Help: Diff blinking and stuck in lo4

[swiss200]

I purchased my 2008 200 a few months ago. Today I finally was able to do some offroading and witching between lo4 and hi4 was very smooth.

Until I tried to engage the diff lock. After pressing the button the light started to blink. I tried driving forward, backward, rolling in neutral and singing songs but nothing helped.

I also tried to move it back on hi4 but this confused the car: the lo4 light went out but the diff light is still blinking and the car is clearly in lo4.

Now I also tried to unplug the battery for a long period and checked the fuses by removing them. I also tried driving over larger bumps to see if that would help.

I found a garage that can have a look this afternoon. My problem though is that I'm currently in the Netherlands and need to go back on Sunday or Monday to go back to Switzerland.

I think I can drive it slowly to the garage. It'll be a 12 minutes ride to a next door village.

Does anyone else has suggestions for me ? Or did I check all the boxes and am at the mercy of the garage ?

If the diff light is blinking; can one assume it is not engaged ?

PS: I have been reading related threads and this seems to fit in the: "diff lock was never used before or used too little" category.

 

[Raising2hundo]

Turn it off and on again and make sure your have the buttons off. Keep doing that that until it resets o. Then restart. I had this happen to me the first time I got stuck in a water main break and was pushing a lot of buttons for 4 lo, crawl, diff lock etc and didn't get me out but after I got a quick tow and turned it off everything was good.

 

[Raising2hundo]

Switch between hi and lo only in neutral

 

[swiss200]

Turn it off and on again and make sure your have the buttons off. Keep doing that that until it resets o. Then restart. I had this happen to me the first time I got stuck in a water main break and was pushing a lot of buttons for 4 lo, crawl, diff lock etc and didn't get me out but after I got a quick tow and turned it off everything was good.

I tried turning it off and on several times but without luck. Also disconnected the battery, reversed, turned and hit some bumps quite hard

Garage suspect the actuator is stuck. It makes total sense because this car was previously owned by a family and this might have been the 3rd time the diff lock was used. Ever.

 

[grinchy]

if you're stuck in 4lo (which has happened once to me), and the switch is in 4h now. I had luck with it switching out of 4lo by turning off and then restarting, with the actuation happening at restart.

By the description, it looks like you've already tried this . . .

 

[Fisher23]

When my diff light has been blinking in the past it is not engaged and will not engage if I try it.

My issue I had a evap code, and apparently the evap turns off the diff lock.

 

[Weedhopper]

Try accelerating from a stop at a fairly brisk rate up to maybe 15 mph then abruptly take your foot off the accelerator. Try it a few times.