I had just used 4wd LO to climb up and back down a serious 4wd road. After getting back down, I stopped the truck, used the switch to move to 4wd HI and then to 2wd. It would switch to 4wd Hi but not to 2wd. I pulled out the manual and followed instructions to drive slowly backwards and forwards and try again. No luck. Tried it for twenty minutes. Finally had to drive home and to the dealership in 4wd Hi.
Dealership broke into the transfer case (after doing nothing for two days) and found no broken gear teeth or anything. The actuator was stuck. The technician said he was able to unstick the actuator but still heard some "grinding" deep inside the gears of the transfer case somewhere. They consulted Toyota (finally) and were advised to order a new transfer case.
The two biggest problems I have with the entire situation is:
1) With an electronically controlled transfer case, there is NO WAY to manually override the shifting in and out of 4wd. With this, it screwed me so bad as I was supposed to start a 1200 mile trip at the beginning of the week that I've had to postpone. It may cost me my job!
2) The dealership, "New Country Toyota of Saratoga Springs, NY" had no sense of urgency with this problem. I made an appointment for 8:00 Monday morning and they didn't actually crack into it until late afternoon on Tuesday.
Toyota has got to look at this electrically controlled transfer case. I would much rather have a manually actuated system. More reliable!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I had just used 4wd LO to climb up and back down a serious 4wd road. After getting back down, I stopped the truck, used the switch to move to 4wd HI and then to 2wd. It would switch to 4wd Hi but not to 2wd. I pulled out the manual and followed instructions to drive slowly backwards and forwards and try again. No luck. Tried it for twenty minutes. Finally had to drive home and to the dealership in 4wd Hi.
Dealership broke into the transfer case (after doing nothing for two days) and found no broken gear teeth or anything. The actuator was stuck. The technician said he was able to unstick the actuator but still heard some "grinding" deep inside the gears of the transfer case somewhere. They consulted Toyota (finally) and were advised to order a new transfer case.
The two biggest problems I have with the entire situation is:
1) With an electronically controlled transfer case, there is NO WAY to manually override the shifting in and out of 4wd. With this, it screwed me so bad as I was supposed to start a 1200 mile trip at the beginning of the week that I've had to postpone. It may cost me my job!
2) The dealership, "New Country Toyota of Saratoga Springs, NY" had no sense of urgency with this problem. I made an appointment for 8:00 Monday morning and they didn't actually crack into it until late afternoon on Tuesday.
Toyota has got to look at this electrically controlled transfer case. I would much rather have a manually actuated system. More reliable!
- Tim T., Breckenridge, US