OK, guys, I'm in trouble here. I know many of you don't know me, except maybe a few of the old timers...

I don't really have time for introductions, but I need your help.

My 97 Montero Sport is stuck. My girlfriend took it to work this morning due to the snow here in NJ. She got about a mile before it just stopped moving. Of course, I was still in bed so I have no idea exactly what happened...

I got down the road to see what I could do, and I find that the truck won't put any power to the wheels whatsoever, and it clicks rapidly when shifting to Park (Automatic, of course). I can't get the 4WD shifter to move anywhere, it's stuck in limbo.

When I shift to Drive or Reverse the engine "loads off" as if it was being shifted OUT of a drive gear and into Neutral.

Please, someone tell me where to look. I'm no stranger to mechanical things in general, but frankly, I'd like to have at least some clue before I go crawling around under this truck out on the street in a half a foot of snow... And I don't know ANYTHING about Mitsus other than their similarities to Isuzus...

Please, if anyone has had any similar problems, please let me know how to fix it... I used the search, but it doesn't find much of anything useful with my search terms (click, park, 4WD, stuck, etc...) -- I didn't figure it would, based on how generic those terms are on a 4x4 Forum....

Please point me in the right direction?

Thank you in advance,

One more thing -- I'm completely convinced that whatever happened is a result of my girlfriend doing something stupid due to her lack of knowledge of 4WD.... Or the result of her NOT doing something stupid because of her lack of knowledge of 4WD... If that helps you possibly nail down what the problem may be.....

I am no expert and can not help you much except to say to read this site on how to search.

http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/showf...amp;amp;sb=5&o=2&fpart=1

I appreciate that, and by no means am I smacking you down by saying this -- you didn't know...

I wrote this part of that "How to Search" Page:


As you may or may not be able to tell from the context -- I had recently thrown a "rod" through the side of my "block".
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

More information on this.... I spoke to my girlfriend. She says that the truck stopped immediately after she "moved the lever toward the radio and heard a bad noise, then the truck slowed down," and she called me. The odd part about that, is that if she moved it toward the radio, that would mean it was in 2WD, and she went to 4HI. But I could swear it was already in 4HI from last night, and I could swear she said the light was on when she got in it. Ughh... Why didn't she just wake me up like we planned???

Its tough to get angry when she just wanted to help. You must have looked really sweet while sleeping. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Oh boy... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ignore.gif" alt="" />

I'm sure I did! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Problem is... The roads are relatively clear, no need for 4WD anyway. She could have just taken her car, you know, the one I just popped $400 on snow tires for?!? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Are you sure you're not one of my girlfriend's friends just trying to keep me from getting mad at her? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> In all seriousness, I'm not particularly mad at her for anything except for not knowing what, exactly, she did to cause this... I honestly don't even know which direction I should be TRYING to force the lever... I never really used this vehicle for off-roading (truth be told -- I haven't been able to afford my off-roading addiction in years) so I'm not particularly familiar with the position of the t-case lever. All I know is that for the past 3 years, anytime there was snow on the ground I had no problem.... And now I really wish I forced her to get behind the wheel last night in the Wally World parking lot... I was doing donuts and power-slides to get the feel for the snow again -- a tradition in my family on the first snowfall.

The idea is to go to a parking lot and just rip on it for about 10 minutes -- that way, when the situation arises on the road, in the real world, and you're spinning out of control doing 60 down the highway, facing the wrong way but still traveling the right way -- looking at a dump truck running down your throat -- which can and HAS happened... You have some basic idea of what kind of corrective action to take... If only I had forced her when she said, "No, I'm afraid..." perhaps she wouldn't have broken my 4WD this morning...

Live and learn I guess. The problem is, I keep living and keep learning... But I keep trading in my girlfriends for newer models, and then I have to teach them all this "guy stuff" from scratch again. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

They should come with a USB port for quick downloads...

I'll have to write that into the code for Fiancee v5.0....

Ah, well, if this isn't helping me fix the truck at least it's keeping me from being pissed off... Just got beat on another thing, too -- I downloaded a repair manual for the truck, $14.95, covers 1997-2003. Fun stuff. No mention WHATSOEVER about 4WD. I guess it's money well spent for some future issues I may have... but not for today.

nost of the DLs are available for free in a sticky at the top.

Get in there, and jerk on that shifter. It'll eventually move. In the future exercise your 4wd more.