Hello all, my name is Ron. This is my first post here, although I have been a long time lurker and have always been able to search this site and find answers to my problems. I appreciate all the help you guys provide to us "mechanically special folk."

I am having some problems with my 4WD, it's not working. When I turn the key on, I do not see the 4WD light. I have locked the hubs with no change. I noticed that my switch was not illuminated either, so I started there. I took the switch out, cleaned it up a bit and reinstalled it. Now it's illuminated but still no 4WD. I have swapped the two relays and still nothing. I have checked all the fuses under the dash and they were all good.

I don't believe the switch is the problem(they seem to be pretty simple and it doesn't look like there's much to go wrong. Is there a better way to test the switch other than just seeing the illumination light on?

I plan on testing the transfer case shift motor tomorrow but I don't believe that is the problem since I'm not even getting the dash 4x4 light.

Any other ideas? My other thought is replace the GEM but I was trying to rule out a few of the cheaper alternatives first.

I almost forgot to mention, approximately 7 months ago, my buddy and I were going coyote hunting. Being the genius he is, he didn't unload his rifle while we were in the truck and at some point, something happened and he touched off a round.

The shot was a well placed point blank shot and went right through a large group of wires on the passenger side trim panel under the glove box.

Initially, he bagged himself a trophy size Superduty but after some emergency surgery and a bit of soldering, everything has been fine.

I haven't used the 4WD after this incident but I can't say for certain this caused it because I haven't checked until now. Do you think this caused it? Is there a hidden/residual problem that I missed?

Feel free to ask questions to help clarify my problem. Thanks, Ron

 

Start by checking your fuses that are associated with the 4x4 system under the hood......and I would seriously avoid your "trick-shot" real man of genius buddy.

The shift motor is one source of issues with ESOF. It does control the 4WD lights in the dash, but am not sure about the switch illumination.

 

Sounds like the GEM, you can take it apart and clean it. Follow that bullet trail too.

 

I have checked all the fuses and they are good.

Does anybody have a wiring diagram for a 2003 F250 with the lil' 5.4 gasser?

How do I go about cleaning the GEM? That sounds new to me. Given that a 220 Swift was the initial medicine for the wiring harness, the dishwasher should fix that GEM right up. haha

 

So I pulled the GEM and it look like this:


I decided that since I'm already in over my head, I may as well swim to the bottom. I popped the top off of the GEM cover. This is what I saw:


Did I mention I'm not mechanically inclined?, but this doesn't look like it is supposed to be that way. If you look up near the top, you can see that some of the green that the circuit board is composed of has begun flaking away.

For all those that have come before me, is this anywhere close to normal? Should I replace it?

Again, thanks for the input.

 

Well, I changed the GEM module out from a used same model pickup. Now the dash lights come on for a moment at startup but nothing after that.

Does anybody have/know the procedure for testing the 4wd switch?

 

In the interest of possibly helping the next poor sap that is having a 4WD issue, I have finally located and fixed the problem.

After replacing the GEM, I still did not have any movement or sound in the transfer case. I began looking at the shift motor. It wasn't my first time looking at the motor as I had looked at it yesterday, but this time I went through it with a fine toothed comb. I ended up finding that the wire inside the plastic housing on the transfer case shift motor had a small nick in it. This would then touch the motor and it wouldn't function. I put some electrical tape over it and now, everything is good.

I'm surprised that it didn't blow a fuse.

Thank you guys for the information and the resource you provide.

 

All good info! I think your problem was twofold and your persistence and mechanical ability saved you a lot of money. Those GEMs are very expensive for what they are (if you can find one) and that one looks to have water damage. Thanks for breaking the lurking cycle.