4x4 Temporarily Disabled

Had a weird situation happen while in some sand dunes in my 2017 recently. Everything was going great doing some off roading until I made a sharp turn in some sand and suddenly 4x4 temporarily disabled popped up on my message board and the truck immediately went out of 4x4. This caused me to start sinking in the pretty thick sand. After turning the vehicle off and restarting 4x4 re-engaged and I was able to continue for a bit, but it ended up doing it a couple more times. Not very reassuring when your 4x4 disengages when you need it most.
Anyone had this problem before?

Nope...83K on my '17 but I don't go dune-ing either.....


jeff

I've been using 4x4 (mostly 4H) quite a bit the past two weeks driving in snow and ice. Including tight turns. But no errors or trouble messages. If it happens again it would be interesting to pull the code and maybe isolate what's going on.

Did you get the message “Check 4x4” as shown in the 2017 owners manual? There may be a code stored.

There are a few basic common failure points for the ControlTrac system. The first thing I would advise you to check is the vacuum system, namely your IWE solenoid. You can verify it’s operation by jacking up the front end and spinning the wheels by hand or by checking for vacuum on one of the wheel ends lines. Idle the truck in 2H, there should be vacuum present and wheels should spin independent of axles. In 4A or 4H the wheels should spin with the axle and vacuum should not be present anymore. What I’m suggesting is that it is possible your IWE solenoid may be supplying vacuum and unlocking hubs when it shouldn’t be or sticking half way, one possibility for that message. The IWE solenoid on my 2007 failed the opposite way, never supplied vacuum. Something happens to them internally, my truck would display “4X4 Shift In Progress” and then the mode would not appear afterward. After I diagnosed this as the faulty part and replaced everything worked as normal.

No other messages came up other than “4x4 temporarily disabled”
When I got home from the trip...I was in Baja... I hooked up my code reader and wasn’t able to pull any codes at all.
Sounds like I have some work ahead of me to figure it out.
4x4 has worked fine for me a few times since the trip, but I haven’t been in soft sand again.
I was able to find some info on F150 forums where this has happened before and it ended up being a ecm issue with the traction control system. Just what I love to figure out...an intermittent electrical issue!
I will check the vacuum on the iwe to rule that out too.

Rmcculloch said:

No other messages came up other than “4x4 temporarily disabled”
When I got home from the trip...I was in Baja... I hooked up my code reader and wasn’t able to pull any codes at all.
Sounds like I have some work ahead of me to figure it out.
4x4 has worked fine for me a few times since the trip, but I haven’t been in soft sand again.
I was able to find some info on F150 forums where this has happened before and it ended up being a ecm issue with the traction control system. Just what I love to figure out...an intermittent electrical issue!
I will check the vacuum on the iwe to rule that out too.

Click to expand...

sounds like you already saw this thread but just in case you haven’t....

https://www.f150forum.com/f118/4x4-temporarily-disabled-436526/index5/


Quote from thread regarding fix....

Guys, I finally heard back from the dealer.

First and foremost, my 4x4 woes and "temporarily disabled" problems seemed to have been solved like I mentioned before. We still have tons of snow and I'm able to test it out just about every day. The front end has been grabbing like it should since I got my truck back.

Here is everything that has been done to my truck since I first got it back after the major collision repair which is when I think the issue started, or was created. My truck and the 4x4 system worked perfectly fine before the collision, and resulting repair.

- Shift motor at the transfer case was replaced
- Vacuum solenoid, and what appears to be the check valve that causes most of the infamous IWE griding issues, and all related vacuum lines up near the drivers side firewall replaced.
- Some random electrical connector was found to be unplugged, and was plugged back in.

My opinion is that the first 2 problems/solutions did nothing to fix the issue. In fact I'm positive the shift motor didn't fix the issue because I got my truck back after that and I still had the issue. The other 2 fixes happened after it went back to them for a second time for this problem. I think my issue from the get go was caused by the electrical connector he referenced. I think that issue was a result of the fairly major collision repair that I had completed just prior which involved a frame swap as well as several items on the front drivers side corner. The collision repair also resulted in a cracked valve cover as well, that I believe is probably unrelated to the topic here.

Here is the service managers direct quote regarding the electrical connector: "The connector that our technician found not completely seated was on the drivers side of the engine compartment near the master cylinder. It is part of the harness that sends power back to the transmission and transfer case."

One thing I did not check that you guys did, was the power distribution screen. If I had to guess, mine too would have shown power to the front, but I'm not positive.

When my truck was having the 4x4 problems, it never once worked. I slipped and fishtailed all over the place for days in the snow. Traction control going nuts. The only time the "4x4 Temporarily Disabled" message would pop up is when I would first get my truck to spin the rear end and break free. This happened both in 4A and 4H. It was then and only then that I would get the message. The rest of the time, my trucks' electronics assumed everything was working fine. On a couple of occasions I also got the "4x4 Restored" message whenever I would straighten out and quit spinning any rear tires. No rhyme or reason to this otherwise as I didn't get that message nearly as often as the disabled one. I know for a fact that the front end was not getting power regardless of the 'restored' message. All I had to do was break the rear end free and I would get the disabled pop up again immediately.

I did test 4Low range one time. It shifted into 4 Low perfectly fine, however even then the front end still had no power. Same 'Disabled' pop up as when in 4A or 4Hi.

I sure hope you guys get your issues figured out. I will continue to monitor this thread and answer any questions or help out in any way that I can.

Rmcculloch said:

Just what I love to figure out...an intermittent electrical issue!

Click to expand...

The sign of a true *********! LOL




I've got one circuit out in my home..........5 outlets out of 12 in the kitchen are out, my walkin closet lights are out......no circuit breakers blown...............had to buy another test plug b/c I couldn't find any of the 3 I already have....all the receptacles show "hot/gnd reversed"!

How did that happen?

jeff

Jeff
Look for a tripped/failed gfi outlet. JoeZ