Loud Clunk engaging 4WD

When my '02 EB encounters a slippage and needs to engage 4WD, there's a loud
banging noise as the front wheels become engaged. I never had this before
on other 4WDs. The dealer says it's normal. True or not? Are there any
TSBs for this?

Thanks.

My '02 XLT V-8 does this. Scary, isn't it? If you learn anything
outside this forum about it, I would be grateful if you would drop me a
line.

Bill Jeffrey
==========================

mnt wrote:
> When my '02 EB encounters a slippage and needs to engage 4WD, there's a loud
> banging noise as the front wheels become engaged. I never had this before
> on other 4WDs. The dealer says it's normal. True or not? Are there any
> TSBs for this?
>
> Thanks.
>
>

It is because you guys are not using your 4x4 enough. Use it even if you
don't need it. Go off-road, or hell if your in the same boat as me and live
in Canada, Dive in the winter after a snowfall on 4x4 high, not 4x4 Auto.
If you don't use it enough it seizes up and gets grime and dirt in the
mechanism, I had that noise too but after I started using it more often, I
noticed that noise went away.

-OttawaGuy23
99 XLT
"mnt" > wrote in message
news:%OcBd.261442$5K2.202404@attbi_s03...
> When my '02 EB encounters a slippage and needs to engage 4WD, there's a
> loud banging noise as the front wheels become engaged. I never had this
> before on other 4WDs. The dealer says it's normal. True or not? Are
> there any TSBs for this?
>
> Thanks.
>

In article >,
"Teleplus Gatineau" > wrote:

> It is because you guys are not using your 4x4 enough. Use it even if you
> don't need it. Go off-road, or hell if your in the same boat as me and live
> in Canada, Dive in the winter after a snowfall on 4x4 high, not 4x4 Auto.
> If you don't use it enough it seizes up and gets grime and dirt in the
> mechanism, I had that noise too but after I started using it more often, I
> noticed that noise went away.
>
> -OttawaGuy23
> 99 XLT
> "mnt" > wrote in message
> news:%OcBd.261442$5K2.202404@attbi_s03...
> > When my '02 EB encounters a slippage and needs to engage 4WD, there's a
> > loud banging noise as the front wheels become engaged. I never had this
> > before on other 4WDs. The dealer says it's normal. True or not? Are
> > there any TSBs for this?
> >
> > Thanks.
> >

Are you talking about 4X4 auto or 4X4 H? When my rear wheels slip in 4X4
auto I can hear and feel it shift the power to the front. I've also
wondered if this is normal. It feels rather violent rather than a smooth
transition. I end up using 4X4 H more than I normally would, places my
91 would go without 4X4 because I find it annoying. I spend a lot of
time off pavement so not using 4WD enough isn't an issue in my case.

Janet

In my case, anyway, I am talking about 4x4 auto. Like you, Janet, I can
feel it shift power to the front when the rear wheels lose traction. I
can hear it too, but I wouldn't describe the sound as a clunk, but as a
BAM! or SLAM! By the way, I have experienced this only at
near-dead-stop conditions. For example, I was parked on a wet grassy
down-slope at a farmer's market. As I began to back out of the parking
space, the rear wheels tried to do the work, began to slip, and BAM! the
fronts kicked in. At that point, with 4WD engaged, I had no problem
getting up the slope. This has happened several times, in both forward
and backing situations, both turning and straight.

Gatineau might be right, though - aside from these few occasions, I
never use 4WD since I left snow country. I'll try to run a controlled
experiment in the next few days here, if I can find a slippery spot.

Bill Jeffrey
================================

Janet wrote:

> In article >,
> "Teleplus Gatineau" > wrote:
>
>
>>It is because you guys are not using your 4x4 enough. Use it even if you
>>don't need it. Go off-road, or hell if your in the same boat as me and live
>>in Canada, Dive in the winter after a snowfall on 4x4 high, not 4x4 Auto.
>>If you don't use it enough it seizes up and gets grime and dirt in the
>>mechanism, I had that noise too but after I started using it more often, I
>>noticed that noise went away.
>>
>>-OttawaGuy23
>>99 XLT
>>"mnt" > wrote in message
>>news:%OcBd.261442$5K2.202404@attbi_s03...
>>
>>>When my '02 EB encounters a slippage and needs to engage 4WD, there's a
>>>loud banging noise as the front wheels become engaged. I never had this
>>>before on other 4WDs. The dealer says it's normal. True or not? Are
>>>there any TSBs for this?
>>>
>>>Thanks.
>>>
>
>
> Are you talking about 4X4 auto or 4X4 H? When my rear wheels slip in 4X4
> auto I can hear and feel it shift the power to the front. I've also
> wondered if this is normal. It feels rather violent rather than a smooth
> transition. I end up using 4X4 H more than I normally would, places my
> 91 would go without 4X4 because I find it annoying. I spend a lot of
> time off pavement so not using 4WD enough isn't an issue in my case.
>
> Janet

In article <gZcEd.53337$Cl3.44446@fed1read03>,
Bill Jeffrey > wrote:

> In my case, anyway, I am talking about 4x4 auto. Like you, Janet, I can
> feel it shift power to the front when the rear wheels lose traction. I
> can hear it too, but I wouldn't describe the sound as a clunk, but as a
> BAM! or SLAM! By the way, I have experienced this only at
> near-dead-stop conditions. For example, I was parked on a wet grassy
> down-slope at a farmer's market. As I began to back out of the parking
> space, the rear wheels tried to do the work, began to slip, and BAM! the
> fronts kicked in. At that point, with 4WD engaged, I had no problem
> getting up the slope. This has happened several times, in both forward
> and backing situations, both turning and straight.

Exactly, I experience the same thing. That's why I said it seemed
violent. It makes that "bang" and then you feel the front end start to
pull. What I really hate is it tries to switch the power back to the
rear wheels, the rear wheels spin again, kind of like if you wanted to
creep along but hit the gas quickly and then bang, back to the front
wheels. Doesn't seem to do it on pavement at all.

>
> Gatineau might be right, though - aside from these few occasions, I
> never use 4WD since I left snow country. I'll try to run a controlled
> experiment in the next few days here, if I can find a slippery spot.
>
> Bill Jeffrey
> ================================

I predict you won't notice it at all in 4X4 H. Not the bang anyway. I
bought my 2003 used, when I first started using 4H and 4L I got some
growling and whining that worked itself out. As pristine as this car was
I doubt it had rarely had 4WD used.
>
> Janet wrote:
>
> > In article >,
> > "Teleplus Gatineau" > wrote:
> >
> >
> >>It is because you guys are not using your 4x4 enough. Use it even if you
> >>don't need it. Go off-road, or hell if your in the same boat as me and
> >>live
> >>in Canada, Dive in the winter after a snowfall on 4x4 high, not 4x4 Auto.
> >>If you don't use it enough it seizes up and gets grime and dirt in the
> >>mechanism, I had that noise too but after I started using it more often, I
> >>noticed that noise went away.
> >>
> >>-OttawaGuy23
> >>99 XLT
> >>"mnt" > wrote in message
> >>news:%OcBd.261442$5K2.202404@attbi_s03...
> >>
> >>>When my '02 EB encounters a slippage and needs to engage 4WD, there's a
> >>>loud banging noise as the front wheels become engaged. I never had this
> >>>before on other 4WDs. The dealer says it's normal. True or not? Are
> >>>there any TSBs for this?
> >>>
> >>>Thanks.
> >>>
> >
> >
> > Are you talking about 4X4 auto or 4X4 H? When my rear wheels slip in 4X4
> > auto I can hear and feel it shift the power to the front. I've also
> > wondered if this is normal. It feels rather violent rather than a smooth
> > transition. I end up using 4X4 H more than I normally would, places my
> > 91 would go without 4X4 because I find it annoying. I spend a lot of
> > time off pavement so not using 4WD enough isn't an issue in my case.
> >
> > Janet