1997 K1500 ext cab Z71: 350, auto trans, push button 4x4

So today at the ranch I crossed a couple of creeks, and later I found out the truck was in 2wd, but I know I had put it in 4hi. AT the house, I started messing around with the 4x4 buttons to see what was going on, and it would engage into 4wd for a few seconds then the light would blink and it would disengage. Then in town I tried it again, and it wouldn't go into 4hi at all, and both 4lo and 4hi lights would flash when I tried it. When I pushed the 4lo button, both lights also flashed and 4lo would engage. I'm not sure if the front wheels had power or not because the truck is having other issues with a lack of low end power (another mystery for another day). When I first bought the truck, the 4wd didn't work, but I replaced the front axle actuator (with a used one) and it started working fine, that's been about a year and a half ago. Do yal think its just the actuator going bad again?

 

hey man, it possibly could be your actuator in the transfer case or a bad solenoid.

 

Where is that actuator? And where is that solenoid? What really scares me is the fact that it will go into 4lo but not into 4hi, I hope its not a serious t-case problem.
thanks

 

It doesn't sound like a serious transfer case problem, the t-case is going into 4-lo, just doesn't sound like the front is kicking in, I'd think its the front actuator again, if it was the actuator in the t-case i wouldn't think it'd go in 4lo.

 

I had this same problem with my tahoe it would go into 4lo but not 4hi it ended up being the encoder motor on the transfer case

 

NauticStar87: Why do you think the axle actuator would work in 4lo but not in 4hi? Shouldn't it engage the same either way?

992door:What/where is the encoder motor? Is that something I can replace myself in the driveway? What year model is the Tahoe? If it's 4th gen we may have the same t-case.