DerekXLT
New Member
- Joined
- March 6, 2013
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Phoenix, AZ
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1997 Explorer XLT
Hi all,
New member here (Phoenix, AZ) with a 1997 Explorer XLT 4.0 SOHC 125Kmiles. And I’m stuck. Sorry for the long message, but I’ve done a lot before giving up and posting this query, so there’s a bunch of history.
My kids are currently using the Explorer to commute to college. While I was out of town, it started making loud, grinding noises on turns. By the time I get back, the problem has magically disappeared.
However, a few days later, I get the 4WD/4WD-LOW lights flashing (6 blinks every 2 minutes). Disconnect the battery – seems to solve the problem.
A few days later, the grinding noise reappears – immediately obvious that it’s stuck in 4WD. Hammer-taps to the Transfer Case Shift Motor (TCSM) do not help, but I notice that I’ve got a slow leak from the rear drive shaft sensor.
So I drain the transfer case (black), pull sensor, replace the o-ring (7/8 x 1 x 1/16 works perfectly), replace fluid. Only get 1 qt of ATF out (should have been 1.5 qt), so it’s been running low. Still stuck in 4WD.
Next morning, however, it’s back to 2WD. But, initiating 4WD via the panel switch does nothing but light the 4WD light.
At this point, I’m convinced that the TCSM is the culprit – intermittently operating (under 4WD-Auto), only to get stuck in 4WD occasionally.
So, I read up on the Brown Wire Modification, pull out the radio, clip and tape-off the brown wire as it comes out of the Torque-on-Demand relay, verify with a volt meter that the portion of the brown wire that goes off to the TCSM is still being activated when the panel switch is set to 4WD. If I understand the system correctly, this means that when the panel switch is in the normal 4WD-Auto mode, 4WD can no longer be “on-demand” initiated. So at least now my kids can use it until a real solution is found. As expected, driving it more than a couple of miles in 4WD-Auto triggers the 6-blink warning.
So next I pull the TCSM (discovering that the front drive shaft sensor also has a slow leak), disassemble/inspect both the gear head and electrical end. Everything looks good except the rotor contacts are moderately blackened. Clean the rotor contacts and brushes and reassemble/reinstall.
Still no 4WD operation and now I notice (never checked before) that switching to 4WD LOW does not light the 4WD LOW light – the 4WD light just stays on.
So, any ideas what might be going on, or what paths I should take to get more clues?
…Derek
New member here (Phoenix, AZ) with a 1997 Explorer XLT 4.0 SOHC 125Kmiles. And I’m stuck. Sorry for the long message, but I’ve done a lot before giving up and posting this query, so there’s a bunch of history.
My kids are currently using the Explorer to commute to college. While I was out of town, it started making loud, grinding noises on turns. By the time I get back, the problem has magically disappeared.
However, a few days later, I get the 4WD/4WD-LOW lights flashing (6 blinks every 2 minutes). Disconnect the battery – seems to solve the problem.
A few days later, the grinding noise reappears – immediately obvious that it’s stuck in 4WD. Hammer-taps to the Transfer Case Shift Motor (TCSM) do not help, but I notice that I’ve got a slow leak from the rear drive shaft sensor.
So I drain the transfer case (black), pull sensor, replace the o-ring (7/8 x 1 x 1/16 works perfectly), replace fluid. Only get 1 qt of ATF out (should have been 1.5 qt), so it’s been running low. Still stuck in 4WD.
Next morning, however, it’s back to 2WD. But, initiating 4WD via the panel switch does nothing but light the 4WD light.
At this point, I’m convinced that the TCSM is the culprit – intermittently operating (under 4WD-Auto), only to get stuck in 4WD occasionally.
So, I read up on the Brown Wire Modification, pull out the radio, clip and tape-off the brown wire as it comes out of the Torque-on-Demand relay, verify with a volt meter that the portion of the brown wire that goes off to the TCSM is still being activated when the panel switch is set to 4WD. If I understand the system correctly, this means that when the panel switch is in the normal 4WD-Auto mode, 4WD can no longer be “on-demand” initiated. So at least now my kids can use it until a real solution is found. As expected, driving it more than a couple of miles in 4WD-Auto triggers the 6-blink warning.
So next I pull the TCSM (discovering that the front drive shaft sensor also has a slow leak), disassemble/inspect both the gear head and electrical end. Everything looks good except the rotor contacts are moderately blackened. Clean the rotor contacts and brushes and reassemble/reinstall.
Still no 4WD operation and now I notice (never checked before) that switching to 4WD LOW does not light the 4WD LOW light – the 4WD light just stays on.
So, any ideas what might be going on, or what paths I should take to get more clues?
…Derek
