A few days ago my wife bumped the 4wd button with her knee and it activated the 4wd, or at least I belive it did, the four green tire shaped lights and the orange round light in the center of them started blinking. We didnt know what it was and the car doesnt have a manual so when we referred to my brothers manual we realized what had happened and she had already driven a good 40+ miles on the highway with it engaged. Now no matter what we do we cant get the light to stop flashing, press/depress the button in high/neutral/low or any of the gears. We tried driving it awhile to get it to go off but no luck. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

Make sure your center diff lock is off, it's the second button from the left, in the set of four buttons to the left of the steering wheel. After checking that try backing up a pretty good distance.

Gerone

 

Ok, I am gonna try that, just to be clear, that is the button with the wheels, back straight, front turned, with the X in the middle? I pressed it a few days ago and it didnt feel like it was doing anything but I'll go check again.

 

So again I tried to press the button but it doesnt seem to do anything, it doesnt stick in, no lights come on, nothing. I have included a pic pointing to the button I am pressing to ensure that it is the right one. I also tried driving backwards down my street but it is only a few hundred feet or so, possibly not enough.

 

Try putting it in neutral and shifting it out of 4wd. My partners Tacoma keeps blinking unless it's in neutral before shifting out of 4wd. If it's blinking the
4wd should not be engaged. Other than that you might check the fuses and see if any of the ECU fuses are burnt. If that doesn't work you may have to get a tech to look at it.

 

The same thing happened in my 01 4Runnner last year and I got it to disengage by pulling the 4WD fuse. It's in the panel under the dash on mine so have a look there.

I also vaguely remember a post on here with a similar problem and I think he fixed it by jacking up all 4 wheels, starting the car and putting it in gear.

 

Ok, so here it what I did, I removed the 4WD and both ECU fuses for about 2 or 3 minutes and then put them back in. Was this all I was supposed to do? I didnt know if I should try to crank the car or anything like that. Anyhow, no change just removing them. I also tried putting it in neutral and then taking it out of 4WD but I am not sure exactly how to do this, it is sitting with the 4WD button not pressed in and in H, so I cranked it, put it in neutral, and pressed and unpressed the button and shifted it to N and L, which it did not like and made a grinding sound! As far as jacking it up off the ground there is no way that I can do that but I am not ready to give up yet! Have I managed to do any of this properly? Also, would disconnecting the battery for a bit help to reset it?

 

On mine I just pulled the fuse for a few minutes and put it back. You can try disconnecting the battery, all you'll lose is the radio presets.

 

I might give that a try, I dont know what else to do, I am tempted to take it to the dealership tommorrow in hopes of a quick fix. Am I doing damage to the car by driving it in this state? It seems to drive just fine thus far.

 

I think most of the answers so far have been based off of you saying that it is an 03 4Runner. However, looking at the picture you posted with the arrow, it is an 02 at the newest, and therefore an entirely different vehicle.

If you have a button like the one you took the picture of, it means that 4wd does not disengage, it is a full time system. Technically, that button makes it go from "all wheel drive" to "4 wheel drive" by locking the center differential.

I'd take it to a dealer

 

He did, he posted it on t4r.org, and they're quoting him anywhere between $2,400 - $3,500 IIRC.

Thats ridiculous.

I'll brb, lol.

 

That is my thinking...

Have you verified the position of the "J" shifter?

 

It won't get out of 4WD Low, and the dealer says its the actuator itself.

(Don't mean to invade OP)

 

Wait, I didnt take it to the dealer, in fact it just stopped flashing all on its own. Thanks for the info about the 02, I really just assumed it was an 03 because that was what my wife thought it was. Is there any way to identify for sure?

 

my bad someone else had the same problem.

 

Its an 02.. 03 is the new body style..

3.4 V6 = 96-02, 4.0 V6 or 4.7 V8 = 03+