2008 1500 4x4 problem

The weather here has just last few days turned to s.h........

I put my 1500 into 4x4 .. light went right on in dash, appeared to be working properly,, drove 22 miles to work thru a fair amount of snow all the way 3-7 inches most of the way

went to go home, honestly. I thought it was engaged .. stopped at stop sign and then , it spun .. clicked it over to lock , it again the light went right on , I though once again it was all engaged

got about 7 miles down the road, lit a light in dash "service 4x4" .. I got to home and thought I'd find a spot to fool with it and it was in 2wd

today stopped got actuator for front, put it on .. heard what I thought ws it engaging went for test drive ,no the lights in dash blink a few times and go out .. and it still does not work

looked for a you tube video to match the problem and googled it but, haven't found the answer.


any ideas ?

Lots can [censored] the system. Need to get the codes read. Sometimes you can fool it. With the engine off put it in 4wd. Then start it and see what it does. 4wd most likely will work. I know on mine when an ABS sensor was acting up the 4wd would not engage. Doing as I suggested by tricking the system would allow mine to work. Replaced the RR ABS sensor and that fixed the problem. Did the same when the LR sensor went out but I did not know how to trick it back then. Toyota guy told me on his Toyota thats what he would do. Worked on my Dodge to as well as the wifes Jeep.

I will try that Pete , thanks

So, tried that .. didn't work but ..

It is really cold here so I decided to take it for a local warm up drive around to see how many roads were clear ( not many , lol ) ..

1st thing, after a fair amount of driving the temp gauge looked like it was getting hot ?? it was blowing cold so .. I turned around and revved the engine couple times .. something then opened up and instant heat ?

well that's odd ?

I put it in neutral tried 4x4 again .. nope ..

drove a little more, stopped , put it in neutral again .. nope , backed up about 100 ft .. tried it, instant light lit and is the 4x4 working in auto ? Kinda seems like it but , I haven't owned a 4x4 pickup since 1998

lived south for all those years and when I came back 2 AWD cars .. when I tried a u turn , it did fight , like it was in 4x4 .. but, slick road , step on it .. it for sure spun rear tire but, it does get moving like front assist

so I will see tomorrow what happens

There is an actuator on the front axle that could have an issue. It is electric so possibly from lack of use it might of stuck. Get it on flat ground so there is not load on the driveline and shift it in and out of 4wd a dozen times. When was the last time you used it?

Couple times last year , I changed that actuator out

crazy thing , i took it out of 4x4 auto .. cause roads here are almost dry, now won't engage ..

You are going to have to jack it up and see if the transfer case is going into 4wd. Then see if the front actuator is locking. As far as I know the light is controlled off the actuator. I know my 2002 and 2015 are.

scanner says

It sounds like the transfer case shift motor is bad. Beware if its like the AWD Gm transfer cases the problem can be in the transfer case and not the shift encoder motor. When its in the AWD mode any slippage the system tries to apply the front wheels for traction. This wears things out in the transfer case. When this happens the range of movement in the transfer case goes beyond limits and causes an error. Seen this in lots of GM vehicles. Dodge uses a different model transfer case but I am pretty sure the internals and electronics function the same. I can't help you much more at this point unless I start to lie.

Could it be a bad connector or wire somewhere? It almost looks like that from the codes. On GMs the switches can also cause problems but don't know if that's an issue with Dodge too. My Ram is manual 4x4.

You shouldn't have to go into neutral to engage high.

It is really acting up, doesn't do exact same thing twice it seems ..

and this afternoon , it decided to engage again .. ?? lol

as i know absolutely nothing about this system, i would start at the switch, remove it, then go over it with a fine tooth comb to see if there may be a problem with it.
then, remove the entire wiring harness associated with this, and repeat, paying special attention to the connectors for cracks, pin "push outs", and any other defects such as hard, brittle, burnt, or frayed wires.
next on the list would be any vacuum lines if any are used.
then finally, pull the actuator from the front axle and inspect carefully for anything amiss, then make it work without it being attached to watch it's action.
and of course check anything else in that system i may have missed, such as relays, the relay holders, etc.
there is definitely SOMETHING going on, you just have to FIND it.

If you can get a wiring diagram for the electrical part of the system, I would suspect any factory splices where several wires are connected together. Mopar doesn't have a good history with factory wiring splices, especially ones located where they might be subjected to the elements or high vibration.

Chasing that stuff sucks.

especially intermittent problems, and you are correct about the factory splices.
which is why i do not have hair on the top of my head.

I had an 08 1500 4x4 and had similar problems. Mine ended up being a bad TIPM. I took it to the dealer and they put a shift motor in it, that lasted a day. I took it back and they warrantied the part and it failed again. They warrantied that part and put a TIPM on it and it was good to go and by then the weather had returned to normal lol. Mine had the auto 4wd function which seemed kind of rare for a mid optioned truck, I really liked that feature though it worked awesome.

It went into 4x4 last week, won't now come out .. lol, took it to a guy good at fixing electrical issues

Keep us update. If I remember correctly these trucks and Dakotas had a problem with the 4x4 switch in the dash but, if I remember correctly I think a common failure point was the actuator in these with the electronic 4x4.

it seems to do opposite of what I want, dumb thing.

hopefully he finds the issue before our next snow storm

Thinking it is fixed ..


the transfer case switch was intermittent. ,, it was replaced and found some corroded connections. .. seems to do what it's supposed to do , when it's supposed to do it