4WD Troubles?

[MCNPathfinder]

Hey everyone! It's me with more questions about the 4WD system in the Pathfinder. I've got the Auto 4WD. This past weekend we had a really bad snowstorm here in Minnesota. I, of course, had no problems in the snow with my truck. Consequently, I was going through snow drifts that went probably 3/4 the way up my wheels. When I have the truck in 4H, everything looks normal on the dash, it feels and drives like its in 4H, but it's really loud as I start going faster and it just kind of sounds wrong a little bit. Is there a maximum speed you can go with 4H like there is with 4L? Then this morning, I hopped in the truck after leaving it in Auto last night, and the little orange light where the "Lock" is was solid orange like it was in 4H, yet it was in Auto. I drove it half way to work thinking it would eventually go out, but I had to go to 4H, then back down to 2WD and back to Auto to get it to just the 4 green wheels and no orange "Lock" light. It also did it when I went out to the truck after work today. I left it alone and had to drive over a curb to get out of my parking spot, when I came down off the curb it went out. This is my first 4WD, maybe the noises I'm hearing are normal? There is a lot of snow probably frozen up in there after all the snowbanks I went through, perhaps some ice got somewhere it shouldn't be fouling up my sensors? I'm not seeing any warning lights or flashing 4WD lights or anything. Not even a Check Engine Light.

[Densetsu]

1. The recommended top speed for 4HI is 50MPH. Any higher and you could damage the system; overheating the transfer case oil is a common problem, for example. If you drove it for a short distance on snowy/icy roads, I wouldn't worry too much. It's guys who consistently drive at highway speeds on dry pavement in 4Hi that I worry about. If there was a 4WD problem, then your 4WD light (the small one that says "4WD") would be either be on or flashing.

2. When it's cold out, say below 0F, and you're in Auto, the orange light will come on until the transfer case warms up. For me, this usually happens after driving for 5 mins or so. Be aware that even though the knob is in the 'Auto' position, the indicator lights are correct and you're actually in 4Hi, so if you're going to drive fast or on dry pavement switch to 2WD until the transfer case warms up.

Did you still hear any noise when driving in 2WD? The noise could simply be from snow packed into your rims.

[MCNPathfinder]

Alright fair enough. That's kind of cool that it does that. There was a time last month where I was in the country just tearing through the gravel/snow/icy roads doing about 70 for like a mile or two in 4H, but that's really the only time I think I've been doing that. That was not a good idea in the whole scheme of things. Yeah, it just started doing it very recently, and recently is when we've started getting temperatures in the single digits pretty consistently throughout the day. No noise in 2WD or really in 4WD unless I get down on it and the tires spin and it engages the front wheels. There's a lot of snow and ice under there and in my wheels, I'll bet that's causing some issues.
Do you by chance know what could be causing a loss of power at around 3,000 RPMs. Happens every once in awhile, but really seemed to start happening when I was using my 4WD this weekend. It seems fine through first gear, but when you get 2nd or 3rd (can't remember), it loses a lot of power until about 4,000RPMs and it kicks back up. I remember reading a post on here with a guy and a QX4, but I couldn't remember what the resolution was.

[ARKQX33V6]

MCN the power may not be lossed but the amount of torque required may go up when the torque converter locks up