Isuzu Trooper TOD light goes out- gets stuck in 4X4 with clunk

philip25

I love my 4jx1 diesel Trooper and it's our only vehicle with 6 kids in our family. (it's important to us) It's a 98 version ( I have had it for 8 years) made in Japan and still rides and drives great with 119k KMs. Several days ago I started it up (prior to that it's running just fine) and noticed the ABS light was on (never happened before) and the TOD green dash lights were totally off. I then backed out of my driveway and noticed a loud clunking/popping in the front drive train when turning into the street in reverse. Then when I put it in drive it still clunks for a short while until I get straightened out. Driving straight forward seems to be fine and only gets the clunking on sharp turns. It seems to be stuck in 4X4, but not sure what is causing the clunking as 4x4 always worked fine before that. After that I noticed that all the electric windows are also not working. And just yesterday the electric locks stopped working. There is one 15A fuse blown on the inside fuse box (top row-3rd one counting from rear of SUV to front) and when I replaced it, it blew again. All fuses in engine area are fine. Seems like a lot to be going out from only one 15a fuse.

So, for the Nobel Prize in mechanics, :-) can anyone give a good guess what is happening here? Prior to this situation it was in 2 wheel drive and I don't know why it auto went into 4x4 and started to clunk. Also is this situation going to cause damage to the drive train if I keep driving it in this condition, and is there any easy way to disengage the 4x4? I feel if I can get it back into 2 wheel drive, it will at least drive ok to get my family around until I can find a more permanent fix. I don't need the 4x4 anymore. My deepest gratitude to anyone who can shed some light in this. --Philip