2003 4runner 4wd problems

MARINE_HMLA

MARINE_HMLA

New member
Its a 03 v6 and I have the problems most do with the lights flashing my diff lock light is on and 4wd flashing with the vcs light on, ive tried driving around trying to engage and turning on and off for a couple miles. Ive rode in reverse and rolled in neutral and still nothing, put it on a lift and my front drive shaft is spinning but front tires are not pulling if I switch back to 2h the shaft stills spins but nothing is engaging or disengage. Any help or knowledge would be nice thanks
 
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MARINE_HMLA said:
Its a 03 v6 and I have the problems most do with the lights flashing my diff lock light is on and 4wd flashing with the vcs light on, ive tried driving around trying to engage and turning on and off for a couple miles. Ive rode in reverse and rolled in neutral and still nothing, put it on a lift and my front drive shaft is spinning but front tires are not pulling if I switch back to 2h the shaft stills spins but nothing is engaging or disengage. Any help or knowledge would be nice thanks
Click to expand...

Put the truck in neutral
shift it to 4LO
see if it engages
lock the CDL
shift into drive
see how it drives
put back in neutral and release CDL and 4lo

if it's not engaging you could have a stuck actuator, but the truck has to be in neutral to engage 4wd
 
The front driveshaft continues to spin because of the ADD system, which may be what's at fault. The actuator on the front differential may ne out, because the front driveshaft is spinning, but the front differential refuses to connect, and run.
 
No beeping and i tried the 4lo and still nothing, is there anyway of checking the sensor on the front diff, I used a snap on scanner for any codes and it had no stored codes
 
Yea, check the front ADD actuator. I have had the same problem (4wd not engaging) to a lesser extent, and I'm pretty sure it's my front ADD. On the plus side, the front actuator is a lot easier to get to than the T-case actuator. On the minus, it is still a couple hundred dollars to replace with a new unit. But I have read that you can regrease your old one and it will work better. I also find that exercise helps the actuator stay in shape. I have been leaving my 4Runner in 4WD more since it is a full time 4WD (like the v8s that are in 4WD all the time). I have actually wondered I remove my ADD--who wants 2WD anyway? I don't notice a difference in mileage.

BTW neutral is only needed for 4WD low, not 4WD high. A 2003 4Runner should be able to shift into 4WD HI in gear up to ~65 mph. But as mine has gotten older, it's more picky about going into 4WD. I have found slow driving 5-10 mph is usually the best to get it engaged.
 
MARINE_HMLA said:
Its a 03 v6 and I have the problems most do with the lights flashing my diff lock light is on and 4wd flashing with the vcs light on, ive tried driving around trying to engage and turning on and off for a couple miles. Ive rode in reverse and rolled in neutral and still nothing, put it on a lift and my front drive shaft is spinning but front tires are not pulling if I switch back to 2h the shaft stills spins but nothing is engaging or disengage. Any help or knowledge would be nice thanks
Click to expand...

Due to the nature of Toyota's modern Part-Time 4WD system, the front driveshaft will spin regardless if the transfercase is in 2WD, 4Hi, or 4Lo. The reason behind this is that Toyota's Part-Time 4WD system uses the transfercase to select gears & gear ratios, but the front axle itself actually engages the connection between the front differential and transfercase via a system called ADD (Automatic Disconnecting Differential.) The ADD system is a combination of an Actuator, synchronizer ring, shift fork, and splined axle shaft. It works by engaging the scynchronizer ring much like a manual transmission to connect the right front driveshaft with the differential ring gear. When the ADD is deactivated, the passenger side front axle shaft is spinning freely and does not engage the ring & pinion and thus the front axle freewheels. When ADD is engaged, the synchronizer ring is engaged, the axle shaft is locked to the ring and pinion and thus it is driven by the front driveshaft like a regular open differential (this is not a "locker" in the sense it splits axle power 50/50, but rather just engages power to the axle.)

I have the training manual .PDFs on my computer at home and at work for Toyota's 4WD systems, but T4R.org doesn't let me put anything above 15.5mb so I need to find a way to combine the smaller chapters into one file for you guys.

Back to your problem though, if nothing is actually trying to engage (you should hear the actuator trying to move the sync ring in the front axle) then more than likely the ADD actuator has failed and/or one of the sensors/switches that lets the 4WD module know where parts are and when to shift have failed. If you could have someone pull the codes from the 4WD Module and let use know what it is, it will help use decide what direction you should go in terms of diagnostics and repair.
 
I checked for codes in the engine, transmisson, and body control module's did a actuator check all thru the snap on scanner and it had no codes showing and the actuator test showed all good even run the 4wd check thru transmisson scan nothing showed any codes im stumped at this point, it'll be monday before I can get it back in the garage and on a lift any more suggestions would be great and thanks for all the help you guys have showed to this forum noob
 
MARINE_HMLA said:
I checked for codes in the engine, transmisson, and body control module's did a actuator check all thru the snap on scanner and it had no codes showing and the actuator test showed all good even run the 4wd check thru transmisson scan nothing showed any codes im stumped at this point, it'll be monday before I can get it back in the garage and on a lift any more suggestions would be great and thanks for all the help you guys have showed to this forum noob
Click to expand...

Any DTCs will be stored in the 4WD module and/or possibly the ABS/VSC/TRac module (Can't remember if the codes duplicate/register there or not off the top of my head.) Not entirely sure what you mean by actuator check to be honest. If you were to have some sort of test function for the scantool (I will have to check on my truck when I have the opportunity) it should have shown a datalist of all the switches/sensors (I believe its about 4 or 5) and their on/off/middle positions as each setting is chosen.
 
Like I said, it could be either a failed actuator and/or a failed switch. Unfortunately some of the limit switches are not in fact servicable and thus may require replacement of an entire actuator (I believe this is the case with the transfers case actuator, I can't remember because some of the newer ones like the New Tacomas have replacable switches.)

Here's a "Quick Training Guide" from TIS on the '03-'09 T4R 1GR-FE 4WD system and what testing would look like:
View attachment T-QTG-312F-D.pdf

So if you did manage to do an actuator test of the system, your screen should have shown a data list of the following switches with on/off indications when you tested the actuator:

~TL1
~TL2
~TL3
~DL1
~DL2
~ADD

The system uses a combination of On/Off switches to know what position it is in currently, what position it wants, and if it in fact shifted into that position. A failure of any one or more switches can cause the ADD or Transfer Case Actuator to not even engage.
 

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im still at work so havent had a chance to get to the garage but i have another question about all my problems, my diff lock light came on and is solid no flashing with the vsc light on as well and im not able to turn it off just pressing the button does nothing and putting in nuetral and rolling does nothing when trying to disengage. i thought the only way to lock the diff was when in 4wd, any help on this problem please
 
Hi all,

Long time 4runner fan, but a noob at this forum

I have a 04 limited v6 and today when I was turn it from 2H to 4H, it took a good 15 seconds of driving straight for the yellow DL light to go away and green 4wd light stay solid (is that normal)

And when I turned it back to 2H, the DL, 4wd and 4Lo were flashing and I couldn't get them to stop, driving back and forth etc. I finally turn off car and turned back on and I hear a clunk from the front diff and it disengaged and everything is fine. From reading this thread, it also seems like an ADD failure.

Is there anything I can do to prevent a full blown fail? My 3rd gen would engage without even moving the car, and never had a problem.
 
THE 4TH gen design seems a lil pooor to me...to engage the 4wd system...the car must be in motion!!!!!.........
that isnt right...cos what if you are stuck or something and the car is stationary.......how do u then put the truck in 4wd to ''unstick'urself?
 
wow..good..never knew that.......would check that out 2 confirm......
guess it must edit: checked and confirmed its truebe true though, toyota aint so dumb to come up with the design i described above
edit: checked n confirmed its true........thanks @ CXS
 
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I have a 2005 SR5 and never really used the 4WD mode for years but last year there was a snow storm that required me to use 4WD HI but it never engaged. So today I tested to see if it would engage by putting the car into neutral then moving the knob towards 4HI and waited a minute and it did not engage so I shifted to D waited few seconds and it finally engaged when I shifted to R. Then I shifted back to N to switch to 4LO which engaged after a few seconds. Was it ok for me to switch to D and R when it was trying to engage 4HI. After a few more tries by turning off the car after it changing it to 2HI. Sometime it would engage without me shifting to D or R while other times it wouldn't even engage. Since winter is coming, what do you guys recommend so that it will engage more faster and be more reliable. Thanks.
 
So its been awhile I haven't need the 4wd so it never got fixed...till now im snowed in and decided to try again I took the add box off and bench tested it, gave it power and it moves just fine back and forth changed the front diff fluids put it all back together nothing happens when I put it in 4wd drive my diff. Lock light is on solid the 4hi light is flashing and vsc is on solid. I unplugged the transfer case black box wiring harness checked not corroded up loosened the three bolts holding the box holding the box to the tc and wiggled it around put it all back together still nothing. Had to go out a bit so I left the selector in 4hi just in cas it changed its mind and wanted to work and noticed my mirror direction thing keeps reseting its self and the lights on the dash will flikker it dosent do that when selected to 2hi. Any help or suggestions
 
MARINE_HMLA said:
So its been awhile I haven't need the 4wd so it never got fixed...till now im snowed in and decided to try again I took the add box off and bench tested it, gave it power and it moves just fine back and forth changed the front diff fluids put it all back together nothing happens when I put it in 4wd drive my diff. Lock light is on solid the 4hi light is flashing and vsc is on solid. I unplugged the transfer case black box wiring harness checked not corroded up loosened the three bolts holding the box holding the box to the tc and wiggled it around put it all back together still nothing. Had to go out a bit so I left the selector in 4hi just in cas it changed its mind and wanted to work and noticed my mirror direction thing keeps reseting its self and the lights on the dash will flikker it dosent do that when selected to 2hi. Any help or suggestions
Click to expand...

I was going to say it may be the diff, then, bet the ADD actuator works, and the VSC is on solid? Try to pull the VSC plug on that brake booster thing, then try it. There was a thread a few days ago, and a bunch of problems were being caused and it seemed like VSC was the culprit. Try disconnecting that, and if 4wd works, then it could be VSC messing with the computer.
 
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