Ford F150 - New wrinkle in T-case shift motor saga

Hey everybody...I have gotten great information from this site and thought it was time I started contributing to the message board. I previously "rebuild" my t-case shift motor per instructions from several threads (the stop was totally disentegrated). But now my Expy won't shift into 4x4. The interesting thing is when I remove the shift motor (leaving it connected) and turn the selector switch to 4x4 it moves! And the light on the dash saying 4x4 comes on. I put the selector back in 2wd (the motor moved again) but when I attach the motor back onto the t-case and put the switch in 4x4...nothing.

Any ideas?

Thanks...sites like this help amature mechanics like me survive.

What year is your Expedition?

Thanks for the reply.

It is a 1997 with the 5.4 engine.

With the motor off but connected, can you stop its output by hand? Can you rotate the t-case input by hand?

Taking a break from working on it now...yes I can move the transfer case selctor by hand. But just now I could not get the shift motor to move by moving the switch...I have removed the motor to try to apply 12v to the yellow/orange wires to see if it moves that way. Thanks for the input so far...

I confirmed that the shift motor moves when I put voltage directly to the wires...interstingly the switch in the dash "seems" to work as I can hear relays clicking and the A4wd light comes on. I'm heading out to re-install the motor and play with slight adjustment on the cover to see if that does any good.

Well I am amazed. It looks as if the problem is related to the adjustment on the plastic cap on the shift motor. I moved it to one extreme and reinstalled the motor and things changed. I CAN shift it to 4x4 High, but not to 4x4Low (yes I put it in neutral first). But to shift from 4x4 back to 2wd I have to turn the car off, move the selector to 2wd and crank it back up. Moving to the selector to 2wd while it is running does not shift it back. I verified it is shifting because when the 4x4 light is on the front wheel I had off the ground Locks up...It releases once I crank it back up in 2wd.

Sounds like a grounding issue with the shift controller.

Well, I am totally frustrated. I took it off jack stands today and the "engagement" of 4wd I was seeing was just the front wheels locking. It is back to my original problem I had before rebuilding the shift motor...stuck in Low range with or without the front wheels engaged. I guess it's time to buy another shift motor unless I want to manually set it in 2wd and leave it there forever. If anyone has any advise, I'll listen.

Thanks everyone.

If the motor is turning and the tcase is moving free, I would check the shift control module before paying $300+ for another shift motor.

Go over to FSB & do some searching. There have been several long threads about how to test the shift module, and some recent ones about problems inside the t-case.

Thanks, I'll do that...Where is the shift control module located? I was really frustrated last night, but I'm not giving up yet...

I'm not that familiar with Expys. Maybe someone else can tell you.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their help....I have decided to wire up a toggle switch to move the shift motor manually from position to position...if that doesn't work well, I will try some of the manual movement solutions around the web. I'll post how it works after I get time to wire it up.

Take before, during, & after pics whether it works or not.