Won't shift back into 4 wheel drive without backing up

[dakrtgrl]

Hello,
I have a 06 Pathfinder SE with 61K miles on it. I just bought it in April. The first time I used it in 4WD it wouldnt go back into 2WD. The light would just blink like it was trying to switch to 2WD. Luckily my dad makes these transfer cases for a living and now I find out to get it out of 4WD I have to drive backwards for about 5 seconds and it will pop back into 2WD. Has anyone else had this issue? To me this defeats the purpose of the on the fly 4WD. Oh and my Nissan dealer I bought it from is absolutely useless. I have had like 5 problems with this vehicle and all they keep asking me is if I bought the extended warranty. There is clunking noise or anything going into or out of 4WD. All my tires are the same size as well. Any suggestions?

[NVSteve]

You don't have to back up to get it out of 4wd. If you are driving on a straight road, for example, then disengage the 4wd, it will simply flash forever & still be engaged. All it takes for me is a sharp turn to the left or right & it will disengage (city driving, not highway).

As to a clunking noise, mine does make a noise when turning the knob to 4 HI, more so when turning it to 4 LO. What other problems have you had with the Pathfinder?

[skinny2]

Mine doesn't like to come out either and as mentioned above it seems to be when driving in a straight line. I turned mine off on after merging on the highway the other day and it stayed on for 80 miles until I hit an exit and slowed down. Oh well...could be worse things. I've found slower speeds, turning, and getting on/off gas helps. Never had to back up...but that was common on some older 4x4 systems.

[CRXguy]

I had the same problem about 3 weeks ago when we got our first winter storm this year. Used 4WD a handful of times, and half the time it wouldn't fully disengage. When it wouldn't, I would just drive around the block and put it in neutral and back into drive and the light would stop flashing.

[dakrtgrl]

You don't have to back up to get it out of 4wd. If you are driving on a straight road, for example, then disengage the 4wd, it will simply flash forever & still be engaged. All it takes for me is a sharp turn to the left or right & it will disengage (city driving, not highway).

As to a clunking noise, mine does make a noise when turning the knob to 4 HI, more so when turning it to 4 LO. What other problems have you had with the Pathfinder?

Thanks for the suggestion about the turns. I will try that. I mentioned the clunking noise beacsue my dad said sometimes they come from the factory with a mis-matched axle ratio and that can cause the clunking.

As far as the other problems, lets see, 1) the tire pressure light is constantly on and blinking and according to the manual that means there is something wrong with it. 2) I brought it in for them to fix my seatbelt right after I bought it and they said there was a recall for my gas gauge lever. So they fixed it then,or so they thought, well twice it left me stranded with no gas cause the gauge wasnt working. Finally after the 5th time into the shop they replaced my gas tank cause I guess some tanks were made differently. 3) Right after they switched the gas tank my check engine light kept coming on and off. I told them about it and they refused to even check the code without charging me because they didnt think it was anything they did. Well I had a friend of mine who is a mechanic check it and I need a new fuel valve assembly and a new can filter. So now every time I get to a half a tank practically my check engine light comes on.

I really love the truck as far as the room, styling, ride, etc but I just seem to be having all these problems.