need help asap!! (1 Viewer)

[ktmracer01]

curious to know what may have happened today. i was trying to pull someone out of my driveway today in my parents 1994 Landcruiser. I had the lockers engaged and it was in 4 low. I started to pull the truck out and ended up shifting from reverse to forward so i could try and tug on the truck to break it free. as soon as i went back into reverse it loss complete power without even getting a chance to put any tension on the chain. It wasn't a complete loss of power, the tires just stopped rolling all together. there were no noises or bangs, and the truck has plenty of power without any unusual idle issues. any ideas on what it could be? is it possible that the transfer case lock could have gone to the neutral position and caused the vehicle to stop moving altogether?? very concerned here and it's been snowing here for the past three days and it's my only means of transportation. now it's sitting 100 yrds away from my house in the middle of my driveway. with no way to pull it up to the house.

 

[Slomo]

To confirm you were in 4low with lockers engaged on a snow/ice surface and initially pulling in reverse. You then shifted to drive to pull forward and shifted back to reverse to give a yank? Assuming you do not have a cdl switch/7 pin mod. Did both lockers lights stop flashing and stay solid and the cdl and abs light come on? Sounds stupid but I would first check to be sure your t-case didn't slip into neutral. If all lights came on on the dash you may still have a lack of actual engagement. I would start the truck back up and check the t-case to ensure it is engaged in high or low and not stuck between. I would then try shifting through the full range of gears in the transmission then slowly work your way back to park. See if it engages in any gear. Is it possible that you are low on tranny fluid? If so it could prevent the transmission from shifting into gear.

 

[jpw2]

Our 91 used to pop out of 4lo into neutral under certain conditions. The transfer case linkage was out of adjustment. Try just shifting in and out of Hi/Lo to see if you can get it moved to where you can look at the linkage.

Jason

 

[ktmracer01]

i did have complete engagement of the lockers. i had to drive it approx. 150 ft to where the truck was stuck, and all of the lights had stopped blinking before i even pulled up to the truck to hook up. i've gone through all of the gears in the 4h position as well as the 4low position. one thing that i have noticed is that i can move the transfercsed shifter between 4h-n-4L while i have the tranny in any drive range.

 

[nakman]

one thing that i have noticed is that i can move the transfercsed shifter between 4h-n-4L while i have the tranny in any drive range.

dude, that ain't right, should only be able to do that in neutral or park. Does the t-case lever "feel" the same as it did before? Hoping somehow the handle came free or something... can you lift the lever up? How about the trasmission shifter, does it feel any different? Also how's the ATF level? any chance it's real low and your light is out? I hope it's that easy...

 

[Slomo]

i've gone through all of the gears in the 4h position as well as the 4low position. one thing that i have noticed is that i can move the transfercsed shifter between 4h-n-4L while i have the tranny in any drive range.

That is not normal, you should only be able to shift from high to low in the tcase with the tranny in park or neutral. Is the feel of the tcase shifter normal? Can you feel it shifting the gears inside? Does the tranny shifter seem easier than normal? It doesn't sound like any fun but you just might have a transmission linkage issue. I would crawl under with a flashlight and look around the drivers side of the transmisson IIRC and check the linkage out real well. You might have broken a link or bracket but it is more likely that part of it just came undone which should hopefully be easily visible. Don't envy you lying in the snow but that would be my next move.

 

[ktmracer01]

checked the tranny fluid and it's at the normal operating level. the transfercase still feels normal as far as movement is concerned. so now you see where my curiosity comes from. i crawled under it as far as i could an hear an unusual clicking that was real faint coming from the tranny and t-case somewhere. anyone ever had this issue before?? i tried to search it and found nothing

 

[Slomo]

I assume you mean a clicking with the engine running? Or when you shift the lever/s? Did the tranny linkage look ok?

Edit: Very unusual indeed.

 

[ktmracer01]

my bad, yea it makes the clicking when its in gear or even out of gear.

 

[FJason80]

Could it be the aliens? You do live in Roswell.


lol, sorry, I'm an prick.

 

[ktmracer01]

i'm actually from colorado springs, and thats where i'm at right now. hense...the snow

 

[Slomo]

i crawled under it as far as i could an hear an unusual clicking that was real faint coming from the tranny and t-case somewhere. anyone ever had this issue before?? i tried to search it and found nothing

When you say you found nothing, did you mean you couldn't find the linkage or couldn't find anything wrong with the linkage?

I re-read your first post and the fact that you went from reverse to drive and then on the way back to reverse you lost the connection of the engine to the driveline makes me think the tranny is stuck in neutral for some reason. Since the fluid is ok I am thinking it has to be in the linkage somewhere. If the linkage under the truck looks ok, re-check it really good, then I would pull the center console (4 small screws, 2 on driver side and 2 passenger side on my 97) and check in the shifter mechanism itself. It should hold to the tranny tunnel with 4 bolts, undo it and look it over real good. Hopefully you will see something awry. That is all I can think of, good luck and post up when you get it figured out.

 

[ktmracer01]

by nothing, i meant that i didn't see anything out of the ordinary, mild oil residue around the t-case and tranny and the transmission shfit linkage on the main shifter was moving the the shift pawl on the tranny like it was supposed too. but as soon as i can dig more of the snow out from under it in the morning, i'll look over it some more and figure it out from there.
thanks for the insight, hopefully i can figure something out from here.

 

[Slomo]

Sounds like you eliminated all of the obvious, hopefully another look in the morning will shed some light on this mystery. Pun intended. I am very curious to know the culprit.

 

[NaterGator]

If it helps at all I know the linkage can still shift while in gear.... I have accidently shifted my truck from 4H into N on the tcase shifter during falling RPMs.... nothing happens, no drama... it just slides into neutral like no big deal, but of course I quickly came to a stop with my ego slightly bruised after I realized what I did.


This does sound somewhat like a linkage issue to me though.

 

[gbell210]

Curious.. but does the shifter linkage actually change the gears for the tranny, or is all electronic. I ask because I had problems with my Park/Neutral saftey switch harness connection. When placed in Low Gear, the light on the dash did not come on and it defaulted to the Drive shift points (so it wouldn't hold 1st gear).

Basically, I'm asking are the shift indicator lights between the tach and speedo working correctly? If the R light is not working, the last gear it "knew" it was in was Neutral or Park (on either side of "R").. so maybe it defaulted to that? Just a shot in the dark.

 

[MyCrush]

........just a thought.......

If I read the post correctly, you were pulling in REVERSE to get the vehicle unstuck? Isn't that a huge no-no, which makes me wonder if something stripped hence the new found "shift-on-the-fly" ability, so to speak?

Hope it does work out for ya man, I really do.

 

[Slomo]

Curious.. but does the shifter linkage actually change the gears for the tranny, or is all electronic. I ask because I had problems with my Park/Neutral saftey switch harness connection. When placed in Low Gear, the light on the dash did not come on and it defaulted to the Drive shift points (so it wouldn't hold 1st gear).

Basically, I'm asking are the shift indicator lights between the tach and speedo working correctly? If the R light is not working, the last gear it "knew" it was in was Neutral or Park (on either side of "R").. so maybe it defaulted to that? Just a shot in the dark.

Very good point. I completely forgot to mention the electrical factor. It does have mechanical shifting linkage but it is on the USPS not the drivers side as I previously mentioned. It does however have many shift point solenoids like you mentioned so it very well may think it is still in neutral and not change the atf path in the valve body and therefor not change gears.

........just a thought.......

If I read the post correctly, you were pulling in REVERSE to get the vehicle unstuck? Isn't that a huge no-no?

I thought about that too but I didn't have the heart to tell him when his truck was stuck out in the snow late at night. Not only that but you should never do a yank with a chain, only a slow controlled pull. Yanks should always be done with a tow strap that has some flex to it, the chain would send a huge shock load to the anchor point of the truck and could possiblty rip it off. Dangerous.


So ktmracer01, any luck yet? If you have it you will probably need the FSM and/or an OBDII scanner reader.

 

[ktmracer01]

so it still hasn't gone anywhere yet. just got the driveway cleared enough to move it around a little bit.
i know that you are never supposed to pull in reverse, but considering how lightly the truck was stuck that i was pulling out, it was much easier to pull it out in reverse. i also know that it is a horrible thing to yank on a chain but it was the only available object to tie two vehicles together in order to pull out. but either way i still didn't even get enough tension on the chain to even assist the vehicle before my tranny crapped out. i checked all of the shift linkage and i haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. I suspected that it may have been something wrong in the t-case since i could move the shifter back and forth between 4H- N- 4L without any issues or grinding while the tranny was in gear and the vehicle is running. but yesterday i went to push the truck out of the way and i realized that when the tranny is in park, the vehicle wont move at all. so there is def. something that i am missing here because the parking pawl is engaging without any noise and stops all vehicle movement.

 

[Slomo]

Sorry you are still suck. This is getting wierder, if the parking pawl is engaging the linkage is definitely not the culprit. Hopefully someone who knows the electronics of the tranny real well will chime in. If you have an FSM and an OBDII scanner there are some trouble shooting checks you can run to try and eliminate some of the many sensors in there. I am stumped...