Help With My 96 Explorer / 4X4 Light On, No Engagement

[Dave2002]

Hello Everyone.

1996 Ford Explorer Sport 5 Speed with Control Trac

Out of 4X4 Hi & Low:

I get a subtle thump..........thump...........thump........and goes away after warming up. It's been doing this since it started to get cold out.

Turning the 4X4 knob to 4Hi or 4Low:

Light comes on telling me I am in 4X4 but the front wheel (s) do not engage. Also the subtle thump goes away.

NOTE: The 4X4 Low is shifting into the correct ratio as well but no front wheel engagement.

Go figure this happens when we get a foot of snow........

I checked the fluids in the transfer case, diff's front / back and they are full and clean. Also checked #13 & #26 Fuses.... both are OK.

Is there anyone here that can shed some light on what is going on with my Explorer?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks In Advance,

Dave

 

[team]

your model has the CAD system (center axle disconnect). You need to make sure you are getting vacuum to the controllers and diaphragm mounted on the front axle. Do a search on here for CAD and look for articles that get detailed on how to check these things out.

 

[Dave2002]

Thanks Team,

I will give it a shot. I did locate the lines by the passenger headlight, just need to chase them down and make sure they are connected properly.

Thanks again and will let you know how I make out.

 

[imp]

your model has the CAD system (center axle disconnect). You need to make sure you are getting vacuum to the controllers and diaphragm mounted on the front axle. Do a search on here for CAD and look for articles that get detailed on how to check these things out.

History of it: This thing took the place of lock-out hubs, both front axles turn all the time, but driveshaft is disengaged from the axles (I THINK!!). This allowed for longer front U-joint life, and eliminated need for a vibration-eliminating CV-joint on front shaft- (I THINK, again, but maybe it was there).

Later years, the front shaft just turns all the time, along with the front axles, to hell with the added wear and lowered fuel economy!. imp

 

[Dave2002]

Update

Just want to thank you for the insight on the system I have along with the solution to my problem.

I went and found a thread on CAD Systems, went through and checked the vacum lines...all were OK with no restrictions, cleaned the contacts on the solenoid connectors behind the pasenger side headlight which were very questionable to say the least and re-set the engine's PC to make sure there weren't any stored codes to keep the 4X4 from engaging.

After compleing the above, my 4X4 came to life!!!!!!!!!!

Ran it for about 30 miles with no problems (almost 3 feet of snow here in the last few days) and got to a place where the roads were clear and put it back into 2WD.

Returning home last night I drove into an area where I needed the 4X4 and tried to engage on the fly at about 30 miles an hour.

4X4 light came on and it engaged but after about 2 minutes of driving, the 4X4 lights on the dash started to blink.

At that point I was very close to my home with the 300 foot long snow packed uphill driveway so continued with at this point no 4X4 lights on the dash and drove up the hill with no problems (no 4X4 light but it was in 4X4).

Once I pulled into the garage, I turned the engine off, and fired it back up to a solid 4X4 light which this morning drove it in 4X4 with no blinking light and put it back into 2wd on the fly when I hit the clear roads and the light just turned off like it is supposed to.

I just looked through some threads on the "4X4 Blinking Light" issue and it seems that the symptoms of having a blinking light is no 4 wheel drive.

Do I have a faulty light or do I need to dig deeper??

I do believe that given the corrosion on my solenoid connectors it was probably part of my problem.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Again,

Dave

 

[corkey]

was the abs light on during any of this ?

 

[Dave2002]

Hi Corky,

The ABS light has been on for the past 2 years.

It was originally on because of a bad sensor on a bad hub bearing which I replaced this past summer but I didn't re-connect the new sensor because I could not stand the ABS brakes on the vehicle.

The 4X4 worked fine in the past with the light on but maybe since I replaced the new hub bearing without re-connecting it is now giving me a problem?

Don't know why it was not an issue with the old bad sensor but am open to suggestions.

Should I, or do I have to have it working to solve my problem?

Thanks Again,

Dave

 

[woodco100]

Good questions and answers. I need to get to work on my 96 XLT, 4wd, 5 speed 4.0.
Thanks, Woody