Does the BWM (Brown Wire Mod) work for 4th gens?

[BrianDye]

Glad it worked out for you. I still to this day haven't re-connected mine, OR even hooked a switch up yet. I do have all mine mounted though, and even running illumination to them so they light up at night.

I can't say anything for MPG's though, as my old tires were shot, and I picked up a new (used) set of a smaller tire overall to hold me over until I buy my wheels and tires and FINALLY install my damn lift and new parts.

Been working on this LS that I picked up though, which is why I haven't been on here much.

Im gonna run a relay, so I can retain the lights on my 4x4 rocker switch i'm using. Thats my next task, but it sure is nice not having A4WD kicking in 60% of my drive.

 

[Machine090767]

Yes, BUT it's not the brown wire. It's a gray/orange wire.

So, you're saying it's called the Gen 4 GOW Mod? (Gray Orange wire mod)

 

[BrianDye]

Ha, exactly "4th Gen GOWM"

 

[BrianDye]

So today I was returning my interior back to stock, as I am trading the X back in.

I wired up a switch finally to the wire I snipped which disabled all 4x4 functions. Wired it up nice and clean, good secure connections, and nothing. Switch on or off I still have no 4x4...

 

[NickSantagataa]

So today I was returning my interior back to stock, as I am trading the X back in.

I wired up a switch finally to the wire I snipped which disabled all 4x4 functions. Wired it up nice and clean, good secure connections, and nothing. Switch on or off I still have no 4x4...

If you're trading it into the dealer I doubt they will look to see if the 4x4 works, once they take the keys it's their problem

 

[BrianDye]

Yeah, im not too worried about it, but its bugging me so im gonna tinker with it and see if I can figure out the problem. Maybe its a really low current and its too weak to travel through the wire/switch and to the module? Ill poke around with my DMM later on.

 

[BrianDye]

So I tested the switch, its getting full 12v power when on, and nothing when off.

I unhooked my battery and let it sit for about 15 minutes to reset everything in hopes of that maybe working, it didnt.

When I start the truck, all my normal lights come on including 4x4 and 4x4 Low. I just left my neighborhood and was able to spin the rear tires without any 4WD engaging. Nothing happens when I press ANY of the three 4x4 switches. Auto/High/Low. No lights, no noises, nothing.

If I unplug one of the harnesses from the module under the glovebox, I immediately get the wrench light.

 

[JeepGuy25]

Hmm... I just plugged mine back in because you have me paranoid. My 4x4 light comes on when I hit 4 High, my switch light comes on for 4 Low and i hear the clicking. Def goes into low range. But I havent been able to test drive it yet. I cant remember if hitting 4 High caused clicks, but I dont think it did. Only 4 Low.

Are you sure you didnt de-pin the wire then re-pin it in the wrong spot? I guess if you never took the pin out you wouldnt have that issue.

 

[JeepGuy25]

I just put my wire back in...everything seems to work perfectly fine. Tested all settings and conditions and it seems 100% back to normal. Im not sure im going to go back to 2wd actually. The new tcase works 10x better than the old, I hardly know its even going into 4wd.

 

[BrianDye]

Yeah, I never de-pinned, just snipped it about an inch or two in and spliced onto it.

So far, still, I have nothing. Left the battery unhooked for a long time seeing if maybe something would reset, no go.

Today, however, we had alot of rain. I had the switch on (Left it on thinking maybe the system would re-adapt to 4WD again, crazy, but I figured why not?) and then getting on the highway, I gave it some gas and kicked the rear end out, straightened back out and tried to accelerate some more but got more wheel spin, and shortly after felt a thump and the wrench light came on. Didn't seem to be acting funky though.

Got close to work, so I pulled over, restarted the engine and had no issues. Flipped the switch off, did something similar, a little fishtail and tire spin and had no issues. (I don't ever drive like that fyi, but I can't lie and say it wasn't fun)

No idea what could've happened to my system for the 4WD to just stop working. I know im trading it back in, but its really irking me. It doesn't even TRY to shift into any 4WD mode, which leads me to think its not the clutch or t-case but the 4WD module itself maybe?

 

[JeepGuy25]

You would have to do some probing and checking I guess. Weird that it happened though. 4WD module would be the easiest and cheapest to swap out Ide guess. This is assuming everything is hooked up and working properly everywhere else. Switches, relays, fuses, etc.

So far mine is working 100% like factory. Except for the .5-1 mpg drop since hooking it back up.

 

[BrianDye]

Yeah my gas mileage is phenomenal. I'm averaging over 20 (according to the message center, which I'm sure isn't entirely accurate but before it was 17-18.5)

 

[JeepGuy25]

The MPG shown is the most accurate of any car Ive ever owned. I always stop filling when the handle clicks off, and I always calculate it manually and its usually within .1 mpg of what the dash shows. Extremely happy with that...I just like when things work well haha.

When I first did the mod, I went from 17.1 to 19.4 on the first two tanks. Mind you I was driving very lightly and thats a 50/50 mix of highway/city/stop and go. As of last week, that was down to 17.8-18, because I havent been driving carefully. Ive been somewhat mean to it. As of the first tank with the 4x4 back on, its down to 16.5-17 with the same driving style.

Im actually ok with 17. Its what my Subaru got, and I had to put high test in that. So by my math I still made a good choice getting the 4.6 haha.

Im still going to put a switch on the 4x4 module. Hopefully it doesnt develop the issue yours has. Thats why I hope you figure it out before you get rid of it haha. Just in case it happens to me.

 

[BrianDye]

Mine had some underlying issues before I did the mod, I think it was dying either way. Mine was always engaging AWD left and right, and was loud as all hell. Of all the BWM type mods i've read threads about, nobody has ever SAID they had issues. They all say don't do it because this or that might happen. The people who do always post back that they've had no issues, so I really think mine was just a total coincidence.