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I have a 2015 F-350 Lariat 4x4 with the 6.7 and about 80,000 miles. Friday I was in Colorado picking up a backhoe on a mountain road and went to shift into 4 hi. The shift message appeared as usual for about 45 seconds and then the shift delayed- pull forward message and finally a service 4x4 message appeared. I was driving about 5 miles an hour, wheels were not spinning. I was only shifting in preparation for having to get off the road base in order to get turned around and the ground is still quite wet with the snow melt still in progress. Once I got turned around I tried about a dozen different things to get into 4 wheel drive. Every time it would not go into 4 wheel drive. Manually locking the hubs didn’t do anything either, which leads me to believe it is some type of solenoid or sensor in the transfer case.
May questions are:
What is a typical cause? Rough cost as well if you know it.
Are there any simple fixes, such as a bad fuse I can check myself?
Will the extended warranty cover a transfer case repair if the truck has been deleted?
Had a similar experience two winters ago with my 2011 F350 with about 90,000 miles in it.
Had a small, two car length steep paved driveway with about 5” of snow on it that I needed to drive up to get into the garage. Put it in 4hi and started to drive up; should have been a piece of cake
had no traction when I started up. Wrench light started flashing and got the same message you did. Finally got it into the garage. Looking at my tracks I could see that only the rears were spinning.
Figured the vacuum was gone, so I manually locked them and it worked, so I just manually locked them for the rest of the season and last winter. Never got that message or the wrench light again, so never had it checked out.
I know that doesn’t help you, but since it was similar, figured I’d mention it
Did you try 4lo? Maybe if you cycle through 4lo then back to 4hi it might work.
I had exact situation a while back on a 2011. I plugged in my scanner and it gave me a code indicating a problem with the 4wd module. The module is located on the passenger floorboard right below the firewall. Mine wasn't plugged in all the way.
Seville, I tried 4lo and it didn’t seem to engage. I did manually lock the hubs, but only the rears were spinning when I lost traction. I’ll try it again in the morning, but don’t see why it would work since I haven’t changed anything. On the bright side, there were lots of elk around.
I got around to looking and the truck wouldn’t give power to the front wheels even with manually locking the hubs. Dropped it off at the dealer today and they said it is the 4 wheel drive shift motor. I should have it back in a day or two depending on parts delivery. The extended warranty covered the repair.
