1999 xlt 4x4 troubles

[dwe]

Hello Everyone,

I have been reading this forum to try to find anyone who has had this type of issue with their Explorer and the closest I found was a similar problem in here that happend to a 2002 XLT, however I am not so confident that my troubles could be resolved with that easy of a solution so if anyone has any thoughts they would be greatly appreciated.

What seems to be happening is that the auto setting isn't completely disengaging from 4hi once switched back to auto from 4hi or 4lo at that matter, I do hear the relays clicking and you can hear the transfer case engage and disengage , however when I accelerate from a complete stop it's almost like it quickly clunks a bit, quite a few times trying to engage the front axles but once up to speed on the highway it seems fine except it feels a little heavier almost like it's trying to pull one way harder then the other (it is aligned properly with all the same tire size), but then when I am slowing again to stop you can hear a wind down noise from the transfer case and then when you accelerate again it clunks a few times again getting up to speed and then stops once up to speed, now it is true, I have three tires worn down more then the new one I had just replaced however the very interesting part is that it comes and goes, yesterday for example I cycled it through the three settings in N from auto to 4hi to 4lo to auto each time putting it back into drive and amazingly it seemed to resolve the problem and worked fine for the remainder of the morning with no pulling no clunks no wind down noises on takeoff or slow down it just felt right again while in auto then I had went back to 4hi as I was doing some work in deep snow then went when I went back into auto the problem had returned again.... I wonder if the three other tire's being worn more then the new one would cause this much clunking and handling issues?? or am I into more serious issues??

I will be hosting it in the morning to see if there are any mechanical or electrical issues that would resolve this and I also I have just read the Brown wire mod (Will likely do that anyway as it would likely be a little easier on fuel)

However any other feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!

 

[dwe]

Hello everyone,

PROBLEM GONE!!!!!

I had my Explorer checked out today and no problems, electrical or mechanical could be found, so why was it doing this?? Well I got to thinking with some of the many experience I have had with cars in the past and decided to do a few basic checks,

The first thing I had checked was check all the fluid levels
Tranny, Transfer case, rear pinion gearbox, Engine, brake, power steering, coolant, washer fluid ect.. I had only decided to do this in hopes I would find something out of sorts along the way... but no luck everything checked out fine,

Second thing that I had checked was the linkages, ball joints, Universals
tie rod ends, axles, seals, mounts, brakes, suspension, tire pressure ect..

And then I had noticed that the rear passengers side tire was a little low in pressure so I had checked them all out and the readings of the rear tire in question had only 25psi while the other three had 34psi so of course I filled it up again.So I was hoping something would come out of all of those checks and didn't figure anything would.So I had to go to a meeting and jumped in the rig and drove away of course it was still clunking and seeming like it was stuck in 4lo, so as I figured.

Anyway I got onto the highway and it seemed to feel a little better wasn't pulling as much as it was before and felt a little better, so I thought great
it's fixed but it still didn't fell quite right it still had a winding down noise
when coming to a stop and it still clunked on some turn outs but not as bad.

So of course I was a little frusturated and was about to tear the the transfer case right out of er and just go 2X4.

But instead I had called a transmission guy that was recommended to me by a good friend and was hoping that he had the resolution.
So I called him up explained the problem and had explained what I had did and that the rig felt a little better to drive then before.
So he replied OK just jump in er pop er into 4lo as usual procedure
and then bring here back into auto but this time just after you click er back
into auto pop er into Drive and give er a good shot of gas and you will here a loud crunch.

so I was like OK this guys is simply just going to tear my transfer case out
without me actually removing it from the rig, and I said are you sure???

He said Yea giver a good snap not too crazy but a good one then call me back to tell me what happened I said OOOOOKKKKKKK I guess.... anyway sure enough I did just that and yeah it did crunch and knock and clunk and grind I figured OK he just tore the transfer case apart inside and I figured now I only have a 2X4 although making it that way with much less work involved...

Anyway I took off again in auto and no clunks on the turn out and no whind down noise on slow down, still I had figured I simply must have sheared the pinion or something making it a 2X4 with a destroyed transfer case.

But I had to try the 4X4 again just to confirm my thoughts were correct
and believe it or not 4X4 still worked fine both 4lo and 4hi in F and reverse at high speeds and low speeds and goes back into auto and no clunks or whind down noise to be heard so needless to say I was very surprised.. so I got back home called the transmission guy and said it's seems fine now, What did it do, and he replied Well I just saved ya about 500 bucks in service work and a day with out your rig. I said excellent but what happened inside the transfer case? and he said when your tire was low the 4X4 sensor was telling the computer to put more power to the other 3 wheels as it was trying to balance out the driveline load and it was caused by the position sensor being slightly shifted to give the rest of the driveline a little power to relieve the pressure off that wheel,

So what you actually did, was when it crunched it instantly made the computer engage all four drive axles at once and made that sensor re-adjust it's position and since all your tires are the same and all 4 tire pressure are the same you simply balanced the driveline back to it's proper configuration.

SO I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND TRYING THIS YOURSELF BUT WITH THE ADVICE OF A GOOD TRANSMISSION GUY BEHIND YOU IT MAY SAVE YOU $500 and you can also have a little fun with it to.

Anyway I wrote all that simply to remind people that when you are having any kind of troubles with your rig always check the basic stuff regardless of the type of problem before you spend a bunch of money getting it looked at by someone else as you may encounter the root of the problem along the way yourself and be able to contact the right person to repair the problem without spending a bunch of money that you would otherwise have spent.

BTW: Kudoos to the Forum creators excellent job!! wealth of knowledge in here, well done!

Cheers!

 

[gijoecam]

So much incorrect (not to mention bad) advice on so many levels... where to start?

But instead I had called a transmission guy that was recommended to me by a good friend and was hoping that he had the resolution.
So I called him up explained the problem and had explained what I had did and that the rig felt a little better to drive then before.
So he replied OK just jump in er pop er into 4lo as usual procedure
and then bring here back into auto but this time just after you click er back
into auto pop er into Drive and give er a good shot of gas and you will here a loud crunch.

That's the perfect way to destroy the transfer case. When the input revvs in neutral, and the low range planetary set is in the neutral never-never position, the LAST thing you want the input shaft to do is spin up. When the direct drive gear tries to mesh, it'll make the crunch, and crunching in ANY gear case is never a good thing.

so I got back home called the transmission guy and said it's seems fine now, What did it do, and he replied Well I just saved ya about 500 bucks in service work and a day with out your rig. I said excellent but what happened inside the transfer case? and he said when your tire was low the 4X4 sensor was telling the computer to put more power to the other 3 wheels as it was trying to balance out the driveline load and it was caused by the position sensor being slightly shifted to give the rest of the driveline a little power to relieve the pressure off that wheel,

So what you actually did, was when it crunched it instantly made the computer engage all four drive axles at once and made that sensor re-adjust it's position and since all your tires are the same and all 4 tire pressure are the same you simply balanced the driveline back to it's proper configuration.

Uuuuuh, no. The system doesn't work that way... not even close. There's no sensor that readjusts itself, nor is there a sensor that needs adjusting. Do a little bit of reading around this forum, learn how the system controls the transfer case engagement, look at the internals of the case and get a better understanding of the mechanicals involved, and you'll see how ridiculous this entire line of advice sounds. What you described is the quickest, simplest way to grenade a transfer case in an Explorer.

In the words of Captain Hook, "Bad Form!!"

-Joe