99 A4wd no workie

[jharper]

So the O/D light was blinking on my roommates's 99 and everyone told us it was his speed sensor. After spending numerous hours at Autozone and reading the wrong information in the Haynes manual, we finally found out that the speed sensor was on the differential (not on the transfer case) and was also a combination speed/ABS sensor. Well in the meantime, another 'friend' was traversing the entire transfer case and decided to remove the shift motor to "get a better look".

Now our problem begins, trying to get the motor back onto the transfer case in the proper position. What a nightmare. I eventually pulled the entire thing off, cleaned it and reassembled, all per the fantastic info here on the site.

Now, when I put the motor back on (the output shaft is lined up on the "H"), I can't get into any gear, it grinds and screams. I rotated the motor's cap (the one with the computer built into it) and that lessened the horrid noises but it still will not drive; no Park (acts like it's in neutral), all other gears make gear crushing noises. I'm stuck. One unusual thing I did notice was the output shaft that 'plugs' into the shift motor spins fairly easily with my fingertips...is the transfer case itself done???

Oh yeah, the O/D light never stopped blinking----argh!!

Please help and thanks in advance!!!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! Did you get the code for the flashing overdrive light? It sounds like everything is not aligned properly.

 

[JohnJ]

After all the fun noises you've heard it might be a good idea to try shifting the transfer case by hand at this point (with the shift motor off) just to see where you stand as far as that goes.

 

[jharper]

Welcome to this forum! Did you get the code for the flashing overdrive light? It sounds like everything is not aligned properly.

When it initially was blinking I was going to get the code but when I drove it down to Autozone, the blinking stopped

Now it's stuck in my carport so I can't drive it to get the code checked out.

 

[jharper]

After all the fun noises you've heard it might be a good idea to try shifting the transfer case by hand at this point (with the shift motor off) just to see where you stand as far as that goes.

Assuming I get it into "HI" gear, will it drive without the shift motor attached? In other words, will normal operations work, 'Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive' as long as I don't put it in 4HI or 4LOW the shift motor won't try to engage, correct? Or will the computer "know" and keep me disabled?

BTW, thanks for your help ).

 

[jharper]

Also, the transfer case 'output shaft' (the triangular pointing thing)... should that be difficult to turn? I can turn it with my fingertips; there's hardly any tension.

 

[JohnJ]

With the shift motor physically out or even disconnected the computer shouldn't set lots of circuit fault codes and noot try to do anything. Not that it would matter much what the computer tried to do as it won't have a shift motor to do the work for it so it can just apply voltage to a disconnected wire. At that point you should be able to move the truck around under it's own power provided you haven't got any broken bits inside the transfer case grinding things up. It might be a good idea to drain the fluid out and look for any pieces also.

 

[gijoecam]

Well, this could be either no big deal, or extremely bad.

I can't speak for how much pressure there should be to shift it from high to low, but there should be some resistance, I would think. If you had it pointing to high, it should engage. If it doesn't, it's possible the shift fork became damaged which would allow the low range gears to slide out of mesh when you put it in reverse. It would also explain the nasty grinding noises when you try to put it in gear....

I don't think it should be driven without the shift motor in place, as there would be nothing to hold the rail/cam in place and stop the planetary gears from sliding out of position, but I can't honestly say for sure.

Now that I think about it, what's holding the thing in place right now? If the transfer case was stuck in neutral never-never land, wouldn't it roll?