I have a 97 F150 4x4 and found out this past weekend that my 4wd decided not to work at a very bad time... slipped off into a creek and got stuck, 4wd decided to stop working and one back tire ended up off the ground, so I was really in trouble. LOL. Anyways, after getting a John Deere to help out, I'm back at home and wanting to fix the problem.

When I put it in 4wd, the light comes on, the front drive line spins, but the front tires don't spin. It's like the 4wd isn't actually engaging, even though the light says it is. I went to autozone to pick up some stuff anyways and the guy there said it was either the actuator (sp?) or the switch. But he thought if the switch went out, the light wouldn't even come on. So he figured it would be the actuator, not the switch, but I would have to order the actuator from the Ford house, since they didn't carry them. If that is what my problem is, is there anywhere else I could get one for a little cheaper than The House. Figure any after-market store would be cheaper than the Ford house! lol.

Thanks in advance,
BT

 

I wish I could help, on a Jeep this is very common and it's usually a break in the vacuum hose (very very easy fix), thats the thing though, Jeeps use vacuums to engage the 4wd front axle, not sure on f150's. Good luck!

 

actually I just figured it out a day or two ago. It was a vacuum silenoid (sp?). There's one for the 2wd and one for the 4wd. My 4wd one is out. Used the 4wd and 2wd hoses and electrical wires on the 2wd selenoid and it worked just fine (only moved the switch the wrong direction). But I found out the switch that actually engages the 4wd was working. By using the wires and vacuum hoses, we found out all of those were good, only problem was the 4wd silenoid. Went to Autzone, they said it's a factory only part. Told me to call it in, ask what Autozones discount amount would be, then call the Autozone guy and he'd run over and pick it up. Then he'd throw on a bigger discount for me. LOL. Have to wait until Monday before the Ford house is open though. Hope this will help anyone else that has this go wrong.

BT

 

Well take some pics and label them in MS Paint if you don't have photo editing software, just point out where these things are and point out what it looks like after. Good luck!

 

Called the Ford house here and they said it was actually called a vacuum valve, not a solenoid. They cross referenced it from the number on the valve to look it up. Anyways, it's about 35 bucks to fix. Cheap enough for me, just have to wait until it comes in now, then I'll be ready to do some more playing.

 

do you happen to have the part number???

Thanks

 

They can call it whatever they want, but it's a simple electro-pheumatic solenoid. Common failure item.... typically what happens is that they stick in the position where they spend 99.9% of their time: In the 2wd spot. The 2wd side stays engaged, and/or the 4wd side fails to engage, so when you click it over into 4 high, they either both apply vacuum to BOTH sides of the Center Axle Disconnect, or the both FAIL to apply vacuum to the CAD depending on which one is stuck. It's a royal pain in the ****, but in a bind, flip-flopping the appropriate vacuum hose can force it to engage and get you home most of the time.

-Joe