4x4 stuck in low!

[brandonloserkid]

i have a 97 sport

i was trying to install neons, and i hooked the ground up to the cig lighter.... when i plugged the 4x4 back into the dash moulding thing, i tested it, by turning it on 4x4 low, now it wont come out of it... ive tried everytying, if i disconnect the switch does that disengage it??? cause i cant drive over 30mph with 4x4 low right? and its nice out here, so will that work? HELP!!

 

[ahhjaws]

Are you making sure you are in neutral. It's happened to me before.

 

[brandonloserkid]

yea, in neutral, then switching it, but its stays on!

 

[jimbo74]

i dont think the systems are the same as the early boxy explorers, but on them, you must have the brake pedal engaged, be in neutral, be at a complete stop, and then press the low range button once.... mine sometimes seems to have a slow reaction time, so dont just keep pressing if it doesnt immediately shift out of low.....

 

[ahhjaws]

My mom has a '95 that did that once. I did a series of putting it in neutral, disingaging the 4WD, pushing the gas, putting in reverse, then putting in neutral, then drive. Or something to that affect.

But it worked.

 

[FourXFred]

yeah, my mothers 2001 ranger did the same thing. i had to play with it a lot to get it out. i found that doing what ahhjaws just described got it out. try that and let us know how it goes! good luck!

 

[Capman2k]

I probably should read the whole post before replying... But I just thought I'd mention that I have to back up about ten feet to disengage the 4wd for some reason maybe you could try that or something......

 

[gordhunt]

You only need to back to disengage the hubs not 4x4. Sounds like your solenoid isn't disengaging you might want to crawl under the truck and check the connection on the transfer case. Or swap in a real transfer case with a lever

 

[TPLYNCH]

Try disconnecting your battery for a while to reset the computer. That may reset the shift motor. If not, take a rubber mallet and hit the shift motor a couple of times. It may just be stuck. If those don't work, see the writup on the Singleton maintenance site on how to R&R the shift motor.....

 

[onelasttry]

I JUST went through this. Infact I left the tranny shop about 2 hours ago. I purchased my 95 4wd explorer xlt two days ago and left the lot, went to my house and put it in 4wd and ....... it never came back out to 2wd.

After a complete teardown, here's what we found.
(I was there the whole time it was being opened). When they got the halves split it was hideous inside. Black gunk everywhere from using the improper fluid. The tranny guy said DEXTRON ONLY is to be used so the detergents can keep it clean inside and prevent this buildup.

The damages were: melted thrust washers (from the heat of improper fluid) , ton's of buildup (which restricted the movement of the fork and other parts as well as straining the motor to the point in which it burnt up as well.)

So a total rebuild wasn't needed, just a new set of thrust washers and a real deep cleaning throughout.

Improper fluid caused excessive heat and buildup, just because the previous owner decided not to use dextron. I witnessed the teardown, cleaning and rebuild with my own eye's and until you see the horror of using fluid other than dextron, you can never imagine. I will say however, i have a deep understanding of these units now that i have had the opprotunity to see the process first hand.

 

[taxx]

I have to play with mine to get it out. Series of forward and reverse after I switch it back to high then back to nuetral on the tranny and it clunks out.

 

[onelasttry]

Thanks to my experience i know what that is also. There are two small plastic tips on the fork, one on each side/each tip. they have a small groove in them and look a lot like a block with a slice right up the middle. these are plastic, as said before and they wear over time. the result will be that it is hard to get to shift between modes. replacement can only be achieved by splitting the case open.

This is the most likely case with your problem.