I got into my vehicle the other day and started driving. Did not put it in 4wd or anything different. I noticed the dash lights (the front left and right lights) were blinking. It did not feel like it was in 4wd.

i googled and found not much of anything for my exact problem.

Has anyone else seen this? It drives just fine.

Thank you, Tim

 

The problem was when I got into the Mitsubishi Montero XLS which is a 2001, the front left and front right green lights were blinking on my dash. It seemed to be purely cosmetic. She certainly was not in four-wheel-drive because I can tell the difference. Or at least I think I can.

I googled around and I didn’t find my exact solution, but many people stated for different issues to replace the solenoid gizmo that is on the passenger side inside fender under the hood. There two 10 mm bolts holding it in. It has two electrical connectors and then the rest are for vacuum hoses.

The YouTube videos I found, that were for other issues all stated to replace this thing. People recommended buying an OEM part. Well, I simply couldn’t find one, but I didn’t look too hard because I found one on Amazon. It was $20 or so and I don’t know if it was OEM or not. But it certainly looked like the same one.

One thing I noticed as the vacuum hoses were not oriented correctly on the new one when it goes into this plastic tea connector that has four vacuum hose fittings on it. After flipping it around, orienting it exactly like the one that is existing, I began the task.

I labeled each vacuum hose, so I knew where each one was on the original and used a pair of needle nose. Vice grips to squeeze the electrical connectors and wiggle them just a little bit until they finally popped out.

I had to do the same with the vacuum tubes. I had to wiggle them back-and-forth for a minute or so until they would loosen up and slide off. I figure they’ve only been on there for 26 years so I’m pretty happy that nothing crumbled.

I put the new one in, and the bolts were 10 mm so it wasn’t that big of a task. I did need a socket extension of a couple of inches and swore a little bit for good measure. It actually wasn’t necessary, but I’m working on my car so I guess I’m supposed to do that.

Many videos stated that as soon as you turn your car on, and the lights are blinking to not panic that it takes a moment for the lights to turn off because the vacuum needs to do his job. But mine was not that way. As soon as I started my car, the lights weren’t blinking. In fact, when I got in my car and put the key into the ignition and turned it without starting the car, I believe the lights were blinking. And when I did this, after changing out the module, the lights did not blink. I started the hurry up and everything was flawless. I went to do an errand and drove 7 miles expecting that I might end up needing a tow truck or something like that. It seemed as if my ride was smoother for some reason. It probably was not, but maybe it’s because I was just working on it and I was paying attention. There’s nothing like having a 26-year-old vehicle that you bought brand new with 276,000 miles on it still running like she was just a few years old.

I’m thankful for everyone that posted all of these videos about all these lights, blinking and saying that we should just change out the module anyway.

So there you have it. It’s maybe $25 on Amazon for the part and one hour of your time. Just have some needle knows vice grips to squeeze the electrical connectors, have a 10 mm socket with an extension or two and one hour of time. If you buy the same one, I did, pay attention to that little tea and rearrange the hoses. There’s a little tick on one of the hose connectors so I oriented it exactly like the existing one. It had the same little tick.

I bet this would’ve been a three or $400 repair at a shop. Hopefully this write up helps somebody else.