Hey guys, my 98 f150 is having strange 4x4 issues. When i switch the ESOF to 4 hi or 4 lo, the light on the dash does not come on nor did the transfer case engage. After messing with it for a few days, today, i switched to 4 lo while in neutral, and 4 lo engaged, but still no light on the dash. NOW i can not get the truck to come out of 4 lo. I checked vacuum lines and they all look good, i did not do a pressure test but a visual check. Checked all connections on the vacuum system and on the electrical system, they look fine. If it were a vacuum related issue, the light in the dash should still come on right? Please give me an idea where to get started!! Thanks!

PS. All fuses are working correctly. I know some of these issues have been talked about before, but doing a search brought up so much different information, i didn't know where to start! Also,

 

I pulled the shift motor from the transfer care and verified that it does NOT move when moving the 4x4 switch. Should i be able to freely move the mechanism inside the motor, because i can not, even with a great deal of force, i cannot move it. The shaft on my transfer case still moves, so i'm saying that's good.

How would i go about testing for power at the plug that connects to the transfer case shift motor? I have a multimeter ready, just don't really know which pins to test. Thanks!

 

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I had the same problem, I had to clean the plug and connector on the transfer case. Turns out I had some corrosion in plug.

 

Another possibility is the GEM module.

 

If it was the gem, wouldn't I be experiencing other problems? I manually took it out of 4 Lo, and intermittently the dash still shows 4 high, is it possible to bench test the transfer case motor?

 

Not necessarily.

 

Can I bench test the motor, I'm really hoping that's it before I just start swapping parts. That darn gem is expensive and I'd hate to spend that for nothin. This truck is a spare vehicle that I've already spent a lot on just to keep it livable, plus I think replacing the gem is beyond my mechanical skills