Low Range not engaging - suspect solenoid?

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dieselfan
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Low Range not engaging - suspect solenoid?

Postby dieselfan » Sun Apr 17, 2011 4:50 pm

My 4x4 Lo light just keeps flashing and there's no "clunk". Is there a quick fix? What happens if I'm in the middle of nowhere and I NEED low range.

I suspect water buggered it up...?


NYPathfinder
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Postby NYPathfinder » Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:44 pm

What's the procedure you are using to get in 4LO. Mine wont fully engage unless im at a dead stop, foot on the break with the truck running and in neutral.

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disallow
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Postby disallow » Sun Apr 17, 2011 9:23 pm

4LO you have to be in neutral.

dieselfan
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Postby dieselfan » Mon Apr 18, 2011 2:25 pm

My procedure is fine as it's been for the last 60k km - fully stopped and neutral, sometimes engage first and it engages. It stopped engaging a couple of weeks ago when we had loads of flash floods and I went a bit...moggy. The centre diff locks fine just the low range part. :cry:

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Tech
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Postby Tech » Mon Apr 18, 2011 4:25 pm

might wanna clean out the electrical connectors for the t-case first. blow em out, no water/dirt

dieselfan
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Postby dieselfan » Tue Apr 19, 2011 2:21 am

Can you give me some pointers as to where to look? Nissan say it's covered by warranty by I want to know for future reference incase I'm in Botswana somewhere and it happens again.

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Tech
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Postby Tech » Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:46 am

On the back of the tcase, where the big solenoid is....if you get particulate matter in there, and/or water you can have electrical issues. Glad it's warranty! If you're doing water crossing and stuff out-of-warranty, you may want to invest in some dielectric grease to seal up those connectors....

dieselfan
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Postby dieselfan » Sun May 08, 2011 5:38 pm

Update, I didn't get to take look myself but Nissan is fixing it.

They sent it in to a gearbox specialist as they struggled to even "see" it wasn't working...anyways, $3700 to replace the solenoid. $2800 for new gearbox, I told them fit a new box.

BTW, they say they had to open my gearbox to replace the solenoid? My model they said...?

dieselfan
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Postby dieselfan » Mon May 09, 2011 6:36 pm

So if the solenoid is INSIDE my gearbox how did it break :?: :?: :?: , they say the found no water.

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Tech
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Postby Tech » Mon May 09, 2011 10:22 pm

what?!? as far as i know, there is no solenoid inside. Could be mistaken....The acuator is the big solenoid on the outside and the transfer c/u is in the interior by the steering column....."specialist" you say....?

If you crawl under you truck, you'll see the solenoid/actuator and the big connector.

In any case, as long as it's working now and you got some new parts you didn't have to pay for! watch the pinion flange for leaks in a couple weeks. Enjoy!

dieselfan
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Postby dieselfan » Tue May 10, 2011 4:21 am

Hi Tech

I was misinformed by Nissan, I spoke to the gearbox guys this morning as it's not fixed yet. The say they changing the transfer case unit NOT gearbox - still the costs are as I said above...

They reckon they have NO idea what caused the failure.

Here's their website.
http://www.rdg.co.za

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Tech
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Postby Tech » Tue May 10, 2011 8:25 am

Oh good....I was worried for a sec there!

Strange though that your dealer would even be allowed to send it out to an outside vendor....You may want to make sure that it is in fact covered by warranty and they're not expecting to bill you at the end of this.

I'm not really sure what your dealer is doing to diagnose, but it sounds like they might be a bit lost. I'd prob start by looking at the request switch to the transfer control unit, then from the transfer c/u to the actuator/solenoid. If those signals aren't right, it wont work.

Lemme know if you have any probs. Could be as simple as a bad ground...

BTW - did they check for codes? any u1000 or u1001?

dieselfan
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Postby dieselfan » Wed May 11, 2011 3:28 pm

Gearbox guys says Nissan "forgot" to check the codes and told him to just replace, he says that the unit was receiving signals but not responding to them. He suspects a surge of sorts.

Should receive the car by the end of the week, in SA the dealers are normally not very technical and outsource often :roll: . Our new consumer protection act would prevent them from suddenly asking me to fit the bill...

I wish they new more as to what caused this. It's all hypothetical :evil:

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SPICOLI
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Postby SPICOLI » Wed May 11, 2011 9:37 pm

I hope things work out for you.

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newpath
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Postby newpath » Fri May 13, 2011 8:28 pm

I had almost the exact same thing happen to me. They couldn't figure out why it wouldn't engage 4LO. They ended up replacing the transfer case and they said they found "metal shavings" inside. I had used it in 4LO plenty of times without problems. Covered by warranty for me as well so that was definitely a Blessing, didn't care to pick up that tab. But they also couldn't tell me how or why it happened. Took them two days to find the problem though. One day of trying to find something electrical, and the other day looking at the mechanical aspect. Auto 4 and 4HI worked just fine too.


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