04 Cayenne stuck in 4wd PLEASE HELP!

[jplumlee]

hey guys,

I have an 04 cayenne that has been running fine. Well we got some a load of ice here in Texas and I had to get out in it. I put the car in the the low 4wd mode witch it seemed to do without issue but I thought better of it and tried to put it back in "regular" drive mode. However it's stuck in low. when I turn the car off and then back on, i try to turn off 4wd it does nothing for a few seconds and then a "4wd system faulty" comes up on the screen. I've tried everything I know to get it back in normal mode but I'm out of ideas. So a couple of q's... Is there a way to manually take it out of 4wd? are there any fuses/switches or whatnot that could be the culprit? Could the unusally cold weather have anything to do with it not disengaging from 4wd? and finally what are the chances of it operating normally once the temp goes back up around here? I sure hope someone has some ideas

Im a pretty good ways from any dealer and obviously naked.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

John

[working4it]

I have never experienced this before but all Cayennes are AWD vehicles. The first thing I would do is disconnect the negative cable for a few minutes. The black cable runs from the battery under the drivers seat to a ground bolt on the floor. Lift of the carpet just in front of the front seat and you can see the bolt and black cable.

[seafeye]

Do you have the owners manual? You do have to do a certain procedure to get the car out of low gear. If not, i have attached the reverent pages.

[clarksongli]

nothing special needs to be done to select high. but cayennes are full time awd....

if the switch won't switch it back then most likely your transfer case selector motor is stuck/failed.....crawl under there and check

[jplumlee]

is there anything to check for specifically?I mean how do i know if it's failed? i could give it a few "technical taps" and see if it comes to life. Should I hear it making noise if someone tries to switch it with me listening?

[clarksongli]

yeah have someone actuate it while your under there....it should run for a few seconds....listen to see if it doesnt, or if you can hear it not making the full engagement.

There is a position sensor and motor in the same assembly, so it could be one or the other.

[mazingerv1]

My experience was that when the battery is low (less than 11.5V), the "4wd system faulty" will appear momentarily when you start the car

Do check the battery voltage, if the voltage is higher than 12V, I believe the message would not appear.