Oh No Not Now!

Most people that have a four wheel drive vehicle, only use it about once or twice a year in California. Many times, they find themselves stuck when they get there as there 4wd is not working. Unlike the old days where you manually locked the hubs and could get under the vehicle and put the transfer case in 4wd if you had a problem. Now you have a computer system, fuses, wiring, motors and switches that run the 4wd. Therefore when you need it most, it is unlikely that you will get it working if it fails without visiting a shop.

The first thing that everyone should check before leaving on a trip to the snow or mud is that it is working. This can be done on your street at home. Must be on a concrete or asphalt road, not dirt. Just because you feel it engage the transfer case and the light says 4wd, does not mean that the front hubs are locked. It will gear down and feel like everything is working until you get there and have no front wheels driving.

When you actuate the 4wd. It puts the transfer case in the range you selected. It also locks your front hubs to give power to your front wheels. You can feel if the transfer case is engaged as the vehicle may clunk as it engages and you will notice the vehicle is in a lower gear as driving. The best way to check and see if the hubs are engaged is to turn your wheels all the way and drive forward. You should be able to feel the vehicle bind and not roll smoothly. If you can not feel a bind. Then your hubs are probably not working. Be carefull driving in 4wd on pavement as the vehicle will not steer the same and is very difficult to turn sharply.

Other common 4wd complaint - We have a carwash close to our shop which brings up another common problem we see. We get quite a few customers come in with a complaint that there vehicle is shuddering and vibrating and hard to turn. The first thing we ask them is if they just had their car washed. When having their car washed, they wipe down the dash and often hit the 4wd button engaging the four wheel drive. So if you have recently wiped or had the dash wiped down. Check to make sure the 4wd has not been activated.