impreza

Well, I'm not exactly sure what/how happened, but my wife drove our 4runner to work the other day. She tried to engage the 4wd while driving to work and it would not engage. Finally after she got to work she tried again in the parking lot and it made a "bad noise". I drove the truck that night (Wednesday) and tried it myself. Definitely not a good sound, like grinding or stripping gears. Anyway after talking to my mechanic/friend, he thinks the gears are either stripped of the front diff may have failed. I will update Monday or Tuesday once we put it on the lift and investigate a little more. For now we know the front won't engage and that gear oil is puking out the bottom of the truck and the diff breathers up front. Also a side note, the 4wd worked perfect on this past Sunday, however the temperatures were negative for almost a week here in Golden, CO. I don't know if that may have any negative effects. I'm mostly posting this for information purposes for now, since we will put the truck on the lift and find out what the deal is. Just curious if this has happened to anyone else.
Later,
Aaron

02_Limited

Is your wife familiar with how the 4wd system works in your 4Runner? The grinding could be the result of her trying to put the lever into 4L while moving - maybe she missed the button on the side of the shifter? Just brainstorming

4runnerteen

Well he said he tried it and it didnt work either. so we know that if it was operator error. He disproved it by trying it and discovering that it did it again..

no to help the situation... Umm.. Could the fluid have gotten water in it and then froze cause of the temperatures. Thus when driving trying to get the gears in place would have jammed them full of ice and possibly stripped the gears then??!?

Just brain storming too.. lol

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

I highly doubt the gears in the diff are suddenly broken.

The more likely cause of the grinding noise is the 4WD actuator motor on the back of the Tcase. I sell a LOT of these motors, because the motor keeps trying to engage 4wd even when the lever won't move. This is especially a problem if the truck isn't put into 4WD often. There is a little access panel on the back of the case that will allow you to see the engagement gears.

impreza

Thanks for the ideas guys. The truck will be in the very capable hands of my mechanic on Monday or Tuesday. We think it may be the actuator as well, but considering how much gear oil is everywhere it may be something worse. I'll have more info this week and I will take pictures for anything that looks interesting or sad. I don't think water in the fluid is likely, just had the diffs redone this summer along with the 90k service (water pump, t-belt, etc.). My wife feels bad about "breaking the truck" but I think it was just bad timing. She is a capable driver so I don't think that had anything to do with it. Thanks again for any input.
Aaron

impreza

Okay so last night we pulled the drain plugs on the front diff and the t-case. The front diff looked fine, no issues at all. The t-case on the other hand was not so good. The fluid looked like a really nice metal flake paint. Obviously not want you want to see. We did not have the time to tear down the t-case. I have a used one on the way and we will swap them out. Once the new/used one is in, we will tear down the old one to find the actual cause.
My mechanic has a good idea of what the cause is. On the sequoias they have the same t-case and actuator set up, these had a known issue with the shear pin at the end of the actuator. Toyota knew this as a problem on the sequoias, but never listed the same issue for the 4runners. The thought behind this is since the sequoia is so much bigger and heavier, this was the cause of the shear pin failing. Anyway that is the place he has seen this before.
I know we should just tear down the t-case and find the problem first, but this is my DD and I can't be without it. I will post more once we swap out cases and tear open the old one. For fun I have included a pic of what the t-case oil looked like. Keep in mind this oil was just changed 8k ago.
Cheers,
Aaron

E30RUNNER

sorry to hear!

I'm curious to know what you guys find...I'm going to be doing a full synthetic changeover and think I'll hold off for a bit

impreza

Quick update for now. I got a used t-case locally. We put it in and wow what a difference.
First having a mechanic as a friend rocks, thanks Joe, Second a lift and shop full of tools helps, took just over an hour and a half and a beer.
Results:
Before even when the 4wd would work it took a minute or two to engage, literally. Now even at 50 miles per hour, push the button and 4wd/AWD locks in a few seconds. Push the button again and in mere seconds back in 2wd.
Since this is my first 4runner and I have only had it since 69k, it always took forever to engage. I can only assume that the previous owner rarely if ever used 4wd.

I now have the spare(?) t-case in my garage. I will tear into it the first chance I get, once I do I will update this thread with the findings. It will likely be the middle of January before I do. I'm a stay at home dad and full time student so time is limited.
Cheers,
Aaron

brian2sun

An hour and a half is pretty darn fast! Good job.

impreza

If anyone ever needs work done on a 4wd Toyota and your in the Denver area, Slee Off-road is the only place to go. Joe is a damn good mechanic, and Ben and Christo know all things Toyota. Right now in the shop they are doing a SAS on a 100 series Landcruiser for a customer and also a 4.7 liter V-8 swap into an 80 series. They have also done a full build on a 200 series. Yes they do work on more than just Landcruisers, they do a bunch of sweet tacos and 4runners as well.
Cheers,
Aaron

flickerunner02

last saturday my panicked wife called and told me she got stuck with my (yes my 4runner ) in the snow,she said the 4wd did not work or lock in 4wd,and the light in the dash just keep flashing.when i got home i check it, sure did,4wd not engage.up to now 4wd light still flashing.
i disconnect the battery after 1hr reconnect it, tried to activate 4wd button nothing not even a click or clunk or any sound but light still flashing.fuse ok. pls help guys...

impreza

Okay, first is the A/T P light still flashing like in your other post?
Second, follow the recommendation from your other thread about shifting the t-case back, if the T-case was bumped out, it will grind a little, to get back into high. It should still go back in but alot of grinding is bad.
Is the 4wd light still flashing, even with the button out?
If it still grinds, then it may be the t-case actuator or something else in the t-case.
This is somewhat similar to what happened to my truck. We ended up putting in a used t-case obviously if you have read all of the above thread. I still have not had a chance to tear down my bad t-case yet, and probably wont for another few weeks.
Hope this helps some.
Cheers,
Aaron

mtpktz.

Good to know. I recently started having problems with my 4WD.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/4...engage-198161/

If I can't get it resolved I'm going to have to take it to a shop (hopefully it's something easy like a loose hose on the ADD) and if I do, I'll probably take it to your buddy.

flickerunner02

To impreza, thanks. there is no problem ( i hope ) or grinding in the t-case,just a smooth shift from lo to hi and back.Yap the anoying 4wd light still flashing until now with the button off (from dec.19 to date) i cant erase it. Im just going to wait till this week-end to check it or might take it to stealership so that they can check it.will update you guys what is going on.

flickerunner02

update!!!! after checking electrical connection from the 4wd swicth and front differential and t-case acuator, (all good connection.) i found out (from somebody here on the thread ) i change the front differential acuator $55.00 from junk yard, i install it ,tested it, works good now im ready for the snow.thank you guys..