Grinding noise when put in 4Lo

[N8G]

I was messing around some tonight and wanted to test out the 4Lo on my 2005 Lim. V8. So I put it in nuetral and turned the switch from 4HI to 4LO. It started to make the most awful grinding/screeching sound until I could throw it back into 4HI. :twak: Probably lasted a total of about 3 - 5 seconds. All this while still in nuetral.

Anyway, after checking things out and not finding anything I decided to try again. Put it back into 4LO and no problems this time. It engaged with no sound. Locked the center diff and drove a bit with no problems that I could tell.

Anyone know what the heck that noise was and do you think I did any permanent damage to anything? It was the first time I put it in 4LO and it just turned cold here (15 F) the other day after lots of rain so I don't know if anything was frozen that had to be broken loose. Can't think of what it would be. I have about 760 miles on it now. Any help appreciated.

 

[Iowa4Runner]

I was messing around some tonight and wanted to test out the 4Lo on my 2005 Lim. V8. So I put it in nuetral and turned the switch from 4HI to 4LO. It started to make the most awful grinding/screeching sound until I could throw it back into 4HI. :twak: Probably lasted a total of about 3 - 5 seconds. All this while still in nuetral.

Anyway, after checking things out and not finding anything I decided to try again. Put it back into 4LO and no problems this time. It engaged with no sound. Locked the center diff and drove a bit with no problems that I could tell.

Anyone know what the heck that noise was and do you think I did any permanent damage to anything? It was the first time I put it in 4LO and it just turned cold here (15 F) the other day after lots of rain so I don't know if anything was frozen that had to be broken loose. Can't think of what it would be. Any help appreciated.

The exact same thing happened to me, but with 3 three of my friends from work in the cab with me. Wow was that embarrassing. I tried it again later and it worked fine. I have no idea why it did what it did, but no obvious damage was done...

 

[N8G]

Re: Re: Grinding noise when put in 4Lo

The exact same thing happened to me, but with 3 three of my friends from work in the cab with me. Wow was that embarrassing. I tried it again later and it worked fine. I have no idea why it did what it did, but no obvious damage was done...

Did it do it the first time you used it, and has it ever done it again?

That would suck, "Hey check out my cool 4x4. GrrrrrrrrrrrScreeeeeeee!!! Ummm..... Never mind that!"

 

[bulldog-yota]

Interesting. My 4R never had issues with going between 4Hi and 4LO. On the GX (which has a lever not a switch), I found that it engages 4LO much better when in park. If it is in Neutral it makes a faint grinding noise. No clue as to why as the GX is parked, so in theory there should be no shafts moving in the transfer case. No issues when in park. Unfortunately the 4R doesn't allow that with the switch.

If it keeps doing that, I would recommend that you take it back to the dealer. Might be a fluid issue, or a faulty transfer case. I would recommend getting Mobil1 in the transfer case. It made mine lock and unlock a lot quicker.

 

[noserider]

I had a similar experience today. I have a 06 and put in in 4 low today and heard a pretty good clunk. I tried it a few other times and it seemed a little smoother but still was a clunk or at least some noise. Should it make noise at all when switching from high to low?

 

[JWood]

There will be a very faint noise that you can hear if you put the windows down, but that is just the gears changing.

One time I tried to do something really stupid and got the same noise you got. I put it into neutral, switched it from 4hi to 4lo and didn't wait for the light to quite stop flashing before shifting into drive. I quickly put it back into neutral and let it finish the shift before returning it to drive.

I guess your gear box was stopped at just the wrong location so the shift could not take place causing the gears to grind. I guess even machines make miscaculations.

 

[Iowa4Runner]

Re: Re: Re: Grinding noise when put in 4Lo

Did it do it the first time you used it, and has it ever done it again?

That would suck, "Hey check out my cool 4x4. GrrrrrrrrrrrScreeeeeeee!!! Ummm..... Never mind that!"

Yeah exactly. It has only done it the one time. It was probably the 3rd or 4th time I engaged low range since buying it. I can hear the normal noise that JWood mentioned, sounds like a motorized actuator or something.

 

[Iowa4Runner]

One time I tried to do something really stupid and got the same noise you got. I put it into neutral, switched it from 4hi to 4lo and didn't wait for the light to quite stop flashing before shifting into drive. I quickly put it back into neutral and let it finish the shift before returning it to drive.

Hmm.... I'm starting to think I may have done the exact same thing. I was in a bit of a hurry that day... :bonk: