Gate Monkey
July 17th, 2010, 12:41 PM
So on my last run on Barbour and Devil's Canyon I had a lot of trouble getting up hills and over obstacles in my stock Ranger. This was on the last trail clean up and my camping trip on barbour the night before. I even had to get strapped up the steep hill on Barbour twice by the F150 that was with me. I had been up that hill a couple times before without too much trouble in the past...But it has become a lot more dug out and difficult over the last two years. Anyway, on Devil's Canyon I could not go up steeper hills with out a good running start. Fordboy and Roo both pointed out that it looked as though my 4WD was not engaged. I had to agree with them and it turns out they were right.
I took the Ranger to L & R automotive in Arvada to get it checked out. They are a Ford shop on Ralston in Arvada. First thing they asked me was, does the 4WD and 4WD Low indicator lights illuminate on the dash? I responded, "It has those lights? I have never seen them on." So at that point I thought it was entirely possible that I have never wheeled my Ranger in 4WD.
L&R scanned the system for DTC codes and could not find any codes. The scanner was unable to communicate with the vehicle in 4WD test mode. They checked all the fuses and connections. They put on a different tranfer case shift motor, still no change, so they guessed the problem was with the 4X4 electronic shift module. They replaced the module and that fixed the problem. So now the dash indicator lights engage and it seems that 4WD is working properly now. I will test off road as soon as I have the opportunity. I look forward to trying out the Ranger on a trail in 4WD possibly since the first time I have owned it. Apparently all I have done to date is run Barbour Forks X 4, Devil's Canyon, and Yankee Hill in 2WD. I thought I should have gotten better performance, but as a novice, I did not know why I had such problems with easy trails in the past. As far as L&R, they are very thorough provide good service, although I think they are a little expensive.
I took the Ranger to L & R automotive in Arvada to get it checked out. They are a Ford shop on Ralston in Arvada. First thing they asked me was, does the 4WD and 4WD Low indicator lights illuminate on the dash? I responded, "It has those lights? I have never seen them on." So at that point I thought it was entirely possible that I have never wheeled my Ranger in 4WD.
L&R scanned the system for DTC codes and could not find any codes. The scanner was unable to communicate with the vehicle in 4WD test mode. They checked all the fuses and connections. They put on a different tranfer case shift motor, still no change, so they guessed the problem was with the 4X4 electronic shift module. They replaced the module and that fixed the problem. So now the dash indicator lights engage and it seems that 4WD is working properly now. I will test off road as soon as I have the opportunity. I look forward to trying out the Ranger on a trail in 4WD possibly since the first time I have owned it. Apparently all I have done to date is run Barbour Forks X 4, Devil's Canyon, and Yankee Hill in 2WD. I thought I should have gotten better performance, but as a novice, I did not know why I had such problems with easy trails in the past. As far as L&R, they are very thorough provide good service, although I think they are a little expensive.