Why does my dash say Service 4 Wheel Drive?

770

Asked by Blackrobert Dec 01, 2014 at 02:14 PM about the 2008 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE2 Crew Cab 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Service 4 wheel drive in dash indicator comes on and lights go out on the transfer case switch nob.  If I turn off the engine and wait for 10 min. then start truck everything is ok. and I can turn nob to whatever location I want and it will shift. But I can drive for 3 miles or hundreds of miles and the indicator will eventually come on again no matter what position the transfer case is in.

16 Answers

770

For anyone that might be interested it turned out to be the actuator. Sometimes it works and sometimes it did not.

77 people found this helpful.
570

blackrobert I have a 2015 Sierra Denali. An indash warning came on this morning telling me to "service 4WD". I thought i had my knob set to "auto". After looking I noticed that it was still in 2W. I tried to change it to auto and the indicator light would not come on. after turning off truck, then back on i noticed that everything had returned to normal. could this be the same issue as yours back in 2014? What actuator was found to be faulty. thank you in advance. Roger

57 people found this helpful.
510

I'm having the same problem in the 2008 Sierra 1500 Z71 package. If traction control is turned off the 4x4 seems to work even tho the Service 4WD message is showing. For such a common problem there should be specific answers, or this is just a piece of crap engineering.

51 people found this helpful.
400

I'm having the same issue but it will not come out of 4x4

40 people found this helpful.
410

Im having the same issue, but my 4x4 shifts in and out of s 2 wheel and 4 wheel, so im confused on what it could be

41 people found this helpful.
210

Mine turned out to be the 4WD selector switch. For whatever reason, when the switch heated up from heater, the switch would malfunction

21 people found this helpful.
650

I’m haveing the same trouble with my servicing the four-wheel-drive indicator coming on and it locks me in my truck and will not unlock my door and all of my indicators fuel Gauge my battery gauge oil pressure gauge all of it goes to zero even the cd player cuts off the power to it. It don’t do this all the time but when it does it scares the crap out of you. It’s a 2005 gmc z71 crewcab truck with 186000 miles on it so idk what it can be.

18 people found this helpful.
650

Hey I found the problem it’s the ground on the side of my truck under the driver door it has a few grounds hooked to the Frame that goes to the four-wheel-drive and they’re rusted I guess but they not holding a good ground

47 people found this helpful.
190

Replaced engine compartment ATC 20 fuse and SERVICE 4WD light went away My 4wd selector lights would not stay on,vehicle drove fine in 2wd to make it home from work. 02 GMC Sierra 2500

19 people found this helpful.
240

Having similar issues as above, had to drive the truck in 4wd high for a short period of time without the rear drive shaft, heard a clunk and the service 4wd message came on, the front drive shaft quit which left me stranded. Got a tow and replaced the rear drive shaft hoping I could just drive it in 2wd till I got the 4wd issue taken care of. But.... now whenever I start the truck it will shift I to 4wd high or 4wd low, I do hear a bit of a screech coming from the 4wd actuator so I replaced with new. Still having the same problem. Now no e of the indicator lights come on the dial to switch in and out of 4wd. Any suggestions out there?

24 people found this helpful.
50

My 2011 RAM 1500 says the same, but goes into 4wd just fine. Why is that?,

5 people found this helpful.
30

Billy's problem is with the ignition switch thats in the steering column. 100 percent sure. I had same thing on same truck and did some research ordered part amd haven't had it happen since. It would leave me stranded someti.es until I watched video on how to use a jumper from fuse block in engine compartment and jump it to positive on battery. I forgot what number fuse or relay I jumped. But it worked every time until replaced switch. Switch 20 -40 bucks

3 people found this helpful.
30

My vehicle (2007 GMC Sierra SLE 4X4 2 Door Reg Cab) will sometimes (not all the time) go into a twitching mode and it flashes “Service 4WD” and all of the gauges will just twitch, the radio won’t work, and my AC will then blow Hot Air, instead of Cold Air. It also won’t start up unless I turn the light nob on really fast and turn the key at the same time (guessing it’s a glitch to get it to start up) or I have to pull the fuse out and put it back in. I’m guessing it’s a faulty fuse in the fuse box, so I guess I can put a new fuse in there and see what happens? Just don’t wanna shell out hundreds of dollars to get it reprogrammed. Any answers on what I should do are appreciated!

3 people found this helpful.

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