2wd/4hi and 4lo buttons and dash lights flashing after having some audio work done

Hey everyone,

So I took my truck in to get some audio work done and in doing that the tech had to remove the stereo. When I was getting ready to leave i noticed that the 2wd/4HI and 4Lo buttons and dash lights were flashing. I asked to tech, and he attempted to disconnect the buttons and retry with no luck. I drove it home and don't think it's in 4wd and I also tried listening for anything engaging when pressing either button but as far as I know I didn't hear anything. The tech told me to take the truck somewhere else to have it diagnosed and fixed and they would cover the cost, but I'd like to know if anyone here has any insight. Due to the nature of the work being done, I think its somehow related to the buttons, but I am not sure. Any help always appreciated.

 

I’d probably disconnect the battery and see if it resets when you hook it back up as a first step. He may have pulled a connector causing the issue and putting the ecu/controller into a weird state.

Next step is checking all the connectors back there are tight and nothing was put back 1/2 way on.

 

thank you I will try that and share what i find

 

i t

Thank you for your suggestion. I tried what you shared along with unplugging the buttons and only the 2wd/4Hi stopped blinking (momentarily). The 4Lo kept flashing so thinking it would help, I pressed it for a few seconds, but nothing changed. Then I pressed the 2wd/4Hi thinking it would somehow stop the 4Lo flashing but all that happened was the 2wd/4Hi began flashing. I pressed it again and nothing changed.

 

Try starting up the truck and shifting it into neutral with it not moving before hitting the 4wd Lo button. Hopefully this will get you out of it.

 

Unfortunately, that did not work. If it helps at all I had an amplifier added to the dash. When i open it up, the amplifier is near the wires. I doubt that it could be causing some sort of interference but I dont know much about electronics to know any better.

 

If the installer is going to pay to get it fixed, just take it to Toyota.

 

Another vote for taking it to a stealership and having them diagnose. Be sure they tell the technician it started after the car audio shop had it.

Expect them to throw a number of things at it, and the bill will be coming back in the 1000s of dollars. Fixing 4WD shit is EXPENSIVE.

 

Thats what's planned for Friday. We shall see.

 

Ugh, what a pain. Hopefully they didn't cut all up into the harnesses and start connecting stuff. Might be hard to diagnose which wire got connected to which.

 

Here's an update since the last post. The dealership mechanics determined it had nothing to do with the installation of the amplifier. Honestly, they didn't look behind the stereo at all even after explaining the situation but they did find the actuator on the transfer case had water damage to it and that power was reaching that point. They said they could replace it but OEM is out of stock and they don't know when it will be available the part alone for would be almost 1500 for oem. They said they could get a remanufactured part at a much cheaper price ( looked online and found it for around 150). Total cost for install and parts would be around 1700. Another shop's estimate was 2750! I called the local 4-wheel parts shop and they said they couldn't do it in fear of messing up some of the electrical components. Other mechanics said they don't have the correct tools to pull the job off, so it looks like I'm going to have to take it back to the dealership unless one of the other places returns my call. Is it really that difficult to replace the actuator?

 

I'd be hunting for a used part, honestly. But not before I popped off the center dash bezel myself, reviewed the shop's wiring, and unplugged/replugged every connector on the rear of the bezel.

 

Is there a specific proprietary place shops look to see how many hours it will take to replace the actuator? one shop told me 6 hours while another told me 10. Each has a different rate per hour but I'm trying to figure out why there's such a big difference.

 

There are different systems shops use to bid jobs, manage invoices, customer input and relationship management, all the stuff that goes along with running a shop. I guess the best answer is, different systems calculate hours differently. One of the shops I go to over here uses ShopMonkey for all their stuff. I have no idea what dealerships use.

Some of those systems are smarter than others. Like, for example, say you need to get your water pump replaced. In the process, you also want to do some other stuff "while it's out", like replace the radiator and replace the drive belt. Let's say you have software "A" at one shop and "B" at the other. "A" may be smart enough to realize it has two jobs in this order where draining coolant is needed, so it's not going to charge half an hour's labor twice, once for the timing belt install, the other for the radiator install. Likewise, it won't charge at all for the drive belt install because they need to take it off anyway to do the timing pump, leaving you with a 6 hour labor cost. Software "B" may not be so smart, and may concatenate the time together, and you end up with an 8 hour labor cost.

I've seen dealerships do the same, actually. Not necessarily Toyota dealerships, but dealerships I've dealt with in the past. They don't take a "while you're in there and have it off anyway" approach, even if you're buying the parts from them and they're making $$ on the markup. It's stupid.

Anyway, my best attempt at explaining why you may be seeing that. I had similar recently when (for shits and giggles) reaching a couple of Toyota offroad shops in my area to swap out customer-provided UCA and coilovers. One bid 9 hours labor. The other bid 6, and actually included extra AAL in the rear, parts and install, which I thought was pretty damn fair. The justification I was given for the 9 hour bid was "We typically give customers a break if they buy the parts from us, we need to make up that margin somehow" (I'm paraphrasing, but that's what I heard/interpreted).

I only include that last bit because it seemed it was less about their system and more "arbitrary" than anything else.