4-wheel-drive light starts blinking and only have 2-wheel-drive when it does this. Just driving along in 4WD, the light just starts blinking. I can turn the ignition switch off, restart, and it's okay. Start riding again, and it starts blinking again in a matter of minutes, sometimes it takes an hour or so. Could it be a bad actuator, or something else?

 

do you have an owners manual?? The interival between the light flashing indicates what the problem is & it gives this information in the service manual.. since you dont have 4wd it sounds like it's the actulator.. There was also a service bulliten sent to the dealers (some are aware of this) that if the actulator is not in the correct postion inside the diff then the 4wd will not work wich will set off the 4wd light.. or it could just be that the actulator doesn't work anymore (hope it isnt' that, mine blew up after going trough a river & getting water in it, cost $200 just for the part) also could be one of your switches..

 

If the actuator is bad, would just cutting the engine off and restarting make it work? I would think that if the actuator is bad, restarting the engine wouldn't make a difference. Am I missing something?

The actuator seems to work okay, because after I restart, it will shift to and from 4wd, as long as I keep flipping the switch. It's just that driving along in 4wd, the light starts blinking whenever it takes a notion to.

Okay, here's a little more info: This started on Saturday, only after riding for over 3 hours. The problem persisted every few minutes for the rest of the day. Started riding Sunday, and rode several hours again before it acted up, but after it started acting up, it was every few minutes afterward, like something took a while to get hot before it would act up. The light seems to be blinking every 2 seconds, but the manual points to the engine brake actuator because of the 2 second interval. The engine brake is working fine, even with the light blinking, but I don't have 4wd when blinking. The interval between blinks may just be 1 second, but it seems longer than 1 second to me. I never actually timed it with a second hand on watch.

I forgot to answer your first question Uinthas, I do have a manual.

 

So I assume you can still switch into 2wd & 4wd no problem right, even with the ligh blinking?? If the manual says your blinking intervals is the engine braking then your probably okay with the 4wd/2wd actulator.. This blinking from the engine braking actulator has happened to me a couple of times.. What happens for some dumb reason is the actulator gets out of postion & you just have to reset it. nyroc has the instructions on his site

Nyroc Site

Let me know if this works, or if you have any other questions..

 

No, I can't switch from 2wd to 4wd when the light is blinking, it will switch only after I cut off the ignition and restart the engine to get it working. Once it is working, it will switch everytime as long as I flip the switch. Keep riding in 4wd without flipping the switch, and after a while, light starts blinking again.

 

I'm in sort of the same situation. My 4wd light started to blinking last week when it got hot but it still switched in and out of 4wd with no problems. It only did it for one day. I rode it for a couple days and nothing was wrong. I did ride through a creek the weekend before and remembered Uinthas saying when his got wet it took a S##t. So I took it apart to check it and it was fine. Not wet or corroded or nothing. So I didn't do anything to it. I put it back in and when I turned it on the 4wd light blinks and now I don't have 4wd at all. I was pretty careful not to mess with anyhting so I really can not figure out why it won't work. Can anyone help with this problem?

 

Lincous, you sure your bike is not actually switching into 4wd/ 2wd & you just dont know it because the lights are blinking.. In my experience with the 4wd/2wd flashing, it has always bee the engine brake actulator is been out of postion except for that one time when I blew my 2wd/4wd actulator.. I would suggest checking out the engine brake actulator per Nyroc's instructions & go from there, it's pretty easy to do & should only take :20 mins or so..

Kosnic, did you take off just the cover for the actulator motor, or did you take the entire unit out off the diff?? If you took the cover off & turned that motor at all inside, your actulator is out of postion & needs to be re-set. If you took the entire actulator out of the diff, then I dont know.. I had to take mine to the dealer & have them install it to get that damn light to stop blinking, eveything has to be lined up perfect..

 

my 650 started acting funny, the 100 hour belt check kept going on and off, i took it to the dealer and he said to clean the fuses and it could possibly be the battery. so i replaced the fuses and looked the battery over and the pos. wire was loose on the terminal worked fine ever since.

 

When the light is blinking, only the rear wheels will pull, I know I'm not in 4wd.

Well, I removed the front differential plug, and the oil level was low. I could also tell that the oil was thicker than it should be. I smelled it and it smelled just like 90w gear oil! When the 360 was in for service after 10 hrs, the stupid mechanic at the dealership must have put 90w in it instead of 10w40 motor oil like the manual calls for, and didn't even fill it up completely! Makes me want to slap him in the face with a dirty sock. (LOL) Anyway, I drained the gear oil out and refilled with 10w40 oil, and I'll just have to see if it continues to act up when I get to go riding again. Hopefully using the correct oil may be the cure of my woes. We'll see. Thanks for all the responses, I and will let you know if the problem continues. Hopefully it won't.