My 4wd became stuck in 4WD low. I had a diesel shop in Sulphur, LA look at it. They said I had power to the relay but nothing at the solenoid. Obviously there is a short somewhere between the two. Has anybody had this problem?

He was able to run power down from the battery to the solenoid to get it back in 2WD. I've been driving this way for a while but would like to have my 4WD back.

The truck is a 2003 F-250 Supercab with the 6.0 liter diesel engine.

Appreciate any help I might get. Thanks.

 

Texan,
I had this exact same thing happen with my 03 F250 XLT. I blame myself for it in some ways. After moving into 4-Hi to cope with some snow on the road and then could not get it to move back to 2WD. I exited the road and pulled off in a parking lot. Thinking that there may just be some icing or something, I did what I considered logical and just tried backing up a ways, cycling my tranny, etc. Nothing. Then I did my stupid idea thing and thought that maybe I could cycle it to 4-Lo, back to 4-Hi, and then "out" to 2WD. Well, there I was - stuck in a parking lot in 4-Lo.
The saving grace was that I was less than a mile from home and was able to limp back home on the side streets (engine roaring going about 10 MPH). Luckily, I was still under warranty and had Ford pay to tow the truck to the dealership. The fix was quite quick/easy, but one that disgusts me. For my case (maybe yours ??), the cover over the circuit area lacked the factory seal and the area was literall fully of water (salt, too). The whole thing was fried. They were able to swap out the board, put in a seal, and away I went. To date, the issue has never resurfaced.
If you can stand it, I would suggest letting a dealer take a peak at it and see if your situation is similar. My dealer commented that this issue is not at all rare and one that they happen to see rather often. I do use my truck around some pretty corrosive chemicals (agricultural) and maybe my environment accelerated my problem - who knows. I don't know how to prevent it from happening (short of taking off all the covers and seeing if they are properly sealed which might cause the very issue you are trying to prevent).
Good luck - let us know how it turns out.

 

I know this is stating the obvious, but did you try shifting the correct way? Foot on the brake, transmision in neutral? More than once I';ve came across folks that couldn't get into 2x because they forgot how to do it.

 

Yes, I tried doing correctly, incorrectly, and anything else I could think of. I have power to the relay but it disappears somewhere between the relay and the the swith/solenoid on the transfer case or the front axle. Remember, I had someone else get it back into 2WD for me and I still haven't had time to chase it.

 

Appreciate you sharing this with me. I will check into this as a possible source of he problem.

 

Kbeefy,
Your post is an excellent one and I agree 100% - operator is often the source of the problem. In my case and I suspect Texans, I was following the proper steps in the proper sequence. The circuit board was just so corroded that the electrical connection/signals were not going through.

 

I sold a truck to a guy (the purple one in my gallery) and got a call from him the following weekend, pissed that I sold him a broken truck. He'd just driven 40 miles back from a popular off road area in low range, poor truck. I imagine he was pretty embarassed when I told him to put it in neutral and step on the brake.

 

For my 2005 F350, where is the circuit card located so I can check for water damage. Where is the solenoid located as well so I can check for power. I rarely use the 4 wheel drive and it gets stuck in hi or low about 25% of the time. I have to go thru the neutral//brake method, moving the truck back and forth, etc to finally get it back into 2 wheel drive.
Thx much for the info!

PS - I drive about 8K mi/yr occasionally putting a 2 horse trailer, w 1 horse in it. My trans went out at 39K mi - Ford would not help, it cost me $4500 for a new one

 

Not trying to hijack this thread, but have a comment about your trans problem. On my 2005, my transmission croaked before I even got to make the first payment. Obviously Ford fixed it for me and had no more problems after that. The reason why I'm commenting, though, is because I believe there was a known weak link in some of the 2005 transmissions. If your transmission failure was related to a known weak link, it seems to me that FMC might at least help with the bill even though you were technically out of your warranty period. It might be worth your while to do a little investigation and/or grumbling to see if you can recoup some of your $4500.

Just noticed this thread is nearly 3 years old....I doubt if anyone will care if I hijack it

 

it's been about a year. A new trans installed gets a 50k mi warranty vs the 35k that comes new. If you take a chance and believe they can take yours apart and fix it you get a 12k mi warranty and it will probably cost as much as a new one with all the labor

 

Though I never reported back on this thread, the we circuit board turned out to be my problem as well. It ws the GEM module. On my 2003, it was located above the glove box and directly under the furthest right AC vent. I suspect that condensation from the AC vent got in there and fried the board. If you take a look in my gallery, I have photos of the problem. Not sure if this is in the same place on a 2005.

The solenoid should be located on your transfer case

 

Thanks - thanks. We had a lot of problems recently - rad but the forum helped with that. Then I thought there was an issue with the transmission - stuck in 4x4 low. Feel stupid but did not see it anywhere accept on this forum. Was getting ready for a 200 mile tow.

 

Thank you so much for your help. Your brief explanation saved me a bunch of headaches. Very awesome.

 

Haha.... So glad to help! Advice 10 years in the making! Welcome to the forum, there is an invaluable amount of information here for your truck.

 

Wow - worked like a charm! Thanks bro!