Same Ol' 4Lo won't engage

[addkev]

I did a search and I have tried the obvious stuff.

We are on the road(driving from Florida to California in the process of moving to Hawaii) so I don't have all of my normal resources available to me. Yesterday I noticed my truck wouldn't engage in 4lo. I did the obvious stuff, disconnect the neg. batt. cable and disconnected and reconnected the 4wd switch, no fix.
Here is what it is doing, 4hi works, it pulled me up a rocky ledge, so I know it works. When I try to switch to 4lo I can hear the relay in the dash trying to engage, but the case motor doesn't do anything. I pulled the filler plug on the T-case and the fluid is good. I took a BFH and tapped on the shift motor and the case itself and nothing happened. Are there any other quick fixes to try. Remember I am travelling and I can't do anything BIG right now.
Thanks guys.

 

[Robert]

It does appear as though your shift solenoid is acting up. A friend has a '98 Mazda B4000 with basically the same setup and his does the same thing. His problem started a few weeks after doing a river crossing. We figure that the solenoid got some water in it causing it to rust which makes it stick. There aren't any real quick fixes to try besides disconnecting the battery but you've already done that. The most likely culprit is either the shift solenoid, driveshaft speed sensor or relay. I am assuming that since you can hear the relay energize when you switch it to Low, the relay is probably working and the switch is definately working. My vote is on the solenoid. If it were mine, I would take the solenoid off and see what it looks like inside incase something just got stuck. All it is is an electrically activated solenoid that spins a worm gear. That would be a bit of a pain to do it on the road though without the benefits of a garage and tools. If you don't need 4x4 on your trip, I wouldn't worry about it. If you have the money and don't mind paying someone else to look at it, you might have better luck finding a competent mechanic before you get to Hawaii (just speculation though). Once you get to the island, you are limited in your choices. I've never been there so I don't know how pentiful the choices are.

 

[addkev]

Well, I pulled the electrical connector on the case apart and cleaned the connections with some pipe cleaners and re-greased the connections and all is good again. I had read several posts about how the PCM just gets confused sometimes and maybe that was the case here. Thanks Robert. I will keep you in mind since we are heading towards Arizona here in a week or so.

 

[Robert]

If you stop in the Phoenix area, we could get together for dinner in the evening or lunch on a weekend. There are several others here that would probably like to join in. Just try and give some notice before getting here.

 

[addkev]

I would like to do that, we are planning on going to the Grand Canyon on August 11-12. I am not great on my geography off the top of my head, but I know we have to drive through Tuscon and Phoenix isn't far from there, right? Or do we have to drive through both on the way to Flagstaff? Let me firm up the dates and I will PM you and we can swap cell phone numbers. How that sound?

Kevin

 

[Robert]

That sounds good. If you are going from Tucson to the Grand Canyon, you will be passing right through Phoenix.