Transfer Motor Replacement. (Stepper Motor)

[seafeye]

This is a DIY replacement of the transfer case motor or stepper motor.

On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 hardest) this would be a 2. Very easy.

First things first. The stepper motor is located on the right side of the SUV. You just have to jack up the right front and don't forget to put a jack stand under the truck. The motor is about under the passenger door.

You will need very little in the way of tools. Just a 8mm socket or wrench and a 10mm socket and a small flat headed screwdriver.

Remove the two 8mm bolts and the two electrical connectors. To undo the connectors, (Large one first). Slide a small screwdriver under the retaining clip and the unit should slide apart. A little fidgeting and you will see. Same for the small connector. The wiring harness is held in place by a plastic piece. Just wedge this out of the hole so it isn't connected to the motor any longer.

There are 3 main bolts holding on the motor. All 10mm. Just remove these three. There is one that is a bit hidden and can be a pain to get at but will some creative extensions it will come out.

Now the motor will just slide out of its home. You can see where the gears fit together.

Now assembly is the same as removal. Just push the motor up agains the transfer case, and put back the bolts. Plug in the connectors and lower the vehicle.

This should only take 15-30 min at the most. Pictures should tell the rest of the story.

[seafeye]

Some interesting notes:

My motor (Not sure it was original) was made in the USA. It had very very little grease on the gears. But i think the issue was with the plastic sensor on the front end of the motor. When i removed it, it didn't turn too freely and had a spot where it had a lot of friction. I bet everyone replacing these motors are doing so only because of this part. The new used part i replaced it with came from a 2008 Cayenne S. It only had VW markings on the motor. Google the part number and all the toureg web sites come up.

Here is a link for the motor company in the USA….

http://www.globe-motors.com/transfercaseactuators.pdf

Just incase your wondering here are the picture of the insides. I can't hold back on figuring out what makes things tick.

Edited November 2, 2013 by seafeye

[royxaxa]

interesting. what is the reason to change that apart from the locking feeling of 4X4, any error code shows up?

[seafeye]

No codes, not for me anyway. But when I turn hard left or right from a stop. Like I'm getting out of a parking spot the car pulses. For the longest time I thought I had a bad CV joint. At low speeds I had a clicking noise. Reading the TSB it said that 75% of all transfer case replacements were not necessary. It was just this motor.

[royxaxa]

I notice that symptom sometimes on my car as well. only very recently and happens maybe once a month.

thanks for sharing seafeye!

[Helipilot]

I appreciate the step by step instructions accompanied with photos. On attempted re-installation, I can't get the splines to line up. The male shaft from the Transfer Case rotates but is spring loaded and returns to a position that doesn't allow alignment with the Stepper Motor side.  The mounting flange of the Stepper Motor doesn't allow for enough twist to align the splines. Aside from taking the stepper motor apart to try to rotate the gear (and running the risk of messing something up), I've exhausted my options and am raising the "white flag".  Does anyone have suggestions or shall I disassemble the Stepper Motor? (2004 Cayenne)

 

Follow up: After searching my toolbox, i located some narrow vice grips and was able to (carefully) clamp them on the Transfer Case shaft, turn the shaft against the spring-load and align the splines to put the Stepper Motor back on. Once the motor was partially on the shaft, I released the vice grips and continued pressing the motor the rest of the way.  (I had to exercise great care not to damage the splines). 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Helipilot
Resolved my issue.

[DrumJoel]

Thank you for posting this, I was able to use this information to swap out my stepper motor in my '04 CTT. I updated my car to late '05+ stepper motor (0AD.341.601.C, 1.61.111.101.01) and did the corresponding  "C" (0AD341601C) module. The error is gone, my 4 wheel drive selector switch works again and as others have noted the lurchiness at low speeds appears to be gone as well. Thank you again!

[kcattorney]

On 4/25/2017 at 4:45 PM, Helipilot said:

I appreciate the step by step instructions accompanied with photos. On attempted re-installation, I can't get the splines to line up. The male shaft from the Transfer Case rotates but is spring loaded and returns to a position that doesn't allow alignment with the Stepper Motor side.  The mounting flange of the Stepper Motor doesn't allow for enough twist to align the splines. Aside from taking the stepper motor apart to try to rotate the gear (and running the risk of messing something up), I've exhausted my options and am raising the "white flag".  Does anyone have suggestions or shall I disassemble the Stepper Motor? (2004 Cayenne)

 

Follow up: After searching my toolbox, i located some narrow vice grips and was able to (carefully) clamp them on the Transfer Case shaft, turn the shaft against the spring-load and align the splines to put the Stepper Motor back on. Once the motor was partially on the shaft, I released the vice grips and continued pressing the motor the rest of the way.  (I had to exercise great care not to damage the splines). 

I just used a very large flathead screwdriver to rotate the stepper motor (female slot) with the gear on the transfer case.

[kcattorney]

My biggest pain was releasing the small electrical connection.  The big one was pretty easy - just squeeze the tab on the connector and pull.

But, the small one is a royal PITA.  You must pull out on the tab at the end of the connection, and then pull off the connection.  It's tight up there, so I used a tiny flathead screwdriver to pull out on the tab while I used a bigger screwdriver to put between the end of the connector and the motor casing to pry the connector out.

Here's a pic of the small connector:

 

 

 

Edited January 19, 2019 by kcattorney

[Chrcampb04]

I have an 04 CTT, had it get stuck in low range so replaced the control module and stepper motor with new, still throwing a 2039 code, think it’s a bad from stock stepper or could it be something else?

[Juan Leonel Asturias]

Well in my case the new Steeper Motor came with a plastic cap that had an insert with splines.   So, I mark the old Steeper motor and I aligned the new one to match exactly the same position where the old one was.  I utilized the plastic cap and rotated until it look identical to the mark of the old one.

I apply some grease and it went in like butter.

 

I change the Steeper Motor and the module to the new serial number mention above.  And of course I change my 5 year old battery (even thought voltage was ok.)

 

Finally, my 4 wheel warning light is gone on my Porsche Cayenne 2005.

 

  

[Famika Louise]

Hi.  I have the 4wd faulty warning on my 04 Cayenne S.  Can you please provide me with the part numbers you used for the stepper and control module?  Appreciate it.  Thx.

[Loren]

6 hours ago, Famika Louise said:

Hi.  I have the 4wd faulty warning on my 04 Cayenne S.  Can you please provide me with the part numbers you used for the stepper and control module?  Appreciate it.  Thx.

 

Unless your fault code is exactly the same as the original poster you are likely just guessing. Best to get a Porsche fault code reader and see what your fault code(s) are.

[Famika Louise]

Thx.  

[datkins23]

When I replaced my stepper motor, there was not a heat shield (as referred to in my alldatadiy.com manual) present. The pictures in a previous post don't show one either. However, all the plastic protection around the wiring was brittle and disennegrated during installation. So I would think there should be one due to relatively close exhaust pipe. The following parts down shows the

Porsche transfer box ready for installation

WWW.PORSCHEATLANTAPERIMETERPARTS.COM

---

Diagram of OEM transfer box ready for installation. Contains Heat Shield for transfer box ready for installation. Fits Porsche.

heat shield but its not obvious all the parts that maybe needed to attach it. Can anyone provide any guidance?

 

Also or anyone have trouble inserting the motor, alldatadiy.com manual has placing the vehicle in 4 low before removing the original..

 

Thank you.

[datkins23]

I guess I should learn to read the parts diagram better - I think that heat shield in the link is on the top. Nonetheless I think there is another covering the wiring.

Thanks.

Edited September 28, 2021 by datkins23