Strange 4-wd malfunction

I may be wrong about this but i thot that if 4wd on a rzr had an electrical malfunction with it,you would get some sort of indication on the gauge,or the 4wd icon would not come on or something to that effect.I hope i am wrong.I would rather my problem be electrical as opposed to mechanical.Up until the last time i rode it,i had never had a single prob with it.No funny noises as if something had broke or anything of that nature.But the last time i did ride,i started it up in park ,hit 4wd switch,icon on gauge came on normally,light on switch normal,and i took off.Once i got to a steep hill where 4wd was needed,i broke traction with rear wheels and could not make it up.But i never heard any grinding or noises at all.It was just like i was in 2wd.Any educated opinions would be appreciated.

well I am out since you asked for educated opinions LOL, really I don't know much about the Rzr's but I am sure someone on here will chime in.

I have not had any problem with mine and almost 3,300 miles but I have read of the cage in the front diff breaking or coming apart I think.

It's probably just your switch if you are not hearing any other noise's! The front diff's were coming apart on the 1st. gens but you would hear this. This happened to friend of mines down east. His switch would light up but it would ingage...

It could be a few things, you could have a broken or short in the wires going into the front diff, the fluid level could be low or contaminated.

I was just reading on rzrforums in some of their archives and i found a thread that sounds very familiar.This guy found that the wires that run to the front diff. had been pinched from his winch cable.And seeing how that wire is what creates the magnetic field in the hubs to engage the gear into the hub,that makes sense.
As a matter of fact,everytime i pull mine onto my trailer,i always attatch my winch cable to front frame of trailer to help hold it.HHHHMMMMMMM.....I going to check this out.Will keep u posted on findings.

I wouldnt think contaminated gear oil or the lack of could cause it to just not engage tho unless their was a sensor to detect such.

Well i just traced the wire to the front end and sure enough the wire was broken.And i can see how easy it is for that wire to be cut by winch cable because of how close they are to each other.Obviously since i use the winch so often,it has apparently gotten enough slack in the cable where it winds up to catch that wire causing it to be cut.gonna have to zippy tie that out of the way.

:71: I thought that might be it.

Glad you found out what the problem was and you didn't have to take it to the dealer...

UPDATE ON 4WD------
Well i was mistaken on the 2 wires going into front differential actually being broken.The outer insulation was crimped up in a manner that made it appear broken.Once i trimmed the outer insulation off to actually inspect the 2 wires they APPEAR to be fine.I noticed when i started it for the first time in a long while that it almost didnt turn over at first before it started.So im charging the battery so that i can start performing the electrical diagnostics on the awd.You are supposed to have a minimun of 11 volts at the hubs when the switch is turned on,so no sense in getting into that till battery is charged.WILL UPDATE AS I PROGRESS.Any ideas along the way will help,Thanks.I guess there is a CHANCE that the whole prob with awd COULD be the lack of battery voltage alone.

From what I've read about polaris batteries, they are junk. Everybody recommends going with the oddessy batteries.

Yes, i have heard the same thing.I know that in the past while riding w/out headlights on that occasionally i will get a low battery warning from my stereo with the volume up loud.But now i have the battery fully charged and during diagnostics it shows that there is 12 volts being sent to the front drive unit.Now its a matter of actually checking it at the front to see if it is getting there,From what ive read there are still acouple of simple checks that i need to make before ruling it to be mechanical.

sprinklerhead wrote:

UPDATE ON 4WD------
Well i was mistaken on the 2 wires going into front differential actually being broken.The outer insulation was crimped up in a manner that made it appear broken.Once i trimmed the outer insulation off to actually inspect the 2 wires they APPEAR to be fine.I noticed when i started it for the first time in a long while that it almost didnt turn over at first before it started.So im charging the battery so that i can start performing the electrical diagnostics on the awd.You are supposed to have a minimun of 11 volts at the hubs when the switch is turned on,so no sense in getting into that till battery is charged.WILL UPDATE AS I PROGRESS.Any ideas along the way will help,Thanks.I guess there is a CHANCE that the whole prob with awd COULD be the lack of battery voltage alone.

I would say that is possible with the battery. I was looking at a used Grizzly that had a dead battery. The 4x4 would not lock in with the weak voltage of just the stator while running. After doing a little research I found it was the battery. I'm sure the Rhino probably would react the same way.

Maybe the RZR has similar type actuator that needs that 11 volts that you mention.