Center diff lock flashing

[silverhorse]

Got up this morning jumped in the rig and all of a sudden the Center diff light is flashing for no apparent reason and I can't get it to come off.

 

[CruiserFan88]

To throw out a sweeping generalization based on the multiple other threads posing this same question is that 9 times (maybe 8) out of 10 its nothing and will go away on its own.

 

[lx200inAR]

Here's the thread I bookmarked for when this inevitably starts happening to my rig.

Transfer Case Tuneup and Fix

Transfer case actuator issues are not uncommon on the 200-series. Not much documented solutions other than exercising the mechanisms regularly. Here's my attempt to provide more information on where and what the actuator is, how to service the transfer case actuator motor, and potentially...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[radman]

Got up this morning jumped in the rig and all of a sudden the Center diff light is flashing for no apparent reason and I can't get it to come off.

How old is your battery?

 

[eatSleepWoof]

I had the same thing happen a few times. In both cases the flashing went away after driving a bit and turning the truck off/on again.

I've replaced the battery (for unrelated reasons) and haven't had it happen since, but that doesn't mean the battery was necessarily at fault.

 

[zoned]

I just had this exact thing happen to me. Here’s what I did to it:
Evidently if you don’t exercise your diff lock it gets mad at you. Try to turn your diff lock on with the console button and drive it around for a good while with it turned on. Then try to turn the diff lock off. If it’s working correctly the flash will go away. If not it’ll flash again and you’ll have to turn the truck off and restart and go through the steps again. Just keep doing that until it goes away.
make sure you can turn your diff on and off without getting the flashing. Once you get to that point exercise it every month and you should be good.

 

[silverhorse]

For what it's worth my battery is new

 

[silverhorse]

All I did was go and engage 4-wheel drive and drove it around a bit and had the issues since

 

[lx200inAR]

I just had this exact thing happen to me. Here’s what I did to it:
Evidently if you don’t exercise your diff lock it gets mad at you. Try to turn your diff lock on with the console button and drive it around for a good while with it turned on. Then try to turn the diff lock off. If it’s working correctly the flash will go away. If not it’ll flash again and you’ll have to turn the truck off and restart and go through the steps again. Just keep doing that until it goes away.
make sure you can turn your diff on and off without getting the flashing. Once you get to that point exercise it every month and you should be good.

I wouldn't recommend regularly "driving around for a good while" with the center diff locked unless you are on a loose surface.

Exercising the diff lock is a good thing to do, but should probably be left to when you are in areas where your tires can slip to not put too much binding on the drivetrain.

When you get the light at startup even when you haven't engaged the diff lock, driving around to get the transfer case warmed up and then restarting the truck generally fixes the flashing CDL light. The thread linked above sheds some light on these failure modes and also provides some good info on fixing the CDL actuator if it gets to a point where the normal easy fixes don't work anymore.

 

[zoned]

I wouldn't recommend regularly "driving around for a good while" with the center diff locked unless you are on a loose surface.

Exercising the diff lock is a good thing to do, but should probably be left to when you are in areas where your tires can slip to not put too much binding on the drivetrain.

When you get the light at startup even when you haven't engaged the diff lock, driving around to get the transfer case warmed up and then restarting the truck generally fixes the flashing CDL light. The thread linked above sheds some light on these failure modes and also provides some good info on fixing the CDL actuator if it gets to a point where the normal easy fixes don't work anymore.

Good point, I was out in the country on dirt roads when I did that though.

 

[TomEf]

Changing the transfer case fluid can help, but regularly exercising the CDL helps the most. It's also more likely to happen in cold weather where the CDL actuator may get gummy and not pass the self-check.