I got stuck in H4 yesterday

[Tony2]

I'm wondering if this has happened to anyone else?
Yesterday morning I backed my ute onto a muddy building site and put her into H4 for traction. At the end of the day I drove off site and flipped the switch back to 2wd and the nothing happened. The 4x4 dash light was flashing but the car remained in 4WD. I tried to get it back quite a few times, I even pulled over and took the battery terminal off for 8mins but nothing changed.
The steering was binding up and getting heavy by the time I got to Preston Toyota. A mechanic jumped in it and he too couldn't get it to go back into 2wd.
They kept the car over night and I picked it up this arvo, the head technician said it was a mystery to him.
He said he fixed it by taking the terminal off and unplugging the transmission mode system underneath the car. He plugged it back in and put the terminal back on then started it up again. He put the car in neutral, moved it to L4 and it went into L4. Then he went back to H4 and it worked. Then he went to 2WD and that worked too.
That was it, no explanation, just documented and sent on my way.
I tested it myself a few times in the car park and it is working fine now. The only thing I would say is it makes a sound going into L4 that I haven't really heard before, its almost like a bit of a grinding sound.
The car is 3 years and 3 months old, it has only 48K on it.
Any suggestions?

[DeadlyBeast]

Auto?
Is it possible you initially tried changing from 4wd to 2wd while in park?

[ggreenie]

Haven’t experienced this in the hilux but my dads old Pajero had this issue. Sounds like it probably had a bit of bind up. They struggle to switch between modes sometimes when actively driving etc.

Next time try popping it into neutral while rolling along a straight bit of road. Then flick back and forth between H2 and H4. Sometimes the drive line needs to release the tension before they will let go.

[Tony2]

Thanks for the replies.
I may have initially tried to switch it to 2wd while stationary, I can’t remember doing that but I was tired. The thing is I tried to change it on the fly many times.
The steering wheel was light for a fair while so I’m pretty sure it wasn’t bound up. I actually thought it was in 2wd for 10km until it started feeling a bit heavy when I did a few turns.
I 4x4 often and I know my car, this was unusual.
I put it into 4x4 about 5 times today, it seems like it’s taking a long while to change but I think that’s just paranoia.
It was a mystery and doesn’t fill me with confidence going forward but I suppose there’s nothing I can do.

[DeadlyBeast]

Should be fine Tony. I assume you are still driving an auto
I recall a few times trying the transfer case from 4WD to 2WD while in park at the end of a track in my 2007
It would sometimes make a horrible graunch when the transfer lever was engaged
That car is still running around town no dramas
At 48K, you could always drop the transfer case fluid to look for any metal fragments if not already done

[Tony2]

Thanks again guys.
For now I'm just going to ignore that it happened and assume that it got bound up and couldn't move to 2WD.
For the record I did put it in neutral and roll down a hill moving the steering wheel from side to side soon after I drove off site, that obviously didn't fix it.
I'm 4x4ing in Tallarook this Saturday so I suppose I'll find out if there's something wrong.

[Tony2]

Ok so I had a great day 4x4ing on Saturday. 6 hours of going in and out of 2H 4H 4L and diff lock. The car didn't skip a beat, performed perfectly all day.
It was obviously bound up in 4H that day and I couldn't get it out.

[dave g]

If it does it again try jacking up 1 front wheel if it is loaded up as it cames off the ground it will spine and the presher will came off.