Can't select 4 wheel drive low.

Hi,   
I have just bought a 2005 Jimny and am after some advice regarding not being able to select 4 wheel drive low and the flashing green light on the dash. The car is fitted with manual locking hubs and if I am correct in thinking this bye passes the push buttons to put it into 4x4 and back to 4x2? But I am not sure why the green light is flashing continually even if i press the 2 wheel drive button. The car will also not go into 4x4L and I am not sure if this is to do with flashing green light fault or a seperate fault altogether and does fitting manual locking hubs affect selecting 4x4L as the video on you tube I have watched talks about pressing the buttons in a certain sequence etc.. Any advice would be appreciated as it came from a garage so should be under warranty but would be nice to know how to fix it myself if needed. Cheers for reading.

Firstly to engage low range you either have to be in neutral and stopped on an automatic or have the clutch fully depressed and car stopped on a manual. The fitting of manual hubs doesn't affect how you engage 4x4 or low range in the car, it just means that once you have selected your desired range you have to get out of the car and set the hubs to match. The flashing light is because the system thinks it has either a vacuum leak or the switch on the transfer box is defective and the likely one is that when the hubs were converted the vacuum lines weren't sealed off.

There is also a high possibility that someone had fitted manual hubs to "fix" a problem that was nothing to do with the vacuum hubs! You can't select 4wd with the hubs alone, you still need the transfer case to do it's thing and it's quite common for that system to fail.

Have a look in the BigJimny Wiki about the 4WD system, see the following:

www.bigjimny.com/mediawiki/index.php/4WD...the_newer_4WD_system

A couple of quick questions, when you press the 4WD button, do you hear a clunk from the underneath (transfer box)?

The fact that you said that the 4WD Green light is flashing, suggests that the transfer box has gone in to 4WD drive and it is now stuck (see the wiki article, but the flashing green light continues even after turning off and on the ignition).

If that is the case, then it is the vacuum which has failed. If it is just the vacuum that has failed, you can still engage 4WD but changing the manual hubs over.

The problems you now have are that the transfer box is stuck in 4WD, which wastes a bit of power turning the front diff even with the hubs disconnected and I don't think you will be able to engage 4WD-L without getting rid of the flashing light.

The wiki does detail a way of bypassing the vacuum sensor if it is faulty and you don't need the vacuum system with manual hubs.

In summary, I would take it back to the garage and get them to fix it. If the vacuum system is faulty and that is why someone fitted manual hubs, you at least want it to go between 2WD, 4WD and 4WD-L even if you have to get out and engage the hubs by yourself.

Hope that helps

Robin

One guaranteed way to tell if it is in 4WD is jack one wheel at the front of the car, with the manual hub on the jacked wheel engaged, the wheel shouldn't turn as it will be locked through the transfer box and the rear wheels.

If it does turn then the transfer box is not in 4WD mode. Just to be sure, you could check that the manual hubs are working, engage both and the jacked wheel won't turn.

wrote:

One guaranteed way to tell if it is in 4WD is jack one wheel at the front of the car, with the manual hub on the jacked wheel engaged, the wheel shouldn't turn as it will be locked through the transfer box and the rear wheels.

If it does turn then the transfer box is not in 4WD mode. Just to be sure, you could check that the manual hubs are working, engage both and the jacked wheel won't turn.
 

You need both hubs engaged to determine anything using that method. With both hubs engaged, if the raised wheel turns freely the transfer case is in 2wd. If it doesn't turn then the transfer is in 4wd. Even easier, leave the hubs unlocked, get under the car and see if the front prop spins freely or not.

Hi Robin, there is no noise/clunk when i press the 4WD button. Thanks for the reply, i will check out the link thanks and what you say makes sense.