Engaged 4Hi while on highway

[Slanger]

Hello everyone, this may sound pretty dumb but yesterday I let my mom drive my truck to take my brother to the airport and she told me she accidentally put it into 4hi while driving. I’m kind of worried she might messed the truck up. Today I took it out for a ride to see if I could notice anything wrong. While driving I heard what sounded like something fell off the truck. It was as if something metal hit the ground. Maybe I’m just hearing things. After that I kept driving and I heard a noise that sounded like brakes scratching as if the brakes were going out. Not like the high pitch noise, but like the grinding noise. Should I take it in to the dealership and see if anything broken?

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[Dhass68]

I would think so

 

[BigOlBish]

Check the front driveshaft. My buddy did that to his jeep liberty and we thought it was coming from the brakes too but the cv joint was grenaded

 

[Slanger]

Check the front driveshaft. My buddy did that to his jeep liberty and we thought it was coming from the brakes too but the cv joint was grenaded

Will do. The truck drove smooth, but the noise did worry me.

 

[BigOlBish]

Will do. The truck drove smooth, but the noise did worry me.

Yeah that's how his was. Not saying its going to be the same but he just went to a pick n pull and snagged a front drive shaft and it was fine after that. Obviously won't be as many ford rangers in scrapyards yet though.

 

[PltFX4]

Depending on what speed she was going, may indicate if that caused an issue..

The manual says this:

"Shifting Between 4WD System Modes
You can move the control between 2H to
4H at a stop or when driving up to 68 mph
(110 km/h). The information display may
display a message indicating a 4X4 shift
and the LED for the selected mode flashes.
Once the shift is complete, the LED light
for the selected mode remains illuminated."

It does not say what happens if you are OVER 68mph... does the system just not change modes?? or it will, with consequences.

Obviously you are hearing a noise... best crawl under there and take a look.

 

[RoadBoss]

It does not say what happens if you are OVER 68mph... does the system just not change modes?? or it will, with consequences.

Obviously you are hearing a noise... best crawl under there and take a look.

If it's not safe, the truck won't allow it to switch into 4wd.

Also, to the OP, I would say it's highly unlikely that anything got damaged from a trip on the highway in 4wd, unless you're running completely different sized tires all around and constantly making sharp turns, and in this case, the truck probably wouldn't even let it shift into 4wd.

My guess is it's paranoia making you hear things and suspect an issue.
If it were me, I'd just drive it a little longer and see if the noise continues or gets worse before going to the trouble of taking it to the dealer.

 

[Adventure Ranger]

I shift into 4x4 while on the highway all the time, always have. Part of life during a Canadian Winter. We can drive a long way with a clear road, then come into heavy drifts and ice all over the road, I just disengage cruise and shift to 4x4. No problem. My Sport Trac worked the same way, sold it at 300,000KM without any problems.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

when i was a teen, my mom told my dad the car was making a small noise, he test drove it and confirmed the noise.

he crawled underneath to look and found the culprit....a garbage can she ran over. she drove long enough to grind half of it away.

Maybe look to see if your mom has a shopping cart, a tricycle, or maybe a homeless person wedged under the transfer case. Offer medical assistance if it's the latter.

moral of the story....its always worse than described to you.

Like the lady who came in complaining of a noise and vibration.

She ran over a mattress.

OP, you're likely fine, but if it is making a noise that concerns you take it to the dealer.

Just take a quick look yourself first.

Quick story from years ago.

My wife had a white company car.

We walk out one morning and there's a big smear of blue paint on the front bumper.

Me: "What did you do?"

Her, very defensively: "Why do you automatically assume that I did something? DId you ever think that maybe it wasn't my fault?"

Me: "OK, I'm sorry. What happened?"

Her: "I ran into the side of a Deputy Sheriff's car, but I didn't get a ticket so it obviously wasn't my fault"

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