Prado TX T Case Blown

Check out the Prado group 90scool on Yahoo - they have been collecting incidents in a database to assist users having difficulty with Toyota warranty.

Peter,
When you say that your transfer case has blown up, what do you mean ?
The reason I ask, is that about 18 months ago, after a number of days of 4wd'ing, when I went to put my Prado into high range lock, it would not go. The lever would not move. A number of "bush" mechanics had a look at and said the transfer case was jammed. Big $'s
I thought the worst. It was with trepidation that I took it to Toyota and showed them the fault. They did not seemed concerned.
Later that day, I had a phone call to say that it was fixed and that the cost was $0.
They explained that when they had taken out the gearbox to fix a leaking rear main bearing seal (about 3 months prior), that they had put a spring back incorrectly under the selecter and that it had stopped the movement of the lever.
They also suggested that this very occasionally happens when "inexperienced" drivers push the lever incorrectly.

I hope this is what has happened to you.

Rgds,
Mal58

Peter,
I am really sorry to hear that your Transfer Case problem is damaged gears. This is bad news.

I understand that there are two variants of transfer case on the Prado (excluding the just released model).

My Prado (1998 model) uses a mechanical lever to select high & low range (including lock). Locking in High or Low is dependant on the position of the lever. The dash board light, indicating "lock" is driven from a switch within the transfer case. This lights when the transfer case is locked (the gears within the transfer case have moved into the locked position), not when the lever has selected high or low range lock.

The second variant uses both a mechanical lever plus an electric solenoid (via a dashboard switch). The lever selects the high or low range gears, and the solenoid selects the lock. I am not sure how the Dashboard indicator light works in this case. One hopes that the lock light is driven from the engagement of the gears within the transfer case, not the switch on the dashboard.

If your transfer case is the second type, there is a very slim chance an electrical fault caused the lock to be engaged without the indicator light thus resulting in the damage. Slim, but possible.

Sorry I can't think of anything else.

Rgds,
Mal58

sorry to hear about your box but if toyota say its drivrer error dont just agree swear black and blue it wasnt your fualt do as truckster said and check out prado site and take all your info to them and they still have to prove it was your fault and if you get a few others on the prado site mentioning it you might have an point to argue with them a friend of mine is having problems with her freelander some bit blew up $4000 i think local dealer says never happens your fault but truckster gave me a web site where a few other people were talking about the same thing printed it out and gave it to my friend not sure how she went yetlooking foward to easter at jamieson

Toyotas these days come with their "No-care" Warranty. Basically, they will try you out and put the blame on you if the repair is going to be expensive. You need to stick to your guns and deny that the centre diff was locked. Seek the assistance of your motoring organisation and dept of consumer affairs, if Toyota continue to ignore their responsibilities.

I've been in a similar situation to you and after 10 weeks of investigation Toyota were proven to be at fault.

BTW, is your TX auto or manual and does it have traction control? TX's have featured highly on the Prado group's broken diff/CV database. Yours is the first broken transfer case I've heard of. Someone else had a transfer case reconditioned because of excessive backlash, but it wasn't the problem.