for a friend
ok im driving down the 90 in a 1997 ford f150 stepside… an ambulance is coming so i pull over… and come to a complete stop… the amb passes, i try to pull back into traffic and the truck acts like it is in neutral… i put the truck in park turn it off, try again, nothing, i put it in 4wd high and nothing, then put it in 4 low, i hear a loud grinding noise, and it finally goes into 4 low, and the car drives just fine (as fine as 4 low could be on dry pavement without towing anything) the car will not go anywhere in the other 2 modes (4H or 2wd) any ideas what is causing this, im taking the car to a mechanic if i cant resolve it soon… any ideas?
my guess is the transfercase. have a friend put it in 2hi/4hi in gear and press the gas, see if the shafts are spinning. the grinding i think would likely be a gearset in the transfercase engaging uncooperatively.
Probably transfer case linkage if it’s a manual trans case. If it’s pushbottun electronic there is probably a problem w/ the control module or encoder motor. Also check the transmission fluid to see if it’s really low.
The Arm to the Case might be bent, it happens a lot on fords but normally on older models. If not the gears are shot from age. how many miles? usually things die slow not abrubtly. If it was electric, i could see this happening more due to bad solenoids.