4wd or am I old

3

3bears

Senior Member
so I drive lots of 4wd vehicles, work related.

so recently playing in the snow, I noticed that the only way my 4wd disengages is when I put it in reverse.
I thought the Toyota disengages even when in motion when you put it into 2wd. that's how I remember it. Then again IM driving ford, dodge and chevy 4wds too, that do disengage on the fly.

Or am I just old and don't remember my Toyota that well ?

If it is supposed to disengage on the fly, then what is up ? the manual says it should.
Is my front actuator sticking ?

2000 automatic, j shifter
 
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It definitely will disengage on the fly. I've had to let off the throttle for it to click out though. It won't if it's under load. YMMV
 
As stated above and in your memory, it should shift on the fly. How often do you use it? Exercise that puppy, and even with exercise, you may find that you need to vary your speed (read as just let off the pedal for a second) to disengage while moving forward.
 
Mine started to engage & disengage a little slower than usual 2 years ago. After I changed all my fluids, diffs, t'c, it was back to normal.

But like the others have said take your foot off the gas & exercise it all year round. I think the manual says to engage 4wd for 15 miles every 10,000 miles.
 
I did not exercise it much this summer, maybe a few times. I have been exercising it weekly however now that winter is here. I did try letting off on the gas, coasting on level ground, blipping the pedal a few times.
It has no problem engaging.
I changed the diff fluid 3 years ago, maybe I should do it again and change to synthetic, its about the only thing that is not synthetic on the vehicle now.
 
3bears said:
I did not exercise it much this summer, maybe a few times. I have been exercising it weekly however now that winter is here. I did try letting off on the gas, coasting on level ground, blipping the pedal a few times.
It has no problem engaging.
I changed the diff fluid 3 years ago, maybe I should do it again and change to synthetic, its about the only thing that is not synthetic on the vehicle now.
Click to expand...

Do the transfer case too. I put Redline in the diffs, t/c & m/t. Made my shifts in the m/t smoother.
 
Scramble said:
Do the transfer case too. I put Redline in the diffs, t/c & m/t. Made my shifts in the m/t smoother.
Click to expand...

what redline in the front diff, everything else is amsoil, but I have to order that, and redline I should be able to pick up anyplace
 
Mine shifts on the fly just as the others have described.
The manual calls for 75W-90 in the front diff, which probably means that's not what you have in there--since 75W-90 is only available (as far as I have ever seen) in synthetic. Put 75W-90 in there(I used ordinary Mobil 1) and continue to exercise the switchover mechanism.
 
If working properly it should engage and disengage anywhere from 0-60 (I think it's 60. It says so on the warning card on the driver's visor). And it should engage and disengage pretty quickly. A blip of the throttle is about all it takes. Mine used to take a lot longer when I first got it, but actuating it frequently seems to keep it working smoothly.
 
so I changed the front diff and the transfer case the other day to full synthetic 75-90
ive been hitting the back roads every night since, and just came back from a cruise in the woods.
I will kick it into 4wd 4 or 5 times, engages fast, drive a few miles ,still wont disengage without going into reverse or neutral and coast backwards. And this is at speeds less than 15mph for the majority, and then when I hit pavement and get up to speed, blipping the throttle it still wont.

however I found it will disengage if I cut a cookie, I had to do a U-turn at a forest road intersection because the snow was getting too deep.

I will keep exercising after work over the next few days, maybe it will break loose with the new fluids.

Otherwise, any other ideas ?

the vacuum lines are working, the check valve is only a year old
 
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When sticking, either in or out of 4wd, I've had great luck putting my transmission into first gear and revving the truck up to 4800 rpm's or so then abrubtly chopping off the throttle. L Once I can get it to go in and out, everything gets lubed up and it will engage/disengage far easier.

I put my 2000 into push button AWD for about 5 miles every week. It keeps everything functioning as it should. Even if you only have dry pavement driving just keep it in a straight line and stay light on the throttle and coast through the turn. You shouldn't get any binding even on pavement if you keep it in AWD. Just don't shift into 4-hi since it locks the center diff.
 
3bears said:
so I changed the front diff and the transfer case the other day to full synthetic 75-90
ive been hitting the back roads every night since, and just came back from a cruise in the woods.
I will kick it into 4wd 4 or 5 times, engages fast, drive a few miles ,still wont disengage without going into reverse or neutral and coast backwards. And this is at speeds less than 15mph for the majority, and then when I hit pavement and get up to speed, blipping the throttle it still wont.

however I found it will disengage if I cut a cookie, I had to do a U-turn at a forest road intersection because the snow was getting too deep.

I will keep exercising after work over the next few days, maybe it will break loose with the new fluids.

Otherwise, any other ideas ?

the vacuum lines are working, the check valve is only a year old
Click to expand...

It's working correctly.....in order to unlock 4wd, the differential needs to allow the wheels to slip (aka spin at different rates) which explains why "cutting a cookie" as you put it, disengaged the system. Basically, you have a bound up driveline....from the tcase all the way to the wheels. Once a wheel slips, it 'unbinds' the drivetrain and returns to 4wd. Assuming we're talking about a part time tcase of course.
 
Last night I was on an old back road exercising it again,so its getting better, still wont disengage when moving forward in a straight line, but If I swerve ( no longer have to cut cookies) it will disengage.
At one point I was moving forward and went to disengage, at about 15 mph, no swerving, and it did after a bit, but with a bang.
 
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