Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hi all

I've got a 94 80 Series with genuine front and rear electric diff locks.

The same thing happened to me yesterday that's happened to me before.

Driving through an overgrown track with undergrowth in the middle of the track scraping under my car, I ripped off the plug for the front diff lock motor.

This is only a few minutes from my house.

I got it back to my shed and went to stick it back in.

There were two slots and pins side by side and they would fit together either way, 180 degress or 180 degrees.

I stuck it in and got the diff locks working in my gravel driveway.

I then couldn't get it to disengage.

The rear one would disengage and when I stuck in in high range and no centre diff lock, the front one wouldn't disengage. Normally with the centre diff lock off, the front and rear diff locks turn off automatically.

I stuck the plug the other way around and it wouldn't disengage again.

I think I may have stuck it the wrong way around and blown a fuse or something.

a) Firstly, where's the fuse for Sahara genuine front diff locks and the one for the rear?

b) Secondly, any suggestions on what may be happening and what I need to do?

PS don't worry everyone I'm not even going to think about driving the 80 anywhere with the front diff lock stuck in, I could stuff a million things like my CV's and maybe even have an accident.

Fuse should be in the kick panel dash box. There was a blank for it there on my GXL

Yep I checked that one and it was fine.

On mine, it says 'diff lock' not 'diff locks', so possssssibility it means the centre diff lock, not the front and rears, but I could be wrong.

One link for us, if one fuse does both the front and rear or does all the front and rear and centre, than it wouldn't be a fuse because the rear's still working a treat and the centre diff lock's beautiful to.

one fuse does the entire diff lock control system.

which plug have you reversed 180degrees? there is a two pin plug and a five pin plug. the two pin plug is just for the indicator light

jack the front wheels off the ground, have someone cycle the switch from locked to un-locked while you listen for the sound of the servo motor. rotate one front wheel to see if it will disengage with no load on the driveline.

80's_delirious wrote:one fuse does the entire diff lock control system.

which plug have you reversed 180degrees? there is a two pin plug and a five pin plug. the two pin plug is just for the indicator light

jack the front wheels off the ground, have someone cycle the switch from locked to un-locked while you listen for the sound of the servo motor. rotate one front wheel to see if it will disengage with no load on the driveline.

Yep righteo, I'll see if I can find someone.

It was the two pin plug, so for the indicator light, all the other ones looked ok.

The screw for the earth looked a little loose, so I tightened it, but this didn't fix it.

Seen as the plug had been loose when going through puddles, I got into and around it with the air hose and a bit of mud came out. I whacked a little CRC on it all to.

I just found someone and got them to give me a hand.

I engaged the centre diff lock because the front and rears won't engage without the centre turned on.

I climbed underneath on the creeper.

I got them to turn the diff locks on and off and I could hear the rear working a dream, but nothing coming from the front and my head was right underneath it.

I jacked up the front end like you told me to and tried rotating the wheels to disengage it and I could hear some sort of clicking sound like a solenoid or something from the front of the car. I'm not positive that this was the diff lock.

It happened about ever quatre of a turn of the tyres.

But that diff lock wouldn't disengage.

The light on the dash is on bright all the time. When I was playing with the plug, sometimes it was dull.

When this plug is out, the diff lock light doesn't turn on.

It doesn't matter which way I put the plug in, the light works, so I was wrong about blowing a fuse or something, and like you said, it was just the light.

The earth was a little grubby, so I cleaned it just in case, but that didn't work.

sounds like you have a problem with the electric servo motor. They can get water in them and can seize up. sounds like the fuse etc is OK.

If the cable has been pulled out in the wet, it probably got water in through the little breather tube in the wiring harness.

Try and get yourself a Toyota repair manual for it and pull it out and strip it down and clean it up before putting it back in. you can also disengage it manually with a bit of work.

they are fairly simple to take out and put back in.