Proper way of switching drive lever from H4 to L4 and back...

[javacups]

What is the proper way to swith the drive lever from H4 to L4 and L4 to H4. I just bought a 97 4Runner limited and according to the manual, I need to stop the vehicle and put the transmission to 'N' then push the lever from L4 to H4 ot H4 to L4. Today before I start the car, I did what the manual say but when i try to put it into gear, I felt the gear started to grind a little so I stopped. iIn the end, I put the transmission into 'P' and put the drive lever (at that time it was in n) to L2 and then move it down to H4 somehow. I am not sure if I did somehting wrong or there is a problem with the transfer case. Please help and give me opinions. Thank you so much!!!

 

[Swaro]

jc

This might help a little. I drove a new '03 4runner yesterday- V8 and same thing happened for the second time to me (with the rep sitting next to me). We "discovered", when stopped, foot on brake, tranny shifted to neutral and then engaging L4, a light began blinking on the dash. We waiting for at least a minute-still flashing-tried dropping into D, instant grinding-quickly popped back to neutral. We found you cannot shift out of neutral until you hear a definite soft-muted clunk from underneath rear and the light would then stop blinking on the dash. Obviously, low range gearing engaged after the clunk and solid light. Subsequent engaging/dis-engaging for 2-3 times performed flawlessly. On both my grinding experiences(low range wouldn't engage), it was the first of the day from a very cold start. What causes this, maybe a more knowledgeble poster here will know. Temperature? Gears not aligned properly? In any case, I now know not to drop that baby into gear when that low range light is flashing and maybe even beeping. A very thorough read of the owner's manual would be in order for myself and the salesman.

The 2wd/4wd/4L/4H of the new V6 seems to be a little less picky.

 

[Eric G]

Poppin in to L$, my '02 4runner grinds a very little with tranny in N. Poppin out no grind.