Can't engage 4WD..dealer silent. [Expired Topic]

**Taggart** · 08-21-2006, 11:45 PM

Help! I have a 99 Suburban, 454, 2500. recently wouldn't engage 4WD. Dealer tells me need new shift motor, switch.....almost $1200.00. They said parts available locally. That was 5 days ago. Called to check status today and was told that service manager would call me right back. This was 9:30 am. Day has now passed and I have heard nothing. What else can go wrong in this situation? Burb was running fine when I took it in..just couldn't tell whether I was in 2 or 4WD...front end felt like 4WD (sort of). Could the transfer case itself be out? What transfer case is this? I think my configuration is NP8. Auto 4WD, w/neutral and 4lo, 4hi, 2WD. Lights just went out on switch when in 4WD. I'm strapped for $$. Can I just run as 2WD until I can get the $$ for proper repair? Need this rig to pull my 7500# travel trailer.

**GaryL** · 08-22-2006, 09:54 AM

Do the switches light up in all the other selections? On my wife's Durango (I know Dodge, not Chevy) the lights went out on the selector switch and you couldn't tell which gear the trasfer case was in. It turned out to be the computer that controls the trasfer case. It was under warranty, but would have been around $1,000 if I had to pay for it.

**Taggart** · 08-22-2006, 10:43 AM

No lights in any selection position. Dealer has already diagnosed defective shift motor and actuator. but when I called on status, service manager wanted to talk to me further...was unavailable at the moment. This to me is ominous. I guess the worse case scenario is that the transfer case itself is blown. Question is, can I use 2WD with a faulty transfer case? I don't need 4WD until the snow flies.

**84fiero123** · 08-22-2006, 09:33 PM

The actualer on my 94 was only $120 or so, I would get the truck bacj abd try reolaceing that myself first before I paid them that much money.

**unplugged** · 09-15-2006, 08:37 AM

Originally Posted by 84fiero123

The actualer on my 94 was only $120 or so, I would get the truck bacj abd try reolaceing that myself first before I paid them that much money.

I agree. I don't know if the 99 uses the same actuator, but the actuator failed on my 93 and the shop said: "It has to be upgraded, there was a recall....blah, blah, blah....) And they wanted $300 - $400 to fix it.

I called the dealer, and they said gotta buy new style actuator, and retrofit harness....$$$$$$. I went online and confirmed the info.

Then I got the GM part number for the original actuator from the dealer and called the local NAPA store. They cross referenced it to their part number and for $79.00 I was in business. Took maybe a half hour to install the new actuator and 4wd works great.

When I went back to the shop, they said: "Well that's not a good repair and that the part would fail prematurely."

My 93 burb has 200k miles on it and if the actuator lasts another 50k it was money well spent.