Daily update:

Started the truck and the 4lo started flashing. Shifted to 4hi and I could hear the servo move. Shifted bad to 2hi and the servo moved and the 4lo light started flashing and the servo moving. Shut truck off.

Popped the hood and took fuse 10 out of the fuse box on the left side fender well. It says it's for the 4wd system.

Started truck, no flashing lights. Shifted to 4hi and the servo moved and the truck went into 4hi. Drove across the driveway and turned and the wheels bound up. Shifted back to 2hi and the wheels unlocked and I drove to town (15 miles) with no lights, no flashing, no service 4wd light.
Stopped for fuel and put the fuse back in and still no lights, no warnings, nothing.

Next step is to go out and get out the garden hose and start spraying the TC to see if I can make it fail. Kind of like a roof leak, I'm starting at the bottom and working my way up. Maybe I'll find a short or a bad connection.

 

Hourly?? update:

Smarty sees no codes. Just the "No voltage drop detected when heater grid engages" code.... Had that since I put those heavy duty batteries in more than a year ago.

Something weird to note: My tach is working more or less. It may read 200 rpm's low, but it hasn't done anything but swing wildly for the last two years.... [laugh] Now it is almost accurate!

Okay, spray hose on transfer case = nothing.

Spray on entire transmission = nothing.

Spray on fuse box in engine compartment = nothing.

Spray firewall, top of trans, dog who is wondering what I'm doing [laugh] = nothing but a wet dog.

Spray TIPM on engine block = WOW!!

Trans jumps into 4 lo and won't come out!

I'm letting it dry out now (the dog too) and I'm going to carefully spray water on each connector on the TIPM and see if I can narrow down the problem area... I think there's a short.

 

Hourly?? update:

Smarty sees no codes. Just the "No voltage drop detected when heater grid engages" code.... Had that since I put those heavy duty batteries in more than a year ago.

Something weird to note: My tach is working more or less. It may read 200 rpm's low, but it hasn't done anything but swing wildly for the last two years.... [laugh] Now it is almost accurate!

Okay, spray hose on transfer case = nothing.

Spray on entire transmission = nothing.

Spray on fuse box in engine compartment = nothing.

Spray firewall, top of trans, dog who is wondering what I'm doing [laugh] = nothing but a wet dog.

Spray TIPM on engine block = WOW!!

Trans jumps into 4 lo and won't come out!

I'm letting it dry out now (the dog too) and I'm going to carefully spray water on each connector on the TIPM and see if I can narrow down the problem area... I think there's a short.

check the actuater, i took mine out put it on a table and founf out there is parts shaking in it so i give it a gentle tap with a hammer put it back and what do you know it works for a couple days and stopped so i bought a new one from dodge works a bout the same time and quit i think these cheap parts made in mexico is our problems with these truck and to mention brand new switch and check wires no problem found except that.

 

Nothing I wiggle does anything for me.

I disconnected and reconnected and wiggled every connection I could. The TIPM (if that is what is on the block) does nothing for me.

Then I pulled the #9 fuse in the fuse block (in my owner's manual it's called the Integrated Power Module), the one on the driver's fender. That #9 fuse does nothing.

The truck is now unable to shift at all from 4hi, the indicator is not showing anything. The serve 4wd light is on. No turning of the know does anything. Dead.

So I decide to see what is inside of the fuse box on the fender. I unscrewed the cover (5 torx screws) and started wiggling the body out.... then I stopped. There must be power in there, maybe I should disconnect the batteries. Ahhhh heck with it, I screwed the screws back in and snapped the lid on. I thought I'd go drive the truck around in 4hi and let it get warm and maybe dry out the connections.....

And what do I find when I get in the truck? Everything works. The service 4wd light is off and the knob shifts through the 4hi / 2hi/ 4lo like nothing has ever been wrong.....

Coud it be a bad connection between the fuse panel and the fuse panel base??? This is killing me! I need this truck to do my work.

 

Well I didn't split open the TIPM. I did learn that the TIPM is the thing on the fender on an 06. I also learned the stupid thing cost a lot of money and causes headaches ranging from headlights randomly turning off to blinkers not working to 4wd issues.

So to minimize the possibility of ruining a $700 - $900 TIPM I didn't open it.

I did pop the TIPM out of the holder and wiggle every thing behind it and took out each connector and looked at them and plugged them back in.

So back out to the driveway I went with a perfectly functioning 4wd system. I drove it down the road, I shifted through the ranges. Then when it was working so great I hit it carefully with water, right on the TIPM. Nothing. Then the thingy on the block. Nothing. Then the transfer case connector. Nothing. Then I hosed the heck out of everything and still nothing.

Now I'm completely lost. I suppose I should take it in the shop and rent a car for my trip up north this week. I can't imagine they will find anything wrong though because I can't make it fail now. But next week I have a lot of trailer pulling to do as I move from two different job sites and I'll have four men in the vehicle depending on the truck to get them where they need to be! And they'll be 300 miles from home.....

 

my neighbour, had the connector pop off, that controls the shift motor, his never shifted on its own,his was missing the connector lock tab.

I suspose you could unplug that connector, now the TC would be locked in that gear, the service 4x4 lite would be on , but at least it cant randomly shift on you when least expected, this would be a temp fix until you have time to fiqure it out

 

I took the truck to a shop I trust.

They scanned it and tested the wire to the servo or whatever and said it wasn't getting the 5 volt signal it needs. That led them back to the TIPM and they found corrosion on the wiring.

The end verdict is it should get a new TIPM. Total diagnostics cost me $89, the TIPM will be $715 from Dodge, and they estimate an hour and a half for install and then scanning with the Star tool or whatever it is to make sure the TIPM is functioning properly.

Somewhere in my search for the answer I had read the replacement TIPM's had a better seal or cover or something to help prevent these problems. I sure hope so.

 

The new TIPM didn't help, so that was $1,000 shot.

The next thing we tried was disconnecting the A/C pressure switch sensor thing up front passenger side.

That didn't help either...

 

This is the same issue I'm have and I was about to go the tipm route I'm glad I didn't now... Good write up and I will post up if I find anything out!! Just get your truck in 2hi and unplug the actuator to make it safe to drive


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Any news on fixing this issue??


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X2 any update

 

Nothing from me yet. After I disconnected the a/c pressure switch I found the truck in 4hi again without an indicator light. If I turn the knob it will lock in 4hi and the light will light up, but sometimes it just goes in 4hi with no indicator. I almost suspect anytime it is flashing 4lo that it may already be in 4hi.

So now I have disconnected the plug at the servo. After I did that I have received no 4lo flashing for almost 1,000 miles.

I sure hope someone reads this and can connect the dots, and figure out what the problem could be.

 

Okay, y'all are going say I'm nuts, but I'm used to it.

I checked the wire that runs over the air condo line by the oil filter. I had the shop check it. We all thought it was fine.

But I was putting a 5" Flowmaster turbo-back on the other day and by golly if that wire didn't look chafed in the right light....

So today I pulled the oil filter off and the intake tube and disconnected the wiring harness and pulled the wires up to take a closer look at them.

The pink and blue 5v wire was chafed right through.

I cut it and attached a heat shrink repair thingy and reconnected the 4wd servo.

Now I've 'fixed' this issue before.... so I'm waiting to call this one 'done', but at least I found something.... :thumbsup:

ETA: Sorry about the pictures, but for some reason all I can load is little bitty ones. Maybe I have to pay to upload a bit bigger picture or something. But if it would help you by seeing a larger picture, just contact me and I can send you one.

 

Bummer. It didn't do a thing. :S:

I called Dave Goerend and he is pulling the wiring diagram and looking into the issue.

 

Best of luck. Hopefully one of the site Dodge techs can help. When I special ordered my manual transfercase ,the salesguy said"really"?

 

Did anyone ever consider the electric motor that actuates the transfer case ranges itself is actually bad? Read this thread and don't recall anyone mentioning that. I have 176k on my nv273 and have never had any problems such as the ones you describe.

 

I swapped mine then tested it on a buddies truck and it worked fine on his..


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I'm just pitching in on ideas that no one mentioned is all...

 

Understand and I talked to a guy that swapping the actuator worked on his but I wasn't that lucky...


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I'm really believing it's something to do with the wiring at the transfer case or in the actuator motor itself that is shorting out or not grounded. It could even be in the plug that connects to the transfer case.

Switching the motor could just cause the plug connection to work again.

Mine was only doing it when wet, then it started doing it even when it was dry out. I fixed the frayed wire and it was fine until it started raining. So I may have had an initial problem, then a secondary problem, and after fixing the secondary one, I could be back to the initial one again.

 

if doing it when wet, wait till everything is dry out, then spray water on one connection at a time until you duplicate the problem, this may help pin point the problem area

 

Hey I have an idea.. or at least a question. You mentioned in an earlier post that you sprayed the thingy on the side of the block and it started acting up. Do you mean the ECM? And one other question. have you traced the wiring back from the actuator to it's end point. I'm meaning completely unwrapping it from the fancy Dodge coverings. IF you have a buddy with the same year range truck try swapping your actuator motor with his and see if that helps. I'm shooting in the dark here but I'm definitely thinking if a different actuator doesn't solve the problem then it's somewhere in the wiring and the only way to find it would be to trace the wiring from the selector knob to the actuator. it'll be miserable and painstakingly slow but i'm fairly certain you'll find the problem

 

I haven't traced the wiring yet. I'd be willing to bet the wires go from the selector switch to the TIPM, then to the actuator.

When the plug going to the actuator is disconnected, everything is fine. I really need to concentrate on that fact. I would like to find a wiring diagram.

You think if I called Dodge they'd let me talk to the engineer who designed the wiring? Wouldn't that be sweet?

 

Well last night coming home the abs and brake light came on.. Scanned the truck no codes.. Got up this am to go to work and as soon as I got about a block down the road the lights cleared.. Came home from lunch truck running fine shut it off, ate, and went to head back to work and it made a very very slight attempt to turn over maybe a 1/2 second then stopped and won't do anything now... Could this all be the tipm since I had the 4x4 issues a couple months back and I'm still trying to chase that down??


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If you haven't already figured it out, it could be the TIPM. You can wire a relay in to fool the the TIPM to control the starter or have it flashed at the dealer.

 

I spent the entire day at the diesel service center. I would like to let everyone know the guys there are fabulous, they work their buns off and know their stuff. This is just a major headache of a problem though. The shop I go to is Diesel Forward in Windsor, WI. They work on any and all diesels from little bitty ones like my truck to monster ones in cranes and dozers and fire trucks.

Today they traced wires, tested circuits, tightened grounds and couldn't find anything wrong. After hours of work they decided to replace the servo motor assembly to see if it would make a difference.

As soon as it was replaced they drove the truck out of the shop and around to the customer waiting area, then right back into the shop. It was still flashing 4lo.

The tech put the scan tool on and could see the signal for 4lo but not for the axle engagement. So the TIPM is thinking 4lo is requested but not 4wd.

It was late so they asked me to come back when they could have the truck for a couple days... They said they WILL figure it out if it kills them. The next step will be to cut open the wiring harness from front to back and inspect every inch of wire.

 

Did you replace your tipm yet??


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Mine threw a code today and fail the check of it so we will see tomorrow if it fixes it...


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Please come back and let us know if it works for you!!!

Mine threw the code (Is is 1405 or something) and the 5 volts wasn't there, the TIPM had some corrosion on it, and it was replaced and worked great!! For about 4 days....

 

Mine had the 5volts but threw a code for the 4wd when you tried selecting 4wd with the scanner hooked up and I really hope it works... Ill let you know


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Well as of now the tipm has fixed my issue and the 4wd and other issues have seemed to go away but we will see.. Hope it's all it was!!


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