bdbake01

$1,411 at the dealership. Not happy about it. Good luck. FYI, apparently there's some specialized tool for removing/reinstalling the force motor. Normally I do these kinda jobs myself, but I didn't have the tool or the time in this case.

I just had to replace the transfer case force motor and position sensor in my '14. Very similar behavior. I was in 4auto moving a trailer. Parked it, forgot to turn on auto. Got in the next morning, turn it to 2wd, nothing changes. Auto light blinked, went out, and then no 4wd position lights. "Service 4wd" light came on, and it was stuck in 4wd. You don't wanna know the price.

Better check that exhaust valve spring, like, now.

No offense, but that's all poor advice. These boards are full of people making random statements based on limited to no understanding of how the system(s) that they are making definitive statements about even work in the first place. The only thing you need to do is make sure that the grounds from both batteries go through the factory current sensor. That way the alternator's control algorithm will be able to detect when you're using current from either battery, which will prompt the voltage to increase - ie go into "charge mode" vs reduced voltage / float / etc. This isn't perfect mind you, but having two isolated power systems that share a single charging source (alternator) will always have compromises. But it will also work just fine, and you won't have some stupid complicated system that never works quite right. For these vehicles, I'm a fan of the WirthCo Battery Doctor. Because of the method it uses to charge the secondary battery (technically a battery equalization), it will work extremely well with our charging system. It also had a very handy manual paralleling function, and lots of built in protection. It's also affordable. You'll still want to make sure your battery grounds both run through the current sensor, but this isolator will help the OEM charging algorithm do it's job a bit better. And since it charges via equalization, you don't run the risk of overcharging the non-depleted battery. https://www.amazon.com/WirthCo-20092-Battery-Doctor-Isolator/dp/B0058SGDFK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=nerdtechy-20&linkId=826133debec6908fb473f9ed2e973dc7&language=en_US&th=1

Not sure why this seems to confuse everyone? Granted, electricity is my "day job", but still. There's a LOT of bad info out there. Where did you hear that a standard battery isolator won't work?

I wouldn't say that the catch can is necessary, but it doesn't hurt and mine catches a LOT of stuff that I'd rather not have to clean out later. It's not perfect, cleaning is still necessary from time to time, but an ounce of prevention ya know? And it doesn't have to be a $1,000 catch can. A $40 eBay special works too.

Toggle switch would work to close the coil from the backup battery, just make sure that this switch doesn't itself parallel the two batteries as it would fry pretty quickly. It needs to be a SPDT to select it's power source from either the fuse box (your "truck running" source from Battery A) to only battery B. Remember, this would leave them tied together in that position until you turned the switch off. As for the batt ground, if two cables don't fit, you can just upsize the factory ground lead and tie the to grounds together on the battery side of the sensor. May even be easier to practically implement. But you're missing something here with tying two batteries together all of the time. If they're always tied together with cables, you can't run into the scenario where one is very depleted, and the other is charged. In your scenario with the relay, you could have one battery at 10V and another at 13.8V, and THEN you would be tying them together. That means LOOOOOOTS of amps!!! Battery isolators also prevent this scenario. As for others who have done this or done that with all kinds of success and no problems, maybe they've been lucky is all I gotta say. Russian Roulette is tons of fun....until it isn't. It's the lot of neglect to one battery with your setup. And don't take my comments as arguing or anything, just trying to help I have just a bit of experience with cars, batteries, electrical systems in general.

Everyone is gonna have their own opinion on this, but, by using only a relay to isolate the second battery, you're going to make to make sure that you keep the two batteries pretty close in voltage, otherwise you'll run into issues - which could be major if the difference between the two is major. Imagine if you had your secondary battery fail while it was just sitting in the garage (trust me, it happens), and then you parallel the two by closing in the relay. Fire, explosion are both possibilities. And this is just one scenario. This is just one type of protection that a battery isolator provides. Also in this scenario, if your primary battery is too low to pull in your relay, then having a second battery there won't help without a set of jumper cables or a manual bypass of some sort. As for using the current sensor for both, I can go either way on this one. You may struggle to get both cables in there for one. The factory control algorithm is tuned for one battery, and adding a second to the current monitor doesn't change this. But, it also shouldn't cause any issues.

The transmission fluid does not go through the radiator. IF it has a cooler (not all do), it’s actually the top 5” or so of the AC condenser. And it is thermostatically controlled. in my opinion, there is zero reason to modify this system. It seeeems hot, but that’s how it is designed to operate. Running cooler can get you into a variety of issues in certain situations, no improvements, and likely slightly lower mileage.

Update on my situation. Compressor was locked up, shaft sheered between clutch and compressor.

Following as I seem to have the exact same issue. Been fighting it off and on all weekend. I think full charge is 29oz, but I never saw any differential across my compressor from 0 all the way up to 29oz, both high and low side topped out around 120psi and just sat there. Clutch works fine, but it doesn’t even seem to load up the engine when it kicks in. Brand new condenser (the beginning of the issue), no leaks, held about -29psi for 2 hours. Doesn’t leak under charge either. Not my first rodeo, this is my 4th condenser (one due to an accident), and I’ve replaced and charged them all. This time, I think the compressor bit it too

I replaced mine with an aftermarket years ago, and it too failed last week. I can’t seem to find ANY condensers, OEM or otherwise. So, took matters into my own hands yesterday and repaired it with some aluminum brazing rods. Wasn’t fun, and I will suggest you do NOT attempt this with sandals on (ask me how I know), but it’s holding well today. Removing the condenser seems scary, but it’s actually quite easy.

Harbor Freight, cheap disposable tarp. Heck sometimes they’re free.

Same here, 106k and I swear the pads aren’t even half worn!

No, no they won’t.