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Anon

Recently I had a horrible experience with my little 1995 RAV4. I had been using it without any trouble, and then, on pulling away from a park the vehicle just felt - wrong. Really, really wrong. Because of traffic I had to drive about half a block before I could pull over to see what was wrong. Then I discovered the centre diff lock button on the dash had somehow been accidently bumped in and because of bright sunlight I missed seeing the warning light in the dash. It seems no serious damage was done thank goodness, but I decided to pull the fuse when I got home to disable it as I hardly ever use it. Naturally it was never going to be that simple. The same fuse has the power rail for all the dashboard warning lights on it. Ah-ha, I thought. Time for a little cunning. I popped the button out of the dash, meaning to take a wire off it and tape up the connector. Not quite so tidy but doable. Nope! There five (count them - 5!) wires on a plug that goes into the back of the switch. Now I am left with leaving the plug on its wires dangling down inside the dash with no guarantee I will be able to get at it in a hurry should I ever actually need to use it again. After all that rant, can I ask if anyone knows of a better way to ensure that if I accidentally bump the button in again it will not engage the centre diff lock unless I expressly intend for it to? My grateful thanks to anyone who can offer any thoughts on this matter.

kiwi12

Hi Peter.disconnect it on the transfer case side which should be easier.