I had this warning light come on and off intermittently. Is this a info light to let me know it's in 4wd? Currently, it hasn't shown up for a few drives, I kind of believe my CDL was partly engaged?? Honestly, my owners manual has nothing about it.

 

Your truck is always in 4wd. It cannot be disengaged.
That "TIE fighter" symbol is indeed the CDL lock warning. You should check what's going on because you should NOT be driving on anything but loose surfaces with the CDL active.

 

This is the Center Differential Lock (CDL) indicator light, it should only illuminate when the CDL is in the locked position, which 1) requires you to manually activate it and 2) should only be done on slippery surfaces. It’s very odd (and potentially troubling) that this light would come on and off intermittently. What model year is your truck? Only the 2004 has the CDL lever in the cabin, 99-early 01’s (I think) have a CDL in the transfer case but no lever in the cabin to actuate it and 01’s-03’s don’t have one at all.

The most potentially troubling situation here is that you have a CDL and it’s locked while you have been tooling around town but the light, for whatever reason, is only intermittently flashing on. Driving on pavement with the CDL actuated will bind up your drivetrain, has the truck been handling odd?

 

Got it. I figured it was always in 4wd, all wheel drive.

 

Yes, it was driving strange. I noticed it only when making a tight turn. I got on sone loose dirt, put it in neutral and worked the transfer case back to high/unlocked. To be clear it was in high unlocked but I figured the gears hadn't meshed correctly.

It's an '01 and the previous owner did the linkage. I had IE rovers fix the janky linkage. The intermittent light topped coming on.

 

I'm glad Black.Rhino got this sorted out, but it reminded me of a false-positive diff lock warning light on my truck many years ago.

I was about 2/3 into a two-hour drive on a January night 13 years ago. It was snowing and the road was getting messy, and all of a sudden the diff lock light came on. I'd been driving over an hour so I knew I hadn't crawled under the truck! I hadn't yet installed the transfer case shifter, so the only way to lock the CDL was to crawl under the truck and turn the CDL selector shaft with a wrench. Plus I had six boy scouts with me so I really wanted to get to the hotel where the troop stayed that night before skiing the next day.

The only thing I could think of to cause the light to come on is that some water got into a connector, perhaps with a little road salt, and shorted out a connection to trigger the light. The light stayed on for the rest of the drive, but was extinguished when I drove the truck the next day. The problem didn't ever come up again.

Several months later I installed the '04 t-case shifter and the CDL warning light works as it should.

 

My CDL light does not come on - would like for it to. 2004 D2. I've verified the CDL is engaged when I move the Hi/Lo level to the driver side but no light. Any suggestions on where I should look for the switch? Is it internal or external - transfer case?

Thanks!
Gregg

 

The switch is external and has a pretty high failure rate, perhaps from inactivity. It's a PITA to get to however. I made a small jumper harness that plugs into the truck harness and has provisions for dash mounted switches that I manually press whenever I lock the diff or select Low Range (speaking of janky). It's only me that drives the truck and it was easier (and cheaper) to use parts I had on hand than to replace a switch I couldn't reach. Some more info here https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...missing-91808/

 

Thanks for the reply. My D2 lived its life in Baltimore prior to me purchasing it so I agree that the reason it does work is because of inactivity. I really need to drill out the rivets around the shifter/console - it's VERY hard (like get out and push the 4H/L lever from the passenger side to engage the CDL and lub/clean up what I can. I would like the CDL light to come on so I may tackle the project. Thanks for the info and reply!

Gregg

 

My CDL lever was immobile for about a year. I could get high and low range to work but not lock/unlock. I unbolted the bezel around the selector (not the whole console, just the CDL selector part) and tried to lube what I could reach but it didn't work, I started to think something was actually broken inside the TC. One day this spring I pulled the front driveshaft to grease it and while it was out I sprayed some PB Blaster pretty liberally at as much of the linkage as I could manage. I few days later I remembered I had done that and tried the CDL lock. To my surprised it moved with very little effort and after a couple clicks back and forth it was smooth as butter. Still is a year later. And a good thing too because I needed it to get 600 miles home 2 weeks ago when the front driveshaft started howling and I was forced to pull it out for fear of it exploding..