I have read a few of the previous posting on this. The yellow lights on the selector switch light up when i first start the truck. There is no clicking sound when i press either hi or lo. all the fuse's are fine.

 

What year is your truck?

 

1994

 

sounds like a shift motor.....take the 4 bolts out of it and have someone put it in 4wd....if the motor doesn't engage, then that is your culpret...

 

I'll give that a try, thanks

 

how did this work for you? i have a 94 ranger too i just bought and had the same problem last night, all fuses were fine.

 

my shift motor did the same thing in my 98, all i did was tap the thing with a hammer. not i have 2wd i don't have to worry

 

haha you suck man, i got all excited when i seen a reply on here. i had to drive home last night like an old lady in the snow we had

 

Haven't had a chance to try anything yet. The temp. has been hovering around zero when i get home from work & the garage is fulled with a disassembled race car. Going to try this weekend, will let you know.

On the other hand i do think it is the shift motor. It looks as if it spent all 14 years of its life in the New York winters.

 

Good test, but it doesn't mean the motor is bad. You're removing the entire assembly including the feedback encoder. The feedback is the issue more often than the motor. Lot's of people replace the motor and it doesn't work, or it works one time and quits again.

There's a good article on ExplorerForum, which I've linked many, many times -- it tells you how to proceed if your encoder is bad and what to look for. Often it's just a plastic bushing on the rotational stop that gets crushed.

On my case, I repleced it with a rubber one.

It might be worth it to check out the situation before spending $100 or so on a replacement motor.

 

i did some searching on the internet and seen a few people reference a reset button. did anyone hear of this? when i push my button in the truck there is no relay click or anything so i dont think its my motor. i had an 03 ranger 4x4 and when i had that and turned the 4x4 switch you can hear the relay click before anything.

 

I did read that post. Sorry did explain, thats was what i was going to do, take the shift motor all apart and go through it.

 

if you do try to TAP not wail on the motor it will prob work. My dads 91 blazer does that and tapping on the motor works. I don't recommend doing this every time but if the motor is just frozen or stuck a knock most of the time will loosen it up.

 

Yeah, if the tap works, try and keep your shift motor exercised once a week or so that way when ya need it hopefully you'll have it. Doing that in the past worked for me.

 

the only thing that got me thinking its electrical is that the light on the dash next to the button doesnt light up and i cant hear a relay click, but im gonnna try tapping it today

 

Well then its a possibility your truck's relay or 4X4 switch is dead.

 

you dont have any idea how to test that do you? i didnt find where the relay is because i wanted to check that.

 

yeah if you don't hear the relay it is prob eletrical

 

does anyone know where the 4x4 module and relay are located on a 1994 ranger? i have an extended cab and i see a module behind the drivers side jump seat in the back but not sure if it is it or not

 

I believe that is where the relay is located for the 4X4 is behind the driver under or behind the jumpseat

 

Oh and i don't know how to test it sorry.

 

thanks for your help, i will see if i can test it, but i had to find the thing haha. i got to order a book for it before i run across any more problems

 

I have this thing that I made to try to test electrical objects with like relays its a light attached to a 9V battery and has to alligator clips so it don't light until it has a connection so you know if a relay is dead or you have a short somewhere. But that doesn't help you right now unless you can find something similar at a store.

 

so i did the check process on the module with the blinking light and the reset button and it checks fine, what should i check next? do those switches go bad alot? i still havent found the relay

 

Since you have a 94 its possible the pushbutton switch has gone bad. If I didn't plan on getting another 91-94 explorer or ranger I'd sell ya mine. I really don't know how to test the switches though, some people/stores on ebay sell them at a reasonable price some places want close to around $100.00 for a switch.