Transfer case problem.. or?

Push button 2005 manual car dunno the year of the case bought used. All original on this one.

So after Denmark where I filled my transfer case with water and drove for a few hours before noticing, I changed the chain sprockets this week. pictures later in another thread. 
But putting the case back together was no problem, case out and back in. I did it way too fast to notice if the box was in 4wd high as it should have been, but havent had any problems with that before and have managed to get it back in sync usually.

But this time it is stuck in 4wd. 
I could hear the actuator pulling and unhooking the sensors made the case go out of 4wd light but front shaft still felt like engaged in the case. hubs disconnected OK.

So took the case back out. Actuator was at a strain so could not get the small cog out before it was separated.
Checked everything and checked the manual while putting it back together.
did it three times or so tonight but cannot see anything wrong. 
While manually pulling the shift fork it feels like i can put the case in all three modes ok. 
put the case back in the car and now I cannot hear any actuator and the 4wd blinks and beeps but not fast, normal tempo.
Beeps and blinks 2 sec after the ignition is on, no need to start the car.
Unhooking sensors below while it beeped, no difference.
Checked for vacuum, and there was "plenty" in the lines long after car had been running.
Checked all connections and they are all nice and clean, sprayed them all anyways.
Would there be a fast error blink 5 per sec if the controller and/or the actuator was faulty?
Would it be silent if the fuse was out?

what more to try? 
- unhook position sensors with car off?
- short the white connector on the vacuum?
- open the acuator and see how much water is inside?
- swap the actuator, I have a spare?
- I have no spare position switches


Annoyed as now is a long weekend and I should be out and about overlanding.