ABS and 4x4

[jfiascone]

Just wanted to know if anyone can help me out with a question. Just rolled an 05 Pathfinder SE off the lot on Monday last week. The next day the ABS light, Slip light are on and stay on. Dealership says the ABS relay is bad and they order a new one (waiting on it to arrive). Went to put it into 4x4 HI the the other day and it will not engage. Dealership says this is normal and until the ABS relay is fixed the car will not go into 4x4 mode. Has anyone else experienced this with any Pathfinder? I assume they could be related but I used to have a pathfinder without ABS and no problem putting it into 4x4 but that was back in 94/95.

Thanks in advance for any help.!

[FastNBody2002]

Heh, interesting problem. I work at a Ford dealership in the Buffalo area. We have intermittant problems with the ABS sensor in the rear differential of the F-Series, Expeditions, and Explorers. I've never heard of 4-wheel drive not wanting to engage becuase the ABS sensor is bad. If what the dealership says is true, I'm not so sure why an ABS issue would cancel out 4-wheel drive. I know this isn't an answer to your question, but I thought I'd share a little of my experience.

[infinman]

The Pathfinder transfercase unit is of the multiple friction disc type.This needs a control unit {computer} to operate.It relies heavily on wheel speed sensor readings to determine torque split{front to rear}.It gets wheel speed sensor input from The ABS control unit through a "can" line.If it doesn't see wheel speed signals, transfercase goes to "failsafe" mode.

[Sockhatguy]

Hi, I have a 95 Nissan Pathfinder SE V6, 4wd Automatic. I have a problem with the ABS light coming on when I make a hard right turn and really get on the throttle in 2wd, but when I turn left it turns back off...searching for the fix, I'm pretty sure that it's just a fluke/a sensor is going bad.

In my 95 Pathy SE V6, I have a manual-shifting transfer case, on the end of an automatic transmission with Overdrive. I also have ABS. with the ABS light on or off, I can still use 4wdH and 4wdL. my idiot light for 4wd blinked out a couple oil changes ago...another thing on my list.

so, a couple things that might be needed to know:
1: Do you have a manual-shifting transfer case, or a push-button (which shouldn't be in a Nissan.)?
2: are you sure that its not shifing into 4H? or is it just that the idiot light is not turning on? How about 4L? (A great way to test this is to find a flat area of loose sand (bring a buddy with a tow chain) park the truck, dig out about 6 inches deep behind the tires, back the truck in, shift to 4wd...and purposely get stuck...but not too stuck! that way you can see what tires are pulling and whatnot. it's safer than doing a 4wd test on pavement or mud, because pavement will rip everything out if you turn, and mud just covers everything up and can get you in a fix pretty fast.)
3: have you checked the computer codes for the abs? have you used a computer tuner?

hope this helps

-owner of The Dragonfly (95 Nissan Pathfinder SE V6 4WD)