4HI stuck even though no dash light?

[lojack323]

A few days ago I drove about 10 miles of dirt/gravel roads. It wasn't anything crazy as I was in 2WD for 95% of it. The last couple of days on the highway the steering felt a little stiff. I thought it might be tire pressure but when I finally checked they were all fine (well one rear needed a couple of lbs).

After I pulled out of the gas station I started thinking about how the steering felt stiff like when 4WD is engaged. So I switched to 4HI and back to 2WD and the steering loosened back up to "normal."

Is it common to get stuck in 4HI even if the dash light was off? It's the first time it's happened since buying the truck. I exercise 4WD monthly if that makes a difference. Just wondering if it's something to bring up at my next service (almost at 20k). Edit: I have an SR5 with the electronic knob.

Thanks in advance and I debated for awhile between starting a new thread or resurrecting a really (really) old one that didn't seem 100% related... :hiding:

 

[4runnerlaw]

I have 5k on my runner and the same thing seems to happen from time to time, usually if I hit the brakes and accelerate again it disengages, but it definitely seems like it should be more direct once disengaging with the lever.

 

[CbatEngineer1371]

A few days ago I drove about 10 miles of dirt/gravel roads. It wasn't anything crazy as I was in 2WD for 95% of it. The last couple of days on the highway the steering felt a little stiff. I thought it might be tire pressure but when I finally checked they were all fine (well one rear needed a couple of lbs).

After I pulled out of the gas station I started thinking about how the steering felt stiff like when 4WD is engaged. So I switched to 4HI and back to 2WD and the steering loosened back up to "normal."

Is it common to get stuck in 4HI even if the dash light was off? It's the first time it's happened since buying the truck. I exercise 4WD monthly if that makes a difference. Just wondering if it's something to bring up at my next service (almost at 20k).

Thanks in advance and I debated for awhile between starting a new thread or resurrecting a really (really) old one that didn't seem 100% related... :hiding:

do you have a trail? Or electronic knob from the sr5/limited

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[lojack323]

do you have a trail? Or electronic knob from the sr5/limited

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Sorry forgot to mention it's a SR5 with the knob. Edited first post.

 

[lojack323]

I have 5k on my runner and the same thing seems to happen from time to time, usually if I hit the brakes and accelerate again it disengages, but it definitely seems like it should be more direct once disengaging with the lever.

Sorry I forgot to mention it's an SR5 so no lever like on the trail.

Knob was in the 2WD position and I drove about 30 miles on my daily commute/parking/reversing so it wasn't like it was stuck engaging or disengaging. More like it was still just in 4HI.

 

[CbatEngineer1371]

I have heard this topic more than once on tacoma world with the second gens (one of the deeper reasons for getting the trail in all honesty)

If I remember correctly it ended up being caked up celanoids in the transfer case from hard core wheeling and many much miles

But you don't have millions of miles which intrigues me I'm sure someone with more knowledge on this will chime in eventually

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[lojack323]

I have heard this topic more than once on tacoma world with the second gens (one of the deeper reasons for getting the trail in all honesty)

If I remember correctly it ended up being caked up celanoids in the transfer case from hard core wheeling and many much miles

But you don't have millions of miles which intrigues me I'm sure someone with more knowledge on this will chime in eventually

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Interesting. Yeah I'm at 19k and some change. Barely broken in... :lookout:

 

[Taco04]

I had a similar problem when I first bought my 4Runner but after a bit of use and some exercise it's been problem free. The Toyota rear E lockers tend to get the same problems with time and no longer work.