Check 4x4 - Service Soon

[SAS OBX SOB]

Looking to see if anyone has words of wisdom. I did some off roading yesterday and was in 4 low. At the end of the trail I tried to shift out of 4 low into 2 H and got the warning of 'Check 4x4' and 'Service Soon'. It went into 4 H and would not let me put it in any other mode. I had a long drive home so I panicked a little about having to drive on the highway in 4H. It drove fine in 4H but I stopped and turned the car completely off and back on. Everything works fine - drove home in 2H with no issues. I have since shifted into 4L, 4H and 4a with no issues.

I am wondering if it is worth the hassle of a dealer trip if there is currently no warnings or errors and hope for the best. Anyone else have this and resolved on it's own?

I have a 2023 with a 2.7 with 18,000 miles and have been off roading quite a bit with no issues.

Thanks!

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[WarthogJr]

I wouldn’t pursue it. The dealer wouldn’t find anything and ask you to bring it back in when it’s displaying the message again…and half a day wasted.

 

[mjp2]

I had the same thing and stumbled on an old thread that helped me out. There are 2 connectors to check -- one on the outside frame under the passenger door, and another on the rear top driver's side of the transfer case. For me, the transfer case wires had a bad connection.

From what I read the truck defaults to 4wd high when there's a transfer case fault, giving you the best possible chance of getting out of a possible stuck while still allowing you to drive home.

 

[Tdub0527]

@mjp2 Do you have a link to the thread?

 

[JediMcMuffin]

I would at least visit the dealer and be sure they have applied any software updates to the various modules.

 

[mjp2]

@mjp2 Do you have a link to the thread?

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/4wd-fault.77574/

 

[SAS OBX SOB]

@mjp2 - See photo below. It looks like one of the wires at the transfer case has frayed and is exposed. I guess I am going to need to take it in. Is this similar to what you had? I am hoping it is an easy fix at the dealer.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

 

[mjp2]

@mjp2 - See photo below. It looks like one of the wires at the transfer case has frayed and is exposed. I guess I am going to need to take it in. Is this similar to what you had? I am hoping it is an easy fix at the dealer.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Same place, slightly different issue. In mine the wires were bent at a harsh 90 degree turn immediately after the connector and I suspect there's a bad connection in there as a result. I straightened the wire bundle a bit and the error went away, which means I have a suspect connection and/or hidden wire break somewhere in there.

In the next <timeframe> I'll get under there and test/check each wire to see if I can identify the root cause. Of course, it'll be tedious, I'm lazy, and it's all currently working so we'll see when that actually happens.

Glad you were able to find something visibly identifiable to address!

 

[Aonarch]

I had the same thing and stumbled on an old thread that helped me out. There are 2 connectors to check -- one on the outside frame under the passenger door, and another on the rear top driver's side of the transfer case. For me, the transfer case wires had a bad connection.

From what I read the truck defaults to 4wd high when there's a transfer case fault, giving you the best possible chance of getting out of a possible stuck while still allowing you to drive home.

Which is great, because my last Jeep defaulted to 2H, which happened to me after a speed sensor failed while wheeling.

 

[mjp2]

Which is great, because my last Jeep defaulted to 2H, which happened to me after a speed sensor failed while wheeling.

 

[Fmuguira]

I d check wire connectors, straighten as best as you can and go use 4WD more.
Otherwise as one of the wise posters stated the Dealercwill probably “waste” a bunch of your time ……

 

[contented]

Looking to see if anyone has words of wisdom. I did some off roading yesterday and was in 4 low. At the end of the trail I tried to shift out of 4 low into 2 H and got the warning of 'Check 4x4' and 'Service Soon'. It went into 4 H and would not let me put it in any other mode. I had a long drive home so I panicked a little about having to drive on the highway in 4H. It drove fine in 4H but I stopped and turned the car completely off and back on. Everything works fine - drove home in 2H with no issues. I have since shifted into 4L, 4H and 4a with no issues.

I am wondering if it is worth the hassle of a dealer trip if there is currently no warnings or errors and hope for the best. Anyone else have this and resolved on it's own?

I have a 2023 with a 2.7 with 18,000 miles and have been off roading quite a bit with no issues.

Thanks!

The something very similar happened to me 2/3 of the way in on “Top of the World” in Moab. No 4 WD at all, no lockers and assorted other error messages. Visions of a $2k tow bill danced in my head. Shut it off, restarted, all was well. Told a bunch of Jeep guys we passed, perhaps there’s something to be said for pulling levers on the floor. Continued wheeling and ended up putting 2,500 more trouble free miles on before we got home. Took it to the dealer. They had it for almost two weeks, ended up replacing the abs module. No problems since.

Lots of good advice above. If you want some measure of peace of mind, have the dealer check it.

 

[akturbo]

Looking to see if anyone has words of wisdom. I did some off roading yesterday and was in 4 low. At the end of the trail I tried to shift out of 4 low into 2 H and got the warning of 'Check 4x4' and 'Service Soon'. It went into 4 H and would not let me put it in any other mode. I had a long drive home so I panicked a little about having to drive on the highway in 4H. It drove fine in 4H but I stopped and turned the car completely off and back on. Everything works fine - drove home in 2H with no issues. I have since shifted into 4L, 4H and 4a with no issues.

I am wondering if it is worth the hassle of a dealer trip if there is currently no warnings or errors and hope for the best. Anyone else have this and resolved on it's own?

I have a 2023 with a 2.7 with 18,000 miles and have been off roading quite a bit with no issues.

Thanks!

This exact thing happened to me this weekend! First trip out after a failed fuel pump, WTF?! I was expecting the worse since I still needed to get out of the ORV park gate keeper.

I had just descended a 30 degree hill (that was steep!), got to the bottom, put in neutral, as soon as I turned the GOAT mode dial to go back to Normal I received "Drive mode not available", "Check 4x4", Service and 4x4 Wrench icon on the dash. Plugged in the Ford Tuner, zero DTCs found, cleared DTCs a couple times, the 4x4 wrench disappeared for half a second and came back. Turned off the Bronco for 10 minutes, all cleared! Later after we got cell service I saw a FordPass alert "Powertrain Malfunction/Reduced Power", I never captured a DTC.

I'll check the xfer case wires. Anywhere else to check? 2021 Badlands SAS 2.7 4 door.

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