# Disengaging 4WD



## Slubgub (Mar 17, 2005)

What has been everyone's experience when turning off the 4WD and how quickly the lights on the dash have stopped flashing saying the 4WD is off?

The reason I ask is that up until today, I would turn it off and usually if I released my foot off the gas, it went off. Well today, it just keeps on flashing like it wants to turn off, but doesn't until I come to a complete stop. I actually had to stop and throw it in reverse the first time this happened today to get it to disengage.

2005 NISMO CC 4WD


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## BakedCookies (Sep 18, 2005)

mine cuts off when i press the brake pedal


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## FastCrewCab (Nov 3, 2005)

For me, 4-Hi has been disengaging in less than 10 seconds. I switch to 2WD with my foot off the gas, travelling less than 35 mph, and never brake while it's disengaging.


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## Slubgub (Mar 17, 2005)

BakedCookies said:


> mine cuts off when i press the brake pedal


That is what I thought. Just spoke to the dealer and he told me it is normal for this vehicle to need to be tossed into reverse to disengage the 4WD. To me that is not shift on the fly 4WD and it does not state this anywhere in the manual. Man, I hate those guys.


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## scuba91ta (Aug 19, 2005)

mine tends to want some sort of drag on the driveline to disengage - whether its braking or letting it cost and having the engine brake the vehiocle a little... on the other hand - i didn't expect any different, i've never driven a full 4wd vehicle that would disengage right away...


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## Slubgub (Mar 17, 2005)

*Good for a Laugh*

Well this should explain the knowledge of the people on the phone at the other end of the Nissan 800 number. 

I called them to get the proper engage/disengage answer directly from the source, to be armed when I called the dealer back on their bluff. Well as the person was looking up the information for me, she told me "the frontier is beautiful, I really love the way the bed extender looks, if I could I would get one myself"

How the hell does that have anything to do with 4WD? And to boot, she could not come up with an answer for me.

After a little bit of testing, I think it is an actuator in the transfer case. If I take a sharp turn, it disengages like the unit is stuck and sliding back out of 4WD from the centrifugal force.


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## B13boy (Dec 16, 2004)

I know my 1999 Xterra is a little different, and so is my F250. But in order for me to completly disengage the 4WD hubs on both vehicles I need to reverse about 10FT.


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## scuba91ta (Aug 19, 2005)

if there is any sort of binding in the driveline (which there is no matter what when you're in 4wd) it's going to take a lessening of that to get it to diengage... period... 

That electric solenoid has to disengage gears that are still transmitting power! this is why it will NEVER disengage under any throttle...

This is also why it DOES disengage under drag - the way the gears are cut (helicly)(sp?) makes them easier to disenage under drag, not power... obviously it's setup like this for a reason. 

The reason it happens when you take a corner is because you're for a split second, releasing the binding in the driveline. 

The 4wd on my truck also disenages slowly, especially when it's cold out... it's fatser in the warm. 

If your that concerned about it, go to another dealer, but they are just going to tell you it's normal operation... because, well, it more or less is...


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## Slubgub (Mar 17, 2005)

I actually called a couple other dealers yesterday about it as well, and they both told me it was not functioning properly. I also drove the truck in 4WD, then back to 2WD. Stopped the vehicle, turned it off and restarted and drove away. The dash lights were still blinking showing it was trying to disengage. I will take it for a second opinion somewhere else if they say there is nothing wrong at the pace I bought it from. 

There may be nothing wrong with it at all. It is not making any noises like something is stuck, but I know it is not working the same as it did when I bought the truck, and it is warmer out right now then when I have used it in the past. 

What I do not understand is how they can tell me this is normal, when it states in the manual you can shift the 4WD High up to 62.5 mph. So with what they are telling me at the dealership, if I am driving along the highway at 50, the roads clear up, and I go back to 2WD, I will have to pull it off the side of the road and pop it in reverse to disengage? This vehicle is too smart for that old style 4WD design.


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## scuba91ta (Aug 19, 2005)

well the dealership is certainly wrong... and my truck disengages fine - so there may be a problem... but it DOES take letting off the throttle and allowing the engine to brake the truck a little to get it to bakc out...


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## Arknismo (Feb 3, 2006)

Just FYI and not sure if this will help....but My dad drives and Ford Bronco and my girl friends father drives a new suburban....Both have what is called "shift on the fly 4x4" However......They both found that when they turn the 4x4 off, the light goes off and from all indications, the 4x4 is off. HOWEVER again, the HUBS are still engaged. It is required to stop the vehicle and back it up about 15 ft to disengage the hubs. This is from 2 different auto makers. I'm not sure if this is the same with the Frontier but it is something to think about....Also, they have both done research on this and found that it is not a malfunction....it is required to put it in reverse for about 15ft. On the Bronco, you can actually hear the clicks of the hub disengaging when you back up. My dad had to get the 4x4 rebuilt about 1 year after he bought the vehicle because the hubs burned up due to staying engaged. This is when he came to learn the reverse procedure. 

Hope that helps.


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## Slubgub (Mar 17, 2005)

Well I was at the dealership yesterday, and it seems that the problem comes from replacing a tire. I replaced the right rear, and pulled the spare and put that one the left rear so I at least had two matching tires. Kept them both in the back for added traction in the winter. There was about a 1/4" difference in tire tread depth. Well that half inch of difference between the front and rear tires, according to Nissan is causing the 4WD to bind and not disengage. So you get one bad tire, they are saying you should replace all 4 for even tread.


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## FastCrewCab (Nov 3, 2005)

Slubgub said:


> Well I was at the dealership yesterday, and it seems that the problem comes from replacing a tire. I replaced the right rear, and pulled the spare and put that one the left rear so I at least had two matching tires. Kept them both in the back for added traction in the winter. There was about a 1/4" difference in tire tread depth. Well that half inch of difference between the front and rear tires, according to Nissan is causing the 4WD to bind and not disengage. So you get one bad tire, they are saying you should replace all 4 for even tread.



It's amazing what the dealer will tell us when they don't have a "real" answer.


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## Slubgub (Mar 17, 2005)

FastCrewCab said:


> It's amazing what the dealer will tell us when they don't have a "real" answer.


Well I was scratching my head at this one also, but it makes sense at the same time. I just measured the tires and there is about 5/16" difference in the tread between the old and new tires, and when you double that you have 5/8" total height difference, and I am sure if you multiply that by pie or some other mathematical formula, the old tires are spinning faster than the new. Just enough to bind up 4WD from disengaging. You can hear the selenoid working. And if there was something electrical or mechanical stuck, the 4WD warning light would come on.

I would have been more skeptical about it, but when they could not find anything wrong, and called California, the first thing the rep asked was if I had changed tires, so obviously this has been an issue. Also spoke to a friend at a Chevy dealership and I guess their trucks are having the same problem, and actually snapping parts in the transfer case while trying to disengage.


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## scuba91ta (Aug 19, 2005)

it does make perfect sense - that 1/2" ends up being almost a couple inches in circumferance... anyways, it's safe to say that it probably isnt a BS answer... subarus and the good old DSM's would kill the center diff pretty quick on there AWD cars if ya had different sized tires on em... of course, that was a viscious coupler, where as this is a meshing set of gears...


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