4wd light flickers

carrosene

carrosene

Member
I just got my van a few days ago and the only issue I’m seeing so far is the green 4wd light. Sometimes it flickers a lot while driving in 2wd mode. I saw another post on here saying I should put it in 4wd, drive a little, then put it back in to 2wd and back up a bit. That didn’t seem to help. I can tell an obvious difference from when it’s in 2wd and 4wd so it seems to be disengaging, but maybe it isn’t completely. Any suggestions would be helpful.
 
The 4WD light (green square light below the PRNDL lights in an auto, or down low between the speedo and tachometer in a manual) only tells you when the transfer case lever is in the 4WD position (either 4H or 4L). The "drive a bit then reverse" advice is to unlock the front hubs and turn off the "wheel lock" light (if fitted).

On the right side of the transfer case there are two switches, connected to each other with red wire. Those switches get gunked up over time and either stick on, or don't turn on at all. You can remove the switches and clean the plungers out with spray electrical contact cleaner.
When removing the switches be very gentle with the red wires, they insulation gets brittle and they can easily snap off. Also watch out for the ball bearing behind each switch, it'll want to fall out and roll away.

If the wires do break off the switch can be repaired if you're handy with a grinder and soldering iron. Grind off the top of the switch to expose the metal contacts, solder the wires back onto the contacts, and seal the top and wires with grey high-strength silicone. Like so:
20171125_170217.jpg
 
Growlerbearnz said:
The 4WD light (green square light below the PRNDL lights in an auto, or down low between the speedo and tachometer in a manual) only tells you when the transfer case lever is in the 4WD position (either 4H or 4L). The "drive a bit then reverse" advice is to unlock the front hubs and turn off the "wheel lock" light (if fitted).

On the right side of the transfer case there are two switches, connected to each other with red wire. Those switches get gunked up over time and either stick on, or don't turn on at all. You can remove the switches and clean the plungers out with spray electrical contact cleaner.
When removing the switches be very gentle with the red wires, they insulation gets brittle and they can easily snap off. Also watch out for the ball bearing behind each switch, it'll want to fall out and roll away.

If the wires do break off the switch can be repaired if you're handy with a grinder and soldering iron. Grind off the top of the switch to expose the metal contacts, solder the wires back onto the contacts, and seal the top and wires with grey high-strength silicone. Like so:
View attachment 7355
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info! Now I just need to crawl under the van and look for those switches. I assume go from the drivers side since you said it’s on the right correct?
 
Yup, they're just ahead of the rear driveshaft on the right. They won't be as clean as in the photo: here's a more typical set, with snapped-off wires:

44104113_10209987350119690_1243862815714836480_o.jpg
If you get desperate the part numbers are MD704163 and MD704162, but it really is just a light to remind you the transfer case lever isn't in "2H".
 
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Forgot how I found this thread, but I had to find it again today because it made me realize that I've never seen that light on my dashboard while in 4WD. I always did think it was a little odd that the light I saw on in 4WD was "WHEEL LOCK", and nothing about being in 4WD or not.

Went out and checked my dash, and sure enough I could make out the outline of where it should illuminate, but never does. Got under there and was just about to loosen the sensors to clean them...actually I did just crack one loose, but before I started unscrewing it I followed the wire with my hand to see if I could give it some more slack minding @Growlerbearnz warning about the brittleness of the wires. That's when I discovered that one of them just flapping in the breeze, and the other was hanging on my a thread. So I re-stripped them, spliced them back together, and boom ! 4WD lights up on the dash !

Something about this little fix really made my heart smile.
 
Growlerbearnz said:
The 4WD light (green square light below the PRNDL lights in an auto, or down low between the speedo and tachometer in a manual) only tells you when the transfer case lever is in the 4WD position (either 4H or 4L). The "drive a bit then reverse" advice is to unlock the front hubs and turn off the "wheel lock" light (if fitted).

On the right side of the transfer case there are two switches, connected to each other with red wire. Those switches get gunked up over time and either stick on, or don't turn on at all. You can remove the switches and clean the plungers out with spray electrical contact cleaner.
When removing the switches be very gentle with the red wires, they insulation gets brittle and they can easily snap off. Also watch out for the ball bearing behind each switch, it'll want to fall out and roll away.

If the wires do break off the switch can be repaired if you're handy with a grinder and soldering iron. Grind off the top of the switch to expose the metal contacts, solder the wires back onto the contacts, and seal the top and wires with grey high-strength silicone. Like so:
View attachment 7355
Click to expand...
I had taken these two switches out when I recently dropped my transfer case; I'm no electrician, but it looks like it doesn't matter which one goes into which, since the connector between the two makes them act as the same "node", is that right? (I had a piece of tape on one of them to differentiate between the two, but lo and behold it fell off and now I can't tell which is which).
 
Thanks to this thread I was able fix the broken wires on both my transfer case 4WD switches. The wires on mine were broke off at the base so, I uses a Dremel with a small bit (see photo) and drilled out the resin at the top of the switches to expose the original solder points. Then soldered in new wires (14 gauge). I put some wire heat wrap over the base of the new wire (because I stripped the wire a bit far) and then sealed the top of the switch back up with some J-B Weld MarineWeld (local hardware store should have). Good as new!
IMG_0241.jpeg
IMG_0242.jpeg
 
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Great news (for me and my OCD) - 4WD Indicator light working - Yes it was wires, but not the switches/sensors, rather as these looked newish I traced the wires across the top of the transfer case to the sliding door side and found a brittle wire which snapped in my hand; with a solder, shrink wrapping over the connection and its now working - thanks to all for the advice and giving me some ideas and a starting point.IMG_0520.JPEG
 
carrosene said:
I just got my van a few days ago and the only issue I’m seeing so far is the green 4wd light. Sometimes it flickers a lot while driving in 2wd mode. I saw another post on here saying I should put it in 4wd, drive a little, then put it back in to 2wd and back up a bit. That didn’t seem to help. I can tell an obvious difference from when it’s in 2wd and 4wd so it seems to be disengaging, but maybe it isn’t completely. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Click to expand...
It could be the sensor if you don’t feel any change in the driving when it flickers. Connected to the transfer case if i remember correctly. Fairly easy part to find and replace I think it was just about 20-30$
 
replaced mine with this as a reference i believe

4wd light flickers

I just got my van a few days ago and the only issue I’m seeing so far is the green 4wd light. Sometimes it flickers a lot while driving in 2wd mode. I saw another post on here saying I should put it in 4wd, drive a little, then put it back in to 2wd and back up a bit. That didn’t seem to help. I...
delicaforum.com delicaforum.com
 
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