Just bought a 2008 XTerra 2 months ago. Put it in and out of four wheel low the way the manual said- step on brake, put in neutral, turn the knob- and then could not get it out successfully. Transmission ended up nowhere, no matter what I pushed it would not go into ANY gear. The little graphic of the four wheels disappeared from the dash. Turned car on and off a couple of times, kept trying to shift, finally worked. Loud clunking noise, which I've heard a couple of times before, accompanied this.

When I took it to Nissan service, the guy said that 4WL was only for doing things like pulling tree stumps and that basically I should not use it. When going slow in bad conditions (like straight uphill in snow/mud) and needing 4WD, I should put it in 4WH and put the shift into first gear. He also said 4WL was tricky, and even though the manual did not say so I should "back the car up 10 feet", and that the manual was wrong.

WTF??

None of this makes sense to me. I've got the same type system on my old Chevy Blazer and it's never done this.

Is the XTerra's 4WD a piece of crap? Is 4Wlow really useless? And is this service guy's head up his you-know-what?

Any advice would be appreciated!  

HATE TO BE THE ONE TO TELL YOU...SHOULDA BOUGHT SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES NISSAN...I MADE THE MISTAKE ONCE ON BUYING A NISSAN,IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE SHHIT BUT IT TURNED OUT TO BE JUST THAT...SHHIT, AFTER 4 TIMES BEING AT THE DEALER MOST OF ITS MISSERABLE LIFE,3RD TIME THERE THE PUT A NEW HEAD ON, 4TH TIME THERE THEY PUT A NEW ENGINE IN IT...I HATED THE *** THING,NEVER WENT BACK TO FOREIGNAM STAYING WITH AMERICAN!
TRADE IT IN IF YOUR NOT GETTING ANSWERS FROM THE DEALER (LIKE YOUR NOT DRIVING IT RIGHT) WHAT A STUPID REPLY BY THE DEALERSHIP!  

Forget the manual, push or twist and pray 4x4 shifting can be testy. Try this attempt shift with vehicle in neutral and engine idling and "rolling " at about 3 to 5 MPH. I suspect it will work a lot better for you. It still my crunch a bit at times but not as bad and you will not wind up in no mans land on range selector either.