uh oh...stuck in 4WD

[mjcee]

hey everybody,

My genius friend borrowed my subbie the other day and decided it woud be fun to put it into 4WD no where near snow, or mud, etc.

 

Now it's stuck in 4WD and the steering is binding. How can I get it out?

 

It's an '86 DL Wagon Turbo with the push 4WD button on the stick.

 

Any help is much appreciated before any damage is done.

 

Thanks.

[Uberoo]

there should be a couple of vaccum lines going down to the transmisssion. find the device they go into.It might have some sort of lever that you could manually move to put it back in FWD.Parking on a hill may also help. while you are following the vacuum lines make sure have no leaks.All else fails there should be a lever/linkage on the passenger side of the transmission that you can manualy move to put it back in FWD.

Edited September 28, 2009 by Uberoo

[TheSubaruJunkie]

lift both rear tires

 

then start the vehicle and use the button to disengage 4WD. Give it a sec, it should pop loose.

[mdjdc]

lift both rear tires

 

then start the vehicle and use the button to disengage 4WD. Give it a sec, it should pop loose.

 

 

I agree, your transmission is bound up. you need to let it "unwind" by lifting the rear end and it should come out of 4wd fairly easily. Do Not continue to drive it in 4wd as you will risk destroying the tranny. It can only take so much bind before something internal will break.

[mjcee]

thanks fellas,

gonna try to get the rear up tonight and look for vacuum leaks.

i'll let you guys know what happens.

[mudduck]

Its bound up. Just get in some gravel or grass or somthing to allow a little slip and dump the clutch in reverse. Make sure you push the botton to disengage it before trying this, but it should work.

[blazelate]

by dump the clutch, do you mean rev it up and dump the clutch like your trying to spin the wheels in reverse? just asking cause i see people saying this, not sure what they mean

[mudduck]

by dump the clutch, do you mean rev it up and dump the clutch like your trying to spin the wheels in reverse? just asking cause i see people saying this, not sure what they mean

 

Yep. The slippage should help unbind things. I have done this on a few 4wd vehicles, not just subarus.

[mjcee]

alright,

here's what i did tonight. tried coasting back and forth 10-20 feet while disengaging like i had read elsewhere-didn't work. i tried to dump the clutch while revving in reverse-didn't work. i jacked up the rear of the car and tried to disengage-didn't work. lifted the whole car and put it into gear (forward and reverse) while disengaging-still didn't work.

 

what did finally work? while the car was up on jack stands, i was able to get underneath and locate the manual override lever and after putting some force on was able to budge it and, "sweet, it worked" were my words, i believe.

 

so now, i'm thinking that perhaps there is a vacuum leak somewhere that is not allowing the button to function correctly but will wait for some daylight to investigate.

 

thanks again for the input everyone!