93 Explorer 4 wheel drive wont engage
 

Need help. 93 XLT with automatic, When I press 4WH I hear the clicking and also hear a whinning sound from the front but 4 wheel will not fully engage. Indicator Light comes on. Hubs have been checked and are good. Tranny was rebuilt last year and fulid is good in transfer case. I have seen some posts that mention actuator motors, etc. Also is there some pubilcation that I can buy that provides a detailed diagnostics / repair / trouble shooting for automatic 4WD.

Any help would be appreciated.

Kevin

There was a site where there were a lot of maintenance tips for the Explorers, including a re-build of the transfer case shift motor. Unfortunately, the site's been removed. This may be a question for the moderator of this forum, but I believe there was an effort to accumulate as much info that we, as users, may have received from this site.

As for the shift motor, I just rebuilt one for my sister a couple of weeks ago and it was a fairly simple job, but having the info really helped. I can mail a hard copy to you if you wish. I may be able to consolidate the info and e-mail it to you also. What I have is lengthy, but I think I can narrow it down.

It sounds to me like the transfer case is engaging (whine from front, indicator lights come on). JCJC, can you verify for us where power transfer is being lost? Does the front driveshaft turn? Front axleshafts?
And how did the hubs get checked? If the t-case is engaging, that just about always means the fault is in the hubs.

SJWoody
 

SJ - if you could pull together some data and e-mail that would be great. It's going to snow any day now and I really need to get this working. Appreciate your help.

Kevin

Mrshorty
 

I had the hubs servised last winter and 4 wheel worked. Didnt get a chance to put truck up on a lift to check front axel engagement, etc. Question, 4 wheel is only used in winter and from what I have been told this could be the reason that it wont fully engae. When I go to put it in 4 wheel you can hear that it sounds like it wants to engage but it wont, still have only two wheel drive but you can hear the whinning from the front. Should I take the hubs off and clean and repack?

Kevin

JCJC
I agree with Mrshorty on the hubs, I should've read the post more carefully. My neighbor who works in parts at a Ford dealer mentioned that there is a nylon or plastic part in the hub that is prone to fail. Sorry, I don't know more about it, but apparantly it's common. I haven't faced that issue yet.

I'm working on a consolidation of the 13 page info on the transfer case. I'll finish it and send it to you anyway, but it might take a few days...I type slow.

I have the abbreviated article written, let me know if you don't get it in your e-mail.