I have a non functioning 4WD system

My 2007 Jimny has a constantly flashing green 4WD icon but the system does not work in any guise.  I have followed the advice of shorting the wires in the white terminal block near the vacuum valves below the battery tray all to no avail other than scraped knuckles!

Does anyone have any suggestions or have I failed to short out the terminals inside the white connector.  I have done this with engine running and non running and have disconnected and reconnected the battery but every time I switch on the engine the icon flashes.

Is the car safe to drive in this mode?

Have a look in the information section on the top banner there's an exhaustive fault finding section in there. It includes how to check if you are in 2x4 or not and what to do about it.

Many thanks Lambert, that is where I started but following the advice did not extinguish the flashing light but I will try again.

Have a look at the fault finding table (about 2/3rds of the way down) in the following link

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

Then let us know which fault condition you are in and the checks/tests you have made.

If you need to drive the vehicle then there are 'emergency procedures' detailed in the next link, but these should only be used to 'get you home' and not intended as a permanent fix.

www.bigjimny.com/mediawiki/index.php/4WD...-_emergency_measures

If you want to know if the car is in 4WD, jack one of the front wheels, if it is in 4WD, it won't turn at all, if it is not in 4WD, it will turn, perhaps with a slight resistance at first. Repeat for the other front wheel.

This tests tells us the if the front hubs are locked in 4WD, it doesn't tell us if the Transfer Case is in 4WD, but without the hubs locked, the TC just turns the shaft and front diff, it's a bit inefficient, but doesn't cause any problems.

My guess will be that the front hubs are not locked and in 2WD. After that you need to check the Transfer Case to see if that is in 2WD or 4WD and try one of the methods to get it back in to 2WD.

Then you can start tackling the problem, start with the vacuum system and work your way back through solenoid valves, switches and 4WD controller.

Robin

Dr Robin, many thanks, looks like I will need to be Sherlock with a spanner!
Regards,
Stalker