When it won't go into 4x4 mode!!

Okay, here's the story... We got our first major snow here yesterday. I left work a little early and was eager for the drive home to test out my 2008 RAM 1500 4x4. It was coming down pretty good and the roads were a mess.... perfect!! As a cleared off the truck I let it warm up and then I was ready. Slid into the driver's seat, turned the 4x4 selector to 4 Hi and watched the "4 WD" indicator on the dash flash, and flash, and flash. The damn thing wouldn't go into 4x4 mode!! I tried switching while driving - nope. I tried switching in neutral - nope. No matter what I did I could not get it into 4 Hi or 4 Low. The indicator on the dash just blinks away. Blinked all the way home! I got stuck TWICE!! Do you know how embarassing it is to be passed by passenger cars and other 4x4's while I'm stuck in the snow with a 4x4??!?!? I was fit to be tied.

So I go to the dealer this morning and of course because it's Saturday they are only staffed for oil changes and alignments and they had no real techs there. So one of the guys takes my truck in to have a look to see if they can find anything obvious. 20 minutes later the Service Advisor tells me I'll have to come back on Monday. He said the guy that looked at my truck says he saw "something broken" but wasn't sure what it was because he is a Mazda guy (they are a Mazda/Dodge dealer).

So I bring the truck home and immediately crawl underneath to have a look. I was nervous because I had an exhaust installed at an aftermarket shop and I was worried they broke something while putting it on the lift. I'm a knowlegble guy (I was a Service Writer for 5 years and I've rebuilt 3 engines) so I looked at the transfer case and I could not see anything broken or visibly wrong.

I did test out the 4x4 mode twice since I got the truck in September and both times the 4x4 indicator blinked 2 or 3 times and stayed on. The last time I tested it was right after I had the leveling kit installed because I wanted to see if there was going to be a vibration problem in 4x4 mode (there wasn't). The only thing I had done to the truck since then was the cat back Gibson exhaust.

Does anyone might know what the problem may be? I really hate these electronic transfer cases. I wish they would have just stuck with the 'ol reliable manual shifter.

 

1st off, a 4x4 is not a 4x4 if you dont have a tranfer case or front diff.

that being said im going to guess off the limited info of only what you can tell to say its possible that your front actuator is not working properly.

 

With an electronic transfer case it could be anything from a connector to a wire to a fuse!
I had a hell of a time in '04 when I bought mine. I wanted the Laramie package for the leather seats but ALL I could find was Laramies with electronic ones. I hit three dealers and was just deciding whether or not to settle for an SLT cloth seated one (was a 2500 Hemi 4x4, in hind site, I wish I got it for the solid front axle), but one of the dealers found one at a dealership about 60 miles away that was a Laramie with the stick 4wd shifter and brought it in for me...

 

It's not a 4x4 without at least a LS unit front and rear. It is a 1x1 with single trac

Sounds like the front differential actuator could be bad. Did you notice any feeling of the transfer case switching?

 

this is exactly why i will only buy a truck with manual transfer case shifter!!!
when i bought my truck they were pushing me to get a 04 ram with the 5.7 and electronic shift, i told them that the electronic %hit is not for me and they acted like i was a weirdo or somthing, they said , "oh my goodness why would you want to use all that energy to mess around with the shifter ****??" jeez stupid salesman.

 

Aren't the floor shifters still electronic? Because to make it not electronic, don't you have to lock in your front hubs to make it truly manual? If not, then it's just like Laramie to SLT. We had a family member whose 4x4 went out on his Dodge, because the wire disconnected for his electronic 4x4.

 

For manual shifters, the shifter moves a lever down on the transfer case which is operated by vacuum power. Electronic shifters have an electronic switch with wiers and fuses that just create more room for problems. If I remember correctly???

 

But for the floor shifters, there are still wires on them, so they aren't truly manual like they were on the old vehicles. Except for having to get out in the cold to lock in the hubs, I really wish that they still had those ones again. Those ones you hardly had a single problem with that style.
But unless if Dodge went back in technology, the floor shifters still have wires, as I said before, one of my family members has a Dodge 2500, and he got stuck in that one day, because he had no 4x4. The cause was that the wires for the 4x4 got caught and disconnected in the grass somehow. He has the floor shifter in his. Basically what they seem to be is more associated with preference/package. Most commonly, you buy the fancy leather seats, you don't want to reach way down there to push the button, when you could just reach ahead a little ways and turn a ****. Well, if you buy the plain jane work truck model, you are already cranking the windows, so what's it going to hurt the pull that floor lever? It might be a little bit more manual than the switch, but like I said, there are still wires in it.

 

The first two times I tried going into 4 Hi (the two times it actually worked) I did hear a slight electronic noise like a small motor running for a second and heard like a click sound and then the 4 WD light on the dash stayed on. Now I don't hear a thing and the light just blinks.

I dropped the truck off at the dealer last night because we are having more snow/ice today and I didn't want to deal with trying to get the truck there first thing tomorrow AM. It's still nagging at me that the tech said he saw something broken yet I didn't notice anything wrong when I looked. I just have a feeling the dealer is going to come back and say that something broke because I had the leveling kit or exhaust put on and then they'll try to point fingers at the aftermarket shop that did the work.

 

Hey Geed!

I feel your pain! A similar thing happened to me one year ago in the snow up near Mt. Hood, OR; no 4WD. I got the sounds and the flashing lights - all with no previous warning.

Mine turned out to be a bad front actuator. Fortunately for me it was covered under warranty.

Fyi, I have a 2006, RCLB, Hemi 4X4, SLT. But I also have a leveling kit on mine and at the time it had the 35X12.50/18's that were on it when I purchased it used in August of 2007.

What I am getting to is that the dealer never even batted an eye at any of those mods; so hopefully with a 2008, you should be ok. they did, however lose my first replacement actuator, but then overnight the second one for me.

Hang in there, I think they will take care of you; but as I said - I do feel your pain!