Central Diff Lock not working

[ajvanwyk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ajvanwyk]

Hey guys,

I've recently picked up an issue where when pressing the central diff lock button to enguage it does absolutely nothing???? Normally the VSC OFF light would come on and it would light up the diff lock light.

I've checked all the fuses in the engine bay and also those on the driverside - they all are fine. Does anyone know of any other relays or fuses that could be located elsewhere?

I've had the transission replaced about a year ago and have only done about 15k

Any help really really appreciated
Albert

[ajvanwyk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ajvanwyk]

Re: Central Diff Lock not working

OK boys and girls,

The issue is now corrected. I'll first tell you the steps I took, which seemed quite logical at the start. Looking back at it I could have done a few things differently.

So as mentioned before, there was no response when pressing the Central diff lock switch. I first checked all the fuses both in the front and those next to the driver side with a multi meter - nothing blown. There was also no fault indicated when turning the ignition ?? I then disconnected the battery hoping that if there was any fault registered in the ECU it would be reset and should come back to life. No luck.

Then, reading Chippy's post of his diff lock issue a while back I crawled underneath the car looking for any plugs or connectors that may be dirty or have been dislodged. Disconnected all, cleaned and sealed them - still nothing.....

Ok so at this stage it was a phone call to Toyota - booking in the Prado and a call to the warranty centre notifying them of a huge bill coming their way.

Then..... eureka.... sitting on the couch with a bourbon in hand I thought... what if the switch simply stopped working ???? Ok so back into the car, disconnected the switch from the Central diff lock and replaced it with the DAC switch - guess what - it worked :? :? :? :? :? :? :?

I realized that my wife spilt a can of Coke a few weeks back which formed a nice sticky mess - cleaned it good enough but it seems that just enough went into the switch to render it useless !!!

Fortunately some boiling water and sunlight liquid sorted it all out ! I also opened the switch to understand a bit more of the workings - Pic's below:

Ok so this is where the switch is located - apologies for the quality as light was getting low


Look at this - the reason why there is a green glow when activated? I wonder if this can be changed to a different colour


The switch in its parts - I have some close-ups if anyone wanted them


And finally - all working as it should


So end result is - I've saved $350 which would have been the excess on the warranty claim - all for a $2.50 can of fizzy. To top it all off – the old “ball and chain” disagreed with the fact that the $350 should go into daddy’s play fund and now I’m no better off than what I could have been – go figure……..

Oh -Mr Mod you can move this to the electical or dumb a$$ section......

Albert

[awd2.0t Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close awd2.0t]

Hi guys, Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I've got the same issue as this. Where it seems the previous owner has split something on the Centre Diff switch.

My questions is how do I get the switch out? Model is a 2009 Grande Auto. If someone could please direct me to some instructions or a how to guide, I'd be extremely greatful!

Cheers,
Sean.

[awd2.0t Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close awd2.0t]

I managed to pop off the small triangle kick panel in the passengers foot well and squeeze my hand in there just enough to pop out the blanks and the Centre Diff switch. I stripped it down as above & put it all back together. The only tricky part was the contact near the spring & to the left of the white slide on the main part of the switch, popped out. This took a few minutes to work out where it was supposed to go & the below pic helped heaps.
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...1012010027.jpg

All back together and working again!