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4WD not engaging...

19K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  gerlbaum 
#1 ·
I have searched but haven't had any luck with my issue as it seems common.


Had the first snow storm of the season hit us hard today. Went to engage 4WD but it did not come on no matter what I tried. Sad when my girlfriends Scion Tc goes through the snow better than this tank.

I swapped the two relays behind the battery for the 4WD/Auto leveling and no luck. Going to buy a new relay since I never witnessed the autoleveling work or compressor kick on. Checked underneath and the shafts look ok (c-clips recently replaced) and no fluid leaking. Brand new battery as well.

I put it into neutral and then into 4Lo and the "4Lo" will light up on the cluster. Tried to pull up the hill and rear tires spun even though it said it was in 4lo. However, the 4WD light doesn't come on in either "Auto" or "4Hi". You can see the two front wheels and center diff light up but no 4WD.

Anyone have any other ideas to try out? Kind of a kick in the balls after spending all this money on this truck recently.
 
#3 ·
Never heard of this issue. Good luck with the diagnosis.
 
#4 ·
Hopefully scr38 will chime in soon, could be a switch or cluster problem. What year is your suv, how many miles. This would be a huge issue if it ever happened to me.
Here is a few inserts from my Haynes manual. I would check your front diff shift connections and transfer case. my Expy did this and it was a rotted vacuum line. 10 minute fix I was back using 4x4. Hope this helps. keep us posted.

 
#5 ·
^Thanks!

I ordered a new 4wd relay that will hopefully be in tomorrow. I am going to give that a shot. Going to check over grounds and make sure everything is clean since the other nissans in my fleet were always sensitive to bad grounds. I'll keep this thread posted.
 
#6 ·
Well, the relay did not do anything. I have an extra brand new that I ordered as an extra. 25$ shipped if anyone is interested in it!

I crawled under the truck last night and it appears the front axles popped out. It looked ok upon visual inspection but then I grabbed them and they have a good amount of slop and you can see it wiggle in and out of the diff. Trying to figure out how to tackle this.

Also had my VDC, SLIP, ABS, and 4wd lights come on. The illumination for the 4 wheels and diff disappear when the 4wd light comes on. Slowly losing it with this thing.
 
#7 ·
Read up on armada voltage deficiencies and the appropriate fixes. I had all the same problems. They all went away after rebuilding the electrical connections.
They key is clean, soldered, metal to metal connections. Read the 08 recall for ground point under hood fixes to id points that need to be fixed. Install the grounding kit after soldering all ends. Solder the junk cheapo crimped oem battery cable ends. Solder ends and install direct alternator ground wire. Remove the ground sensor loop on the negative battery cable. The armada electrical system leaks voltage like a sieve and needs to be addressed.
 
#8 ·
BesSR20- did you ever get a fix for this? I have all the lights on and the illumination for the 4 wheels and diff disappear when the 4wd light comes on- and my odometer/speedometer quick working when the 4wd light comes on.

I'm changing the clock spring ass'y tomorrow so will have the car guy poke around re: the 4wd thing too but hoping you have the solve so I can point him in the right direction.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer a bit of assistance!
 
#9 ·
Perhaps a shot in the dark, haven't read through all the posts here but try changing all the relays, there are 4, three together and a fourth that is separate and apart from the three. If that doesn't do it it may B the xfer unit itself. Long & short, that "fault" light came on in mine too. My xfer case went out, had to replace because there are no after market parts to replace one of two motors that control it. Nissan exclusive, I got a used one to replace it. Everything works fine now.
 
#11 ·
There is a procedure to pull error codes from your transfer case. You need to have the "4wd" light come on (this is the error light, it's not the green "4low" or the little picture). Once it's on you do some crazy acrobatics with the shifter and turning the car off/on. It will tell you your errors. Look up the diagnostic procedure and follow accordingly. If it has anything to do with the shift solenoids, they are in the tcase valve body and it's faster getting a used tcase and just swapping tcases.
 
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