wheel has a lot of teeth!

in all my research, I've yet to find any thread on any forum where someone successfully got one in "time" after disassembly. Besides, the only way you can get to the deepest motor and gear set is to remove the shiftrod in front of it...which means removing and splitting the transfer case anyway. So yeah, screw that...if i'm going pull the case and open it up anyway, i'm putting a new shift motor/actuator in.

I ordered the part from autozone. I got a good deal, but it's still just shy of 1000.00 bucks.

yeah, i could have gotten it for a couple hundred bucks cheaper online, but considering how much effort is required to install this thing just to see if it works....and the quality of world pack parts....i figured I better not cheap out. Being world pack, it's probably an OE piece anyway, and I know all the guys and girls that work there, so if there is an issue, they'll warranty it for me and i'll go a second round with it...but we're not gonna talk that that, cause that isn't gonna happen...

It'll arrive tomorrow, and i'll be up at the shop Saturday morning bright and early pulling and splitting a transfer case on a vehicle I just signed papers for yesterday...

I'll keep ya'll posted, thanks again

 

[4runnerteq]

Man are you sure the Toyota actuator is not pretty close to that in price? As I said, we just finished one and I don't remember the part being that much. Maybe it was. Ill check tomorrow

 

[Drunner]

Your right Drunner and 4 Runnertec, tha'ts exactly what i did. that little encoder wheel has a lot of teeth!

in all my research, I've yet to find any thread on any forum where someone successfully got one in "time" after disassembly. Besides, the only way you can get to the deepest motor and gear set is to remove the shiftrod in front of it...which means removing and splitting the transfer case anyway. So yeah, screw that...if i'm going pull the case and open it up anyway, i'm putting a new shift motor/actuator in.

I ordered the part from autozone. I got a good deal, but it's still just shy of 1000.00 bucks.

yeah, i could have gotten it for a couple hundred bucks cheaper online, but considering how much effort is required to install this thing just to see if it works....and the quality of world pack parts....i figured I better not cheap out. Being world pack, it's probably an OE piece anyway, and I know all the guys and girls that work there, so if there is an issue, they'll warranty it for me and i'll go a second round with it...but we're not gonna talk that that, cause that isn't gonna happen...

It'll arrive tomorrow, and i'll be up at the shop Saturday morning bright and early pulling and splitting a transfer case on a vehicle I just signed papers for yesterday...

I'll keep ya'll posted, thanks again

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-g...ctuator-transfer-case-timing.html#post2419033