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97 OBW A/T Four wheel drive not engaging


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I am new to the forum and this is my first Q so hope I'm doing it right. Anyhow, with our first snow of the year I found out my rear wheels are not giving any drive when accelerating on slick roads (front wheels spin but rear wheels don't). A little background. The 4 WD worked great last winter. However, this last summer we were in Wy. visiting our daughter and had a rear flat tire. Put on spare and drove 5-8 miles on a rough dirt/clay road. I have since been told that I should have put a fuse in the fwd holder under the hood to disable power to rear wheels. My daughter was driving but I never got the feeling that anything was binding or the clutch pack was slipping. Could I have burned out the clutch pack? I have suspended the car in the air and with the engine at an idle and in drive, all the wheels are spinning but I can grab the driveline and with a good grip stop it from turning. I then put the fuse in the fwd holder and repeated with the same grip needed to stop the wheels. Is there a way to test to see if an electrical signal is getting to the engagement solenoid that activates the 4wd? Any help, ideas etc. would be appreciated.

Edited by gravelroad
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If there was an electrical failure you would have the AT temp light flashing. Soobies are fairly reliable in that aspect of self diagnostics.

 

You dont mention the mileage on the car, what is it.

 

My bet is that the clutch pack was on its way out anyway, and the flat tire just accelerated it.

 

What condition is the fluid in?

 

My bet is that your clutchpack is slipping.

 

 

 

nipper

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The car has about 236K (just getting broke in) and the trans fluid doesn't smell burned. I'm thinking you're on the right track so I'll pull the rear housing and look at the clutch pack, it;s not real difficult but was hoping maybe for a simpler solution. Thanks for your help nipper

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The car has about 236K (just getting broke in) and the trans fluid doesn't smell burned. I'm thinking you're on the right track so I'll pull the rear housing and look at the clutch pack, it;s not real difficult but was hoping maybe for a simpler solution. Thanks for your help nipper

 

 

236K is a god run for a AWD clutchpack. I wouldnt begrudge it growing tired.

 

Search Torque Bind here lots of info on the fixes (even though you have the no bind problem same repair).

 

nipper

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Yeah nipper I guess that is a lot of miles on a tiny pack of friction discs. I think that is the first time the spare has ever been on the ground. Through the life of the car (I got it w/ 50k) it has always had good matched tires so the two sets of discs for the most part have been riding around with each other at the same speed. I will post again when I find out if that is or is not the problem. In no hurry, am driving my 2000 Leg wagon.

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