Drove around with rear differential light flashing, did I do damage?

[garlic4runner]

Thanks for taking a look at this thread

I went to the car today and noticed the red light flashing with an "X" near the rear of an outline of the vehicle. I looked in the manual and I believe this light came on because someone pushed the "lock rear differential button". The manual says it will blink until engaged at which time It will be solid red. Clearly the person driving before me made a mistake and pressed it while the 4Runner is in High 2 for normal everyday driving. Would having driven around like that be a major mistake. From what I can understand the rear differential never actually locked and was only blinking.

can you even use that button in High 2? Did having it blink for the entire day, while driving, cause damage?

thank you for helping me out :frog:

i am worried because the manual is pretty clear that you should only lock the rear diff if in really slippery mud and stuff like that. But because the light only flashed and never actually went solid I hope no damage was done and it's not a problem.

p.s. and I now understand that my father meant to push the home link button and missed. I assume he will do this many more times and I would like to know if this is a problem

 

[Jtraskell]

Thanks for taking a look at this thread

I went to the car today and noticed the red light flashing with an "X" near the rear of an outline of the vehicle. I looked in the manual and I believe this light came on because someone pushed the "lock rear differential button". The manual says it will blink until engaged at which time It will be solid red. Clearly the person driving before me made a mistake and pressed it while the 4Runner is in High 2 for normal everyday driving. Would having driven around like that be a major mistake. From what I can understand the rear differential never actually locked and was only blinking.

can you even use that button in High 2? Did having it blink for the entire day, while driving, cause damage?

thank you for helping me out :frog:

i am worried because the manual is pretty clear that you should only lock the rear diff if in really slippery mud and stuff like that. But because the light only flashed and never actually went solid I hope no damage was done and it's not a problem.

p.s. and I now understand that my father meant to push the home link button and missed and hit the lock rear diff button lol. I assume he will do this many more times and I would like to know if this is a problem

First, have you tried to engage the re-dif lock now? Does it work? Did you then un-lock it and is the light off?

Since dad engaged it accidentally while trying to open the garage door, was he coming home or leaving the residence? If coming home, I doubt the light was on for more then a few seconds. If leaving and the light was blinking through out the day, my guess is that you are correct, it did no harm as the re-diff never locked up and the light was just to let you know that it was not locked. Just a guess, could be more to it, but if you are able to perform what I mentioned above, I think no harm no foul. Be safe.

 

[garlic4runner]

I have not yet engaged and disengaged the rear diff lock partly because I don't know how to do it yet but I suspect I will need to at least shift to High 4 and then do it.

to answer the second part of your question, yes, the light just kept blinking and never went solid. I was able to turn it on and off (the blinking) with no problem.

Today I will test to make sure I can get the rear diff lock light to stay on.

I pretty much feel the way you do about it. I think that you can press the lock rear diff button as much as you want in High 2 and it will never actually activate it will only blink saying it's ready/trying to activate. I assume that's not gonna harm anything other than maybe running the light bulb out behind the button a bit quicker. Thank you

I can't say for sure if it was on all day or just when he parked. He wouldn't even remember.

 

[Jtraskell]

I have not yet engaged and disengaged the rear diff lock partly because I don't know how to do it yet but I suspect I will need to at least shift to High 4 and then do it.

to answer the second part of your question, yes, the light just kept blinking and never went solid. I was able to turn it on and off (the blinking) with no problem.

Today I will test to make sure I can get the rear diff lock light to stay on.

I pretty much feel the way you do about it. I think that you can press the lock rear diff button as much as you want in High 2 and it will never actually activate it will only blink saying it's ready/trying to activate. I assume that's not gonna harm anything other than maybe running the light bulb out behind the button a bit quicker. Thank you

I can't say for sure if it was on all day or just when he parked. He wouldn't even remember.

I understand about Dad's and memories.....good luck.

 

[Antman]

It didn't hurt anything. Think of the blinking light as the truck saying " I can't engage the locker because your in 2hi, dude!). It never engaged, no damage. That's why Toyota only let's it engage in 4lo. At least, that's one of the reasons.

 

[Intruder]

It didn't hurt anything. Think of the blinking light as the truck saying " I can't engage the locker because your in 2hi, dude!). It never engaged, no damage. That's why Toyota only let's it engage in 4lo. At least, that's one of the reasons.

Yup, exactly this. The locker can't engage in 2HI or 4HI unless you've done the grey wire mod.