I have a 97 F150 4.6 four wheel drive will not lock in but when i switch the houses around on the actuator it will lock right in its a new actuator but it will stay locked in I have to put thim back the right way for it to on lock can anyone help me with this

 

Then your engage solenoid is bad. The firewall has 2 solenoids. One to lock in the front diff, and one to unlock the front diff.

EDIT - I should also add that it might be the vacuum lines themselves. Any crack would cause the system not to work properly.

 

thank you for that but I just changed both of them and still have the same problem do i have to reset anything i checked all the lines don't seem to be any leaks

 

In the vacuum lines, all it would take would be a small crack. the fact that when you swapped lines it worked tells me it is not a problem with the vacuum motor on the diff or with the shift fork on the diff. That leaves the vacuum line, solenoids, or gem module. Usually if the gem module, the light on the dash would not work at it would have no affect switching back and forth.

 

what is a gem module and how do i fix it this has got me iv tryed everything im lost I have no clue anymore

 

Have you tried checking the pink & light blue vacuum lines ( when operating the mode selector switch ) for vacuum with a gauge ? You should have the same amount of vacuum on both lines, when activated.

If I recall correctly, pink is 2WD and Light Blue is 4WD, you should have vacuum on the line when you select the mode.

The Vacuum solenoid always has power on it, the GEM switches ground to operate the vacuum solenoid when a mode is selected. Same fuse for both vacuum solenoids.

The vacuum reservoir feeds both solenoids via a T in the line ( after the check valve to the engine ) so you can almost rule that out as the issue.
If you had a crank to the solenoid from the T, I would suspect the swap of the vacuum lines to do nothing.

If you check with a gauge, I suspect the Light Blue vacuum line is going to read low on vacuum ( cracked line ).

Have you verified that the front drive shaft locks into place when you select 4WD ?

 

when i switch the lines over on the actuator it will pull it locked and the 4wd drive works like a charm but it will stay locked in in till I switch the lines back I ran the lines and cant see anything wrong with thim ill have to have thim checked new actuator new solenoids ha im walking around the truck yelling at it like a fool ha like its going to work if i kick the tire

 

shouldnt the 2wd vacuum stop sucking when the 4wd vacuum wants to come on I would think they would be fighting each other if not the 2wd vacuum is always socking in or out of 4wd I put it in 4wd then get under the truck and put the 2wd vacuum line where the 4wd line should be and it socks it in then put the 2wd back sock it back out again

 

Check the front drive shaft once you cool off ( been there myself, so I can more than relate to yelling at the truck, and trying the percussion adjustment on the rear tire ).

If the 2WD is not shutting off, sounds like the plate switches in the transfer case are not signaling that the transfer case has shifted ??

 

but how do I find the plate switches and can i change them

 

They are inside the transfer case. Rather then trying to find more things to replace, do some diagnoses first.
You could save some cash by only replacing what is needed.

 

all the lines are good the solenoids are good the actuator it good the fuses are good i dont now anymore guess ill have to pay a **** load of money to have it locked at not something I wanted to do but I think I did everything

 

How did you verify the vacuum lines & solenoids are good ?

You replaced the solenoids, but did you test them ?

What "actuator" is good ?

 

new solenoids and switch the lines to see if they all hold the engage solenoids is not getting power what ever tells the solenoids to switch over is not I just have no clues to what tells them to switch over Im going to check the transfer case switch somthing is not telling the tuck its in 4wd

 

To test the vacuum lines, you need to check them with a vac gauge, the swap and move parts is just making assumptions, not testing.

Did you jack up the front of the truck, and engage the 4WD and check the front drive shaft to see if it spins or if it is locked into place ?

If the Vacuum solenoids do not have power, the fuse is not good.
The vacuum solenoids have power all the time, the ground is switched by the GEM ( Generic Electronics Module ) when a mode is selected. If you tested and they do not have power, you did not check the correct fuse.

Maybe taking it in to have it worked on is a good idea, you are taking too many short cuts with the diagnoses to gain any real ground.