Centre diff lock light flashing.

[Lee O'Sullivan]

Hi Everyone,
New female member and need some help . I have centre diff light flashing on my NM Pajero and have taken it to Mitsubishi. They charge me $$$ and said they replaced an acutator and it was fixed. I took it for a drive on Sunday and at exactly 24km's down the freeway 2wd lights go out and centre diiff lock light starts flashing again. Rang mitsubishi and they said oh well, must be something else .I don't want to take it back in, more $$$ and still not fixed. Does anyone know a mechanic or 4wd enthusiast in the south eastern, melb suburbs that could help me? Have read all the posts about this problem but I don't know anything about what is under the hood and am at a loss as to what to do. If there is someone who could help me it would be so appeciated!
Thanks Lee

[Lambie]

Hi Lee

Sorry to hear of your grief - If they charged you $$ to fix a problem and it hasnt then perhaps they should reverse what they did and give you your money back - and then the pigs fly by.......

I think we have all been there at some point in time where the mech fixes your problem by guessing the solution one at a time (at great expense) until they finally find out what they should have fixed in the first place - drives us completely mad!! soo frustrating!!

Whats the solution?? Second opinion before doing anything more? and then perhaps going back to the original with a suggestion as to what they should do - at their expense (is that a pig again??) Hopefully someone else will have a more constructive and useful respone - good luck!!

Cheers, Lambie

[psproule]

It would likely either be a vacuum line to the front diff actuator, the switches for the vacuum to the front diff, or one of the sensors on the top of the transfer case. These potential problems should be well known to a dealer with a bit of experience.

And when you get it fixed, regularly exercise the transfer case by popping it into 4H every so often. You can do this while moving at anything up to 100kph. Stops the shift rail from binding up.

[peter92]

hi , maybe get intouch with one of the club members in your area and see if some one can help you out. i had trouble with mine and with talking to some one it can be fixed without costing a lot of $$
regards peter
ps there is a lot of info here if you are not in a hurry to get it fixed, just keep asking questions and im sure some one will always help out

[sprintman]

I have same with 2000 NM and a week in the trans shop with no solution. Anybody the ACT/Queanbeyan area or further that has a handle on these faults?

[dolphin]

Lee. i had this same problem with the orange light flash and supprisingly enough i had the vehicle in for a breakdown fix which was nothing to deo with the flashing lights and when i picked the vehicle up after repairs , there were no more flashing lights.
all i can put it down to was when they were working under the vehicle the mechanic must have cleaned the wiring plugs that lead to those 5 x transfere case switches. so what i would say to you and others with this problem is to firstly unplug one by one every wire that has a plug end and spray the conections with something like wd-40 / inox / contact cleaner etc etc before going any futher with the replacement of parts like certain mechanics seem to do as you found out. if you still have the same problem after cleaning all connections the next step would be to clean each of the 5 x transfere case switches making sure there not seized .

[aldavnic]

Can also be caused by a simple vacum leak like a loose hose off the intake manifold or a small hole. Mine did from the hose clamp being loose on the intake boot coming from air cleaner to throttle body

[ChrispyNQ]

Hi Lee,
While I'm not from your area so I cant help with a mechanic, but I can sympathise. I'm having similar issues with my NP. I just keep taking it back and annoying the hell outa them until they get it right.
Chris

[steveandviv]

Can also be caused by a simple vacum leak like a loose hose off the intake manifold or a small hole. Mine did from the hose clamp being loose on the intake boot coming from air cleaner to throttle body

Really.. Never heard that one.. What does the engine vacuum have to do with the 4Wd ECU?

I would go for a slow leak on the vacuum solenoid as psproule says..

So.. check all the hoses from the 4WD system. Spray the transfer case switched and spray the vacuum solenoids as well.. Then exercise the &^%$ out of it as noted. Sit there with a beer and go back and forwards through 4WD. 4WD cd and out again..

[sprintman]

Fixed! Faulty vacuum solenoid (no click when power applied). Owner pointed out how poorly designed the system is really with rubber hoses adjacent to the exhaust manifold etc and certainly not designed for Australian conditions.

[shoshoniappys]

Hi All,
I know this is an old thread but I have the same problem. I haven't taken it in yet as every time I restart the car as per the manual it stops. then it may not do it for anything up to 12 months. in the last few days while I was 600kms from home. it has started again. when I restarted the car it stopped flashing for anything from 10kms to 200kms then I repeated and we did this all the way home. I am going to book it in with my Mitsubishi repairer but I am seriously worried they are going to charge me earth and not fix it anyway.
can anyone suggest what we should look for first? my hubby is pretty handy so hoping he can take any advise of what to look for and get a better idea of what the problem is.

we had a cold start drama a while back which we fixed with an inline fuel pump. if anyone is familiar with the cold start issue they will know why I don't want to go the same way with the centre diff lock light. these pajeros problems seem to have multiple solutions for the same problem and I really don't want to spend a fortune searching....again.
any advice appreciated.
thanks in advance!

[Ravi]

Diff light flashing after about 30km or so

Folks,

Old thread but would really appreciate some help. Same issue as mentioned earlier by others. After driving around 30km or so, the 2WD lights go off and the diff light starts flashing. If i turn off the ignition and switch on again, then all is well... at least until the next 25-30 kms. Would really appreciate any inputs on how to resolve this. The local Mitsubishi dealership says now that the 4x4 ECU will need replacement and that is going to cost more than the equivalent of 1700 AUD.

I managed to jack up my front and rear wheel on one side while the light was flashing. Putting it into 4WD has no effect. It does not engage; only the rear wheel keeps spinning. Turning off the ignition and switching on away restores the 4WD; the diff light blinking of course stops.

Ravi

[Easykill1978]

Folks,

Old thread but would really appreciate some help. Same issue as mentioned earlier by others. After driving around 30km or so, the 2WD lights go off and the diff light starts flashing. If i turn off the ignition and switch on again, then all is well... at least until the next 25-30 kms. Would really appreciate any inputs on how to resolve this. The local Mitsubishi dealership says now that the 4x4 ECU will need replacement and that is going to cost more than the equivalent of 1700 AUD.

I managed to jack up my front and rear wheel on one side while the light was flashing. Putting it into 4WD has no effect. It does not engage; only the rear wheel keeps spinning. Turning off the ignition and switching on away restores the 4WD; the diff light blinking of course stops.

Ravi

i do beleive that the car has to be moving so it engages the front wheels...so why not put it in 4h drive for a bit and then check when the lights flash.

do the small things first.

replace all the vacuum hoses
replace the solenoids
then the switches.

[Croc]

Most common problem is the failure of one or both solenoids, followed by loss of vacuum. the two solenoids are under the air filter box. The hose with the small white valve from the solenoids should have vacuum when engine running. If not look for leaks. Vacuum starts from the intake manifold, check that the hose has not come off, then to a small tank near the diff, ensure no leaks, and the the diff actuator, then to the solenoids. The solenoids can be tested by removing the connectors an putting 12v power on the terminals, if they click with the application of power they should be working.If no click then most likely kaput.

[98NL GL]

The lights in my 98nl have flashed from when I got it. I also know that the 4wd engaged when I do select it cause I can hear it as well as feel the car working in 4wd mode so I dont bother trying to fix the flashing lights.

cheers,