Friday my SVC 4WD light came on, ive never seen that light before. by Friday night while driving, my car made a horrible noice somewhere in the front end, and I pulled over to the side of the road, When shifting to park it made a load grinding noise, and when you shifted back to Drive it wouldnt move, nether would reverse. The car acted like it had no idea what to shift in to. Then I shut it off and it wouldnt restart. after 4 hours waiting for a tow truck, he was able to start the car, and shift it to neutral to load it on the flatbed, got back to my house with it, he unloaded it and I was able to shift it to drive and pulled it right in to my driveway no problem. Now I can start it, but its back to not shifting to drive or reverse again. I give up, its now going in to the shop.
Unfortunate when these things happen on a weekend, but hopefully drive train warranty will cover the repairs.
Could be caused by a problem in the transfer case mode selection function. There are certain xfer case modes that will prevent the vehicle from moving at all. For example xfer case could conceivably could get stuck in illegal configuration, 4WD LO for the front wheels, and 2WD HI for the rear wheels. Nothing’s good gonna happen w/ that configuration.
Another idea, I think on some JC configurations the front hubs lock using engine vacuum. If hubs got locked in illegal configuration, same idea. For example if left front hub was in freewheel mode, and right was in locked mode, that’s no good. It’s possible a vacuum hose has come loose or is otherwise leaking and preventing the hubs from entering in an allowed configuration. Does engine seem to be running roughly , esp at idle?
Ask the tow operator to be very cautious when towing vehicle. Don’t drag vehicle with locked-up wheels, instead put stubborn wheels on a rolling dolly for example.
Full disclosure. I’m a driveway diy’er, & own a classic 4WD Ford truck. I am basing my ideas on how it works. Your JC may work differently.
Assuming that your 5 year/60k mile Powertrain Warranty is still in effect, I hope that “the shop” is a Jeep dealership.
If that warranty has now expired, then going to an independent Jeep expert would be a good idea, but if the warranty is still in effect, taking it anywhere other than to a Jeep dealer would be a huge mistake.
I could be wrong, but unlikely a flat bead tow truck would have a Dolly to get it on the truck.
I suppose on the other type of tow truck, the front wheels would be on the lift and the rears on a dolly.