Discussion: how to make 4wd more reliable in the 5th gen

[nevada]

The irony of this all is you state you are apparently out in the boonies doing things of epic proportions that no other t4r owner has done and you get a CEL? If you are truly doing the adventures you say, wouldn't you already be in 4wd?

A CEL won't disengage 4wd if you are already in it, so my advice would be if in a place you are not familiar with or don't know where it leads pop it into 4wd just to be safe. EVERYBODY is winner! :usa2:

sure if the 4runner works this way or not, but many vehicles will come out of 4wd if you turn the engine off.
so in your scenario, just remember to never shut it down....
overnight trip? apparently just let it idle all night...

 

[wadle5]

sure if the 4runner works this way or not, but many vehicles will come out of 4wd if you turn the engine off.
so in your scenario, just remember to never shut it down....
overnight trip? apparently just let it idle all night...

If you ran into an issue while driving in 4wd would you continue driving farther into the wild and stop in the middle of nowhere or would you turn around and try to get back to civilization to rectify the issue?
I think in this circumstance you may have to postpone your overnight trip.

But the sarcasm is appreciated.:bluejump:

 

[Ron4RNevada]

FYI:
Your 4runner (part time) stays in 4Hi or 4Lo when you turn the engine OFF.
Many CELs stay on when you disconnect battery.
If you're worried about it - Always carry an OBD2 scanner - they're cheap.

I've been carrying an OBD2 constantly ever since owning Land Rovers - they throw codes a lot.

 

[007Tacoma]

...Land Rovers - they throw codes a lot.

Truer words were never spoken. out:

 

[nevada]

If you ran into an issue while driving in 4wd would you continue driving farther into the wild and stop in the middle of nowhere or would you turn around and try to get back to civilization to rectify the issue?
I think in this circumstance you may have to postpone your overnight trip.

But the sarcasm is appreciated.:bluejump:

the OP has already laid out a scenario to explain against that. I wont do it again.


I just don't understand why so many people are against an actual solution. why none of you can admit that Toyota ****ed up with this. is it a pride thing? I just don't get it.

 

[wadle5]

the OP has already laid out a scenario to explain against that. I wont do it again.


I just don't understand why so many people are against an actual solution. why none of you can admit that Toyota ****ed up with this. is it a pride thing? I just don't get it.

No pride its just a vehicle man.:yo:

The only pride as discussed are people wanting to ignore the obvious fixes for this what if scenario that apparently no one has ever experienced when all of the stars allign and apparently bring the absolute most shit storm of a situation with no possible fix and ignore bringing a scanner just to be safe, and don't want to disconnect the battery? The OP EXACT situation has been referenced and trouble shot, but for some reason people still believe this to be a problem. I guess the only option is to trade in your guys' junk( you can sell it to me at a discount since its apparent crap) and you can buy a Jeep? :bigok:

 

[e60ral]

Dude it's best to just tow a spare truck. Everyone knows that!

I went ahead and bought a 2nd 4runner with towbars on each so one can always tow the other

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[T4RGold]

Sometimes you just have to have faith. Every time I cross a bridge I think about who designed it. I know a lot of civil engineers and I don't trust 'em...

Amen. Faith Brother... Along with a few tools and now a code reader.

 

[1engineer]

the OP has already laid out a scenario to explain against that. I wont do it again.


I just don't understand why so many people are against an actual solution. why none of you can admit that Toyota ****ed up with this. is it a pride thing? I just don't get it.

Because the actuality of this happening runs right up there with you getting hit by lightning.

So far we have one case and that was hearsay. I know of two cases where a 4Runner went into limp mode and they were real problems that needed limp mode. So, lets say only 10% of 5th Gen 4Runner owners come to this website. That's 45K in the past seven years. We also know that people who could possibly have this problem come here too. We also know that anytime anyone has a problem with anything they post it on the internet.

With all that said, in respect to the 4Runner throwing codes and causing systems to shut down, we have a whopping grand total of 3-4 people and only ONE has been in the wild.

Your odds of getting struck by lightning are 1:12,000. So far, your odds of having this happen and shutting down 4WD when you need it are 1:22,500 (he might have said two people so I am giving him the benefit of the doubt here). So, why is this a real problem again? Oh, because it's on the internet that's why.

If there's lightning in the area you take cover. That's the prudent thing to do.
If you are off roading and far away from civilization, you carry a code reader and reset your fault. How much more is there to this?

I agree that bring it up and discussing is important, but truly it does not happen every day to multiple people. As a matter of fact, you have maybe two cases in seven years and 450,000 (+-) units. To me that's not pride, that's common sense. Toyota knows more than we do probably (how did they F up?) and after several pages, there is no solution other than resetting codes.

Toyota protects their vehicles from the dumbassery of some of their owners, and after reading this forum for the past six years they are right to do so. From their standpoint, it's a lose-lose scenario. To the average consumer, if you ruin the engine they will blame Toyota for not having a shut down before it happened. To the enthusiast (a lot less of us than consumers) we blame Toyota for HAVING systems protection.

Now, just because we don't understand why a loose gas cap is a problem does not mean a loose gas cap can't cause a problem if the vehicle continues to operate.

"Solving problems you didn't know you had in ways you don't understand" is a perfect quote for this application.

 

[wadle5]

Because the actuality of this happening runs right up there with you getting hit by lightning.

So far we have one case and that was hearsay. I know of two cases where a 4Runner went into limp mode and they were real problems that needed limp mode. So, lets say only 10% of 5th Gen 4Runner owners come to this website. That's 45K in the past seven years. We also know that people who could possibly have this problem come here too. We also know that anytime anyone has a problem with anything they post it on the internet.

With all that said, in respect to the 4Runner throwing codes and causing systems to shut down, we have a whopping grand total of 3-4 people and only ONE has been in the wild.

Your odds of getting struck by lightning are 1:12,000. So far, your odds of having this happen and shutting down 4WD when you need it are 1:22,500 (he might have said two people so I am giving him the benefit of the doubt here). So, why is this a real problem again? Oh, because it's on the internet that's why.

If there's lightning in the area you take cover. That's the prudent thing to do.
If you are off roading and far away from civilization, you carry a code reader and reset your fault. How much more is there to this?

I agree that bring it up and discussing is important, but truly it does not happen every day to multiple people. As a matter of fact, you have maybe two cases in seven years and 450,000 (+-) units. To me that's not pride, that's common sense. Toyota knows more than we do probably (how did they F up?) and after several pages, there is no solution other than resetting codes.

Toyota protects their vehicles from the dumbassery of some of their owners, and after reading this forum for the past six years they are right to do so. From their standpoint, it's a lose-lose scenario. To the average consumer, if you ruin the engine they will blame Toyota for not having a shut down before it happened. To the enthusiast (a lot less of us than consumers) we blame Toyota for HAVING systems protection.

Now, just because we don't understand why a loose gas cap is a problem does not mean a loose gas cap can't cause a problem if the vehicle continues to operate.

"Solving problems you didn't know you had in ways you don't understand" is a perfect quote for this application.

You are supposed to say mic drop after that

 

[nevada]

No pride its just a vehicle man.:yo:

The only pride as discussed are people wanting to ignore the obvious fixes for this what if scenario that apparently no one has ever experienced when all of the stars allign and apparently bring the absolute most shit storm of a situation with no possible fix and ignore bringing a scanner just to be safe, and don't want to disconnect the battery? The OP EXACT situation has been referenced and trouble shot, but for some reason people still believe this to be a problem. I guess the only option is to trade in your guys' junk( you can sell it to me at a discount since its apparent crap) and you can buy a Jeep? :bigok:

its not a problem, until it IS a problem.

fuel cap O-ring suddenly goes bad, CEL on, 4WD off. just dumb, bad design.

You are supposed to say mic drop after that

bwahaha. no dude. not even close. it was a lot of words, with nothing said. just more blanket defense of his chosen vehicle.

shutting the 4wd off because of a fault in the evap system(fuel cap)
or any other non-critical system is a bad design.

 

[wadle5]

its not a problem, until it IS a problem.

fuel cap O-ring suddenly goes bad, CEL on, 4WD off. just dumb, bad design.


bwahaha. no dude. not even close. it was a lot of words, with nothing said. just more blanket defense of his chosen vehicle.

shutting the 4wd off because of a fault in the evap system(fuel cap)
or any other non-critical system is a bad design.

And since you have narrowed it down to a fuel cap o-ring I guess pack one of those.. . .again another solution to the problem!

Mock others for their "chosen vehicle", but you are on the vehicle specific forum and own 3 and a youtube channel. I'm confused, did someone force you into these vehicles?


I will wait.
"Stupidity is doing same thing and expecting different results"






Just kidding no I wont. You are a master of the circular rant and avoiding correct answers and problem solving.

 

[1engineer]

its not a problem, until it IS a problem.

fuel cap O-ring suddenly goes bad, CEL on, 4WD off. just dumb, bad design.


bwahaha. no dude. not even close. it was a lot of words, with nothing said. just more blanket defense of his chosen vehicle.

shutting the 4wd off because of a fault in the evap system(fuel cap)
or any other non-critical system is a bad design.

smh.

 

[e60ral]

Its a dumb design, but worrying about it to the point that you make major changes (custom worong, brackets, etc...) that will probably be less reliable than stock is also dumb. There are a lot of systems that could fail, you can describe a scenario where each of them would be a major deal, but unless you're willing to rebuild an old vehicle with no computers and all manual everything it's what you have to live with. I'm having a hard time imaging a custom ADD engagement bracket that will be more reliable than leaving it as is

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[jrandom]

If you were truly concerned about wasting fuel, would you really be offroading? Plus come on everyone at least has a jerry can when going on extended trips. Like I said there are numerous ways around the scenario the OP explained. Also for me if in 2wd and I get stuck I can't diff lock or bypass ABS and throttle out(experience in Moab thankfully I had a set of Maxtraxx) for this reason I now just go down trails in 4wd. I guess just my personal preference.

If I were truly worried about fuel economy I wouldn't have bought a 4runner. :biggrin1: Just saying, and yes there is always a solution, just adding to the deluge.

 

[Ray Dunakin]

No pride its just a vehicle man.:yo:

The only pride as discussed are people wanting to ignore the obvious fixes for this...

Obvious now that it's been brought up here, yes. But until now I never knew the 4Runner would do something as stupid as disabling 4wd just because of minor, unrelated issue. Until this topic came up, if I had been on a trip and the check engine light came on and I no longer could use 4wd, I would have been screwed. My trip would be ruined.

At least now I know, and have bought a code reader.

As for this kind of thing being so rare as to compare with "being hit by lightning", well, I doubt that. This is my first Toyota SUV, so I can't say for sure that very minor issues almost never happen to it. But every other vehicle I've owned has had occasional, minor, error codes pop up during trips. It was never a problem though -- those vehicles didn't needlessly disable 4wd, so it didn't spoil my trip.

 

[1engineer]

Obvious now that it's been brought up here, yes. But until now I never knew the 4Runner would do something as stupid as disabling 4wd just because of minor, unrelated issue. Until this topic came up, if I had been on a trip and the check engine light came on and I no longer could use 4wd, I would have been screwed. My trip would be ruined.

At least now I know, and have bought a code reader.

As for this kind of thing being so rare as to compare with "being hit by lightning", well, I doubt that. This is my first Toyota SUV, so I can't say for sure that very minor issues almost never happen to it. But every other vehicle I've owned has had occasional, minor, error codes pop up during trips. It was never a problem though -- those vehicles didn't needlessly disable 4wd, so it didn't spoil my trip.

You can not believe in a lot of things but numbers never lie. They just are...

 

[wadle5]

Obvious now that it's been brought up here, yes. But until now I never knew the 4Runner would do something as stupid as disabling 4wd just because of minor, unrelated issue. Until this topic came up, if I had been on a trip and the check engine light came on and I no longer could use 4wd, I would have been screwed. My trip would be ruined.

At least now I know, and have bought a code reader.

As for this kind of thing being so rare as to compare with "being hit by lightning", well, I doubt that. This is my first Toyota SUV, so I can't say for sure that very minor issues almost never happen to it. But every other vehicle I've owned has had occasional, minor, error codes pop up during trips. It was never a problem though -- those vehicles didn't needlessly disable 4wd, so it didn't spoil my trip.

Every other vehicle has occasionally triggered a engine light on a trip? What are you doing on your trips. And as discussed if in 4wd and the code comes on you will still be fine?

 

[007Tacoma]

Every other vehicle has occasionally triggered a engine light on a trip? What are you doing on your trips. And as discussed if in 4wd and the code comes on you will still be fine?

They were not "Toyota SUVs"...

My Scout, Suburban(s), Ranger, Liberty CRD, and Isuzu Pups all had their own "unique" issues that I never experienced in all 4 of the Toyota truck/SUV vehicles I have owned.


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[johnbt]

After 11 pages of increasing anxiety, I've decided to worry about something else to take my mind off the 4wd problem.

After looking at this pic, I'm left with the questions: Does the 4wd still work? Does my 4R need more recovery points?

From post 15 at www.nc4x4.com/forum/threads/dirty-jobs-hummer-recovery.6393