CDL stuck activated (1 Viewer)

[lx200inAR]

I’m searching the forum now, but I’m sitting in a parking lot a few blocks from my house. I was exercising my CDL and 4lo in a parking lot and now my CDL won’t disengage. Also, the 4lo switch has no affect on the dash display and hitting the CDL lock button changes nothing. CDL light is flashing. Going to go get my tech stream to see if a code needs to be reset (Carista says no faults)? Any tricks to helping the actuator work with limited wrenching, So I can get this home?

my exercise included putting in 4lo and engaging crawl control. This went fine. Then I put back in 4 hi and hit the CDL lock button. It engaged after 5-7 seconds then drove strait for about 20 yards and tried to disengage.

will jacking up one side and spinning wheels help? Also I don’t know exact process on this but saw something about that on 80 series forum.

 

[goldwater58]

Maybe try going in reverse a few times? Or perhaps disconnecting the battery for a few minutes. Just throwing ideas out there. Good luck!

 

[TeCKis300]

I've been in this situation before and it's not completely uncommon. It may or may not be a mechanical issue, rather more likely that it's an electro-mechanical issue with the switching actuator. Or even something completely unrelated like the MOAB CEL which is due to emissions.

A quick troubleshoot - try pulling the negative terminal of the battery. This will clear any CELs and reset some things. First start of the car after will stall and is normal (don't be alarmed). Second start will be just fine. Then try taking it out of CDL if it's not out already. If you're lucky, this will work.

If it still doesn't work, there's likely some electromechanical things going on in the actuator... Let me post this first...I'll add another post.

 

[lx200inAR]

Thanks.. I’m an idiot. Reverse did the trick.

 

[Sandroad]

Couple quick thoughts. Don’t jack it up and spin wheels. Driving it a few blocks on pavement won’t break anything. If the CDL light is flashing, it may not be locked.

 

[Sandroad]

Great. Glad it worked. Don’t be afraid to exercise it more in the future on a gravel area when the T-case is warm. It sounds like it needs it.

 

[lx200inAR]

Yeah, next time I run it I’ll do it somewhere with a little less traction. I definitely had tested that it was locked, as a mild turn in the parking caused a little hopping.
Thanks for the help, and @TeCKis300, I already found your thread on the diff lock and bookmarked for later study.

 

[lx200inAR]

Compounding matters, I had just finished a 1.5 day process of disassembling my interior to give it a deep clean that involved a lot of water to try to remove some of the carpet shampoo that prev dealer/owner had loaded into the floorboards. So I was a little worried I had done something bad in that regard. I was fairly careful to not get any water in the connectors on the bottom of the A pillars.

 

[bentonrover]

Tapping transfer case with a rubber mallet worked for me once

 

[rscoleman]

I have not checked owners manual so not sure. But only thing CDL does is lock transfer case in 50/50 front to rear. As axles in front are open diffs and rear are open diffs. I don't think that driving on pavement or even at highway speeds would be detrimental with CDL engaged. The flashing light from what I remember is warning light that it is not engaged or disengaged based on last push of button that you made. I often egage mine on way home from Grocery store about 2 miles from my house. Run for 1 mile engaged at around 40mph and then turn back off before I get to house.

 

[lx200inAR]

I get what you are saying about the front/rear axles being able to spin freely, but i definitely got chirps from the tires when trying to turn with the CDL engaged on pavement (Very low speed in a parking lot). So something is binding up in the center diff when it is locked. Unless there is something wrong with mine and this isn't normal behavior.

 

[bronc076]

That's normal, front and rear axles take two different paths around a corner, It's normal for that if your TCase is locked, even with open diffs to get some tire scrubbing. My LC and my Tacoma are finicky when it comes to pushing buttons for 4Lo, Locking Axles, CDL. But if you have ever had a 4x4 that you shift with levers you will realize they are finicky too, sometimes you have to roll backward a bit, drive a bit to get an ARB to unlock, etc. This is all normal. Best thing we can do on our 200s is be sure to exercise the stuff, throw it in 4 lo and lock your CDL occasionally, in a gravel parking lot, or when you are driving on any dirt so the actuators and moving parts get exercise. Else when you need it it might be stuck from years/miles of staying in the same place.

 

[lx200inAR]

Yeah, i had put my truck in reverse, but only let it move a foot or two and it didn't unlock. After @goldwater58 suggested I put it in reverse, I reversed about 15 feet. It didn't unlock while reversing, but as soon as i put it in drive and moved forward, it unlocked.

 

[Cruisin911]

If it gets stuck again, reverse while turning the wheel slightly right and left will get it to release 99% of the time. If it never locked and just came on flashing, a simple restart will fix.

 

[bronc076]

If you are one of the folks that is not really sure what's going on when you hit the CDL button this might help.

Think of it like this. You are in a dirt parking lot, you crank the wheel to the left or right, and you drive in a big circle. In the dust there are 4 circles of tire tracks, each circle a different diameter. Each of the tires traveled a different distance. This is not a problem from left to right on the each axle as we have open diffs and the spider gears in the carrier allow the two axles to rotate at different RPMs proportional to each other. Note that the two circles created by the front wheels are larger in diameter than the two circles created by the rear wheels. Since the front axle traveled farther the front driveshaft must have rotated more times. Now engage CDL, which ensures both driveshafts rotate at the same RPM. Drive in your circle, you get tire scrubbing, and when you park there is internal pressure on the gears, therefore, they will not disengage. If you straighten the wheels and drive straight you are not removing the stress as now both driveshafts are still spinning at the same RPM. Then if you turn the other way while going forward you still are not removing the stress as the front wheels are still going farther than the rear wheels. You need to back up, Try forward a couple yards, back a couple yards with the wheels slightly turned, this will move the stress back and forth and allow the mechanism to disengage. Sometimes left might work better than right depending on truck, luck, moon phase, I don't know why. But you will most likely need to back up with the front wheels slightly turned to relieve the tension internal to the transfer case so it can pop out of CDL.

HTH