ok, I wouldn't even know how to do a search for this issue. When I put my runner in the 4x4 mode, it feels like the wheels are not turning at the time or something.. let's say when I'm pulling in and out of a parking space, it 'skids' out a bit and I have to be generous on the gas pedal.. is this a common problem that I'm not aware of?

 

Well, if you put it onto 4x4 mode, you have to make sure that you are on off-road pavement, else your drive train will bind. Bad for your car, and that's probably what's giving you that phenomenon.

 

butt, it also does the same thing on the snow... this never happened when it was new. There must be some sort of maintenance thingy that I can do..

 

so youre engaging it into 4hi from a still position, then moving the 4runner, and when youre moving from a stop to the wheels are turning in 4hi, theres a "skid"? and the same goes for when youre slowing down from 4hi, on pavement/in snow?

a little more clarifaction would help. also, have you tried engaging it into 4hi while the 4runner is moving? if so, what is the case then?

 

you are putting your drive train in a bind. ....don't engage 4wd on any surface unless the tires will be able to "slip" a little.

 

the runner will be in 4x4 hi gear. when it moves from a stop or just moving 'slow' in general, it's very sluggish. The 'skid' is apparent when I'm turning the steering wheel sharply to the left or right. I believe it happens when I'm going straight, but not as noticable..

 

Do you have a locker?

 

Are your tires all the same size?
Did you change gears in just one axle?
(Hey, you gotta ask these questions - people have been know to do some pretty .... wierd... stuff...)

 

mtl - you mean a locker as in manual lock for the 4x4 mode or something?

flamed - yes, I have the same size tires and I've adjusted the tire pressure to 32 psi on all of them. Man, if I change gear in one axle, I think the sympton would be a whole lot severe..

hmm.. maybe some around the axle is slipping?

 

ANY hard turn, especially at low speeds, with the 4WD engaged will cause your front tires to slip/skid. The tighter the turn, the less the inner wheel will want to travel compared to the outer wheel but having the 4WD engaged is forcing both the outer and inner wheels to turn at the same rates. Something has to give so one tire will "skid". You say it didn't do it when the car was new. Perhaps you just didn't notice it? Maybe you should disengage your 4WD when parking. Parallel parking should not require the 4WD to be engaged.

Other than fluid changes and assuming nothing is truly malfunctioning, I don't know what maintenance you want to do.

 

It just feels like there's too much resistence in 4x4 mode. I wouldn't wanna disengage when I'm parking on the snow when there's a slope (even though my prob. happens on flat plane also). This resistence, ultimately, would effect my gas at highways speeds.. that's a bit strange this isn't a common prob with high mileage runners.

 

if you have a 99 runner i'm pretty sure that has a locking center differential, in addition to the 2 diffs between the front and rear wheels. if you have the center differential locked it will bind when you put it in 4HI. normally the default for the center diff is off, so when you shift into 4HI you can drive on dry pavement and it is ok (basically all wheel drive, its called full-time 4 wheel drive by toyota). maybe somehow your center diff is stuck locked, so you can only shift into true 4WD (called part-time 4 wheel drive by toyota). when people tell you not to drive on the road or shift on the road in 4HI, they mean shifting into part-time 4 wheel drive mode.

when you shift it into 4HI, and you look at the little 4WD icon lights on the dash, does the red light in the center of the 4 green tire lights come on?