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Hum and Flashing 4wd hi/low - Maybe Water in Differentials?

B

bitterdog

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Year, Model & Trim Level
99 explorer limited 4.0 s
Would water in the diffs cause the hum and the hi/low to flash? The hum is a deep sound like your driving on the shoulder of the highway, but i can only hear it with the windows up. The hi/low flash 6 times every 2-3 mins.

I recently went thru a creek several times within the last weeks weeks and this just started happening this week.

How do I check to see if there is water in there? and if so.. How do i drain and refill them myself?
I just had all 3 gearboxes flushed and refilled 3 months ago from a shop for $75

- thanks
 



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its not water in the diffs.. i had the same problem.. well at least the blinking is not i had both those problems.. and man leme tell you how long i have searched for info on the dam humming.. does urs go away if you raise the rpms??
well anyway the blinking i was told by many many ppl means the shift motor is bad.. also a few ppl have told me that the sensors in the shift motor have just gotten wett... but this seems to be a comon problem with these trucks.. have you checked to see if you 4wd still works... i would search rebuilding the shift motor it looks fairly easy.. im lazy so i just bought a refurbed one from my local parts store.. not like auto zone but like a real parts distributor... it cost e $80 with a $35 core return... The 80 includes the core untill u bring it back.. if u can find any ino on the humming get back to me cause id love to know what the hell that is...
 






It is a general fault code. The only way to interpret that code is to get it scanned for codes (Most OBDII scanners cannot read these codes). It could be a number of things, without really having the proper tools, its hard to diagnose it.
 






aleej said:
its not water in the diffs.. i had the same problem.. well at least the blinking is not i had both those problems.. and man leme tell you how long i have searched for info on the dam humming.. does urs go away if you raise the rpms??
well anyway the blinking i was told by many many ppl means the shift motor is bad.. also a few ppl have told me that the sensors in the shift motor have just gotten wett... but this seems to be a comon problem with these trucks.. have you checked to see if you 4wd still works... i would search rebuilding the shift motor it looks fairly easy.. im lazy so i just bought a refurbed one from my local parts store.. not like auto zone but like a real parts distributor... it cost e $80 with a $35 core return... The 80 includes the core untill u bring it back.. if u can find any ino on the humming get back to me cause id love to know what the hell that is...
Click to expand...

if i pull the battery post to clear the codes i can shift into high and low. but when i shift the shift motor clanks not like normal
 






Water could have shorted the motor. Water could have got into the transfer case and diffs. How are the vents? They still have the hoses on them? Regardless, I would drain the transfer case, and both diffs. And if you're going to be in the water again, make sure you have your vent hoses run high in the car, and they are securely clamped to the vents and the vents are securely pressed into the gear box. We used to have to cross a creek every time we went goose hunting years ago. We changed the oil in the gear boxes at the end of the season and they were always good. But we really spent some time on the vents to keep them secure.
 






The differentials have nothing to do with the flashing 4x4 indicator. There are no sensors in the differentials that feed information back to the 4x4 system only the ABS sensors. Your problems will most likely lie either in the transfer case or the shift motor on the transfer case.
 






like i said before shift motor.. every one i have talked to thats had this problem said thats what it was.. and mine was that too same exact thing pretty much.. if u dont wanna spend the oney than look up the how to on reuilding it, it really dont look that hard.. and yes it is def a good idea to flush the diffs and stretch the breathers but they are not related to this problem
 






water can get into the transfer case?hmm

The guy at auto zone told me to pull the plug to the shift motor and dry it out with carb cleaner then use dielectric grease in it so im going to give that a try. a buddy of mine is also going to check the gearboxes to see if there is water in them. hopefully this resolves the problems

As for the hums. a friend of mine says it could also be a Alignment problem? When I had my tires rotated the tech told me the inside of one of my tires was rounded and i neede and alignment... if its not one thing its another.. geeze.. I just hope its all cheap fixes
 






well you can find out real quick if its an aligntment problem or not.. does it hum at you if you're stopped.. like mine humms while i idle, then when i rev up the rpms it goes away.. so mine is not tire related...
 






Not sure if this is even aplicable but when my rear end went out on my SS Camaro it had a whine/hum that I could only hear with the windows up. I know it would not have anything to do with the 4x4 hi/low flashing but it's just a thought.
 






Alignment should not cause the 4x4 lights to flash..
 






alignment WONT make the 4x4 lights blink .. not related whatso ever in anyway... well i can hear my hum from outside the truck quite well actually i must have missed that in the above post... if you can only hear it inside the truck it may be a tire issue... but like i said start by finding out or at least filling me in on if it happens while your moving or while you idling...
 






the 4hi/low flashing has been resolved. pulled the shift motor plug. dried it out and used dielectric grease in it.

I have an appointment to get tires and a alignment this week.

the hum is only heard while moving.
 






then it may be ur tires check back if that dont solve the problem...
 






I had this same issue with my explorere and searched all over and thought it was the shift motor and was about ready to change it when I found a post hidden way far down in explorerforum. First of all, if you read some of my posts you will find out that the humming noise in the front end ended up being my piston bearning in the front differential. There was a guy on the forum who sold me the rebuilt kit for a great deal ($90 or $100) something like that. I had it rebuilt by a guy, but if you want to tackle it I am sure it is possible. The flashing lights on the dash however was a $7 fix for me. Not only did it fix the flashing, but my power windows also. there is a relay box under the driver side dash. The big square one is what fixed it for me. good luck. If you read my post you can find the guy who sold me the diff rebuild kit. Eric was his name
 






Issue resolved....

TIRES!! slapped a new set of Firestone Destination ATs on and she rides like a champ and as quiet as can be

thanks for all the help. Im so glad it was not a mechanical problem
 






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