I bought my LC200 3 months ago and just finished baselining it. So this evening I went to do my monthly engagement of the 4WD system to make sure everything’s functioning. Car is pretty warm (off of a 15min drive) when I tried to do it. Engaged 4LO and it engaged alright like it has for the last two months, and then I tried to engage the Centre differential and the diff didn’t engaged and go locked with a flashing light on the dash. So I tried to take the truck out of 4LO and the light went away but the truck is still stuck in 4LO but there isn’t a 4LO light on the dash and the CDF light is continuously blinking fast.
Tried all kinds of things per some threads, driving forward reverse shutting engine off multiple times, took the negative battery terminal out to see if the flashing light goes away and it doesn’t. Tried to change to 4HI on neutral gear. CDF Comes on every start and car is stuck on 4LO,
I’m suspecting my diff actuator which is part of the transfer case is stuck. And the car is throwing a code that won’t allow the car to go back to 4HI. Kinda out of ideas now. Feel stupid for trying to engage the diff when everything was working well and now in this situation with me locked in 4LO.
I don’t think the center diff is engaged since the light is flashing and I don’t feel any binding when turning corners.
Questions:
1. Would it be safe to slowly drive to car to my transmission shop to take a look at it off hours on 4LO?
2. Any feedback on what I can try in my garage is appreciated. I am pretty handy but haven’t worked on 4WD systems before so a little nervous.
3. I have seen a thread where they go through a tune up of the actuator motors assembly without pulling the whole transfer case. Would a shop do this? Not sure if there FSMs would have guidance on that and I don’t know if I can hand them a YouTube video or a forum thread.
4. I’ve seen one thread that said heating up the actuator assembly with a heat lamp or fan and banging with a rubber mallet can help but not sure how I feel about sharing that with the shop. Has this helped anyone?
Tried all kinds of things per some threads, driving forward reverse shutting engine off multiple times, took the negative battery terminal out to see if the flashing light goes away and it doesn’t. Tried to change to 4HI on neutral gear. CDF Comes on every start and car is stuck on 4LO,
I’m suspecting my diff actuator which is part of the transfer case is stuck. And the car is throwing a code that won’t allow the car to go back to 4HI. Kinda out of ideas now. Feel stupid for trying to engage the diff when everything was working well and now in this situation with me locked in 4LO.
I don’t think the center diff is engaged since the light is flashing and I don’t feel any binding when turning corners.
Questions:
1. Would it be safe to slowly drive to car to my transmission shop to take a look at it off hours on 4LO?
2. Any feedback on what I can try in my garage is appreciated. I am pretty handy but haven’t worked on 4WD systems before so a little nervous.
3. I have seen a thread where they go through a tune up of the actuator motors assembly without pulling the whole transfer case. Would a shop do this? Not sure if there FSMs would have guidance on that and I don’t know if I can hand them a YouTube video or a forum thread.
4. I’ve seen one thread that said heating up the actuator assembly with a heat lamp or fan and banging with a rubber mallet can help but not sure how I feel about sharing that with the shop. Has this helped anyone?
