2002 Kia Sportage 4X4 Just purchased. First big snow it seems the 4 Hi and 4 Low are not working as the front axle spins but the front wheels don't when I am stuck. Also is this vehicle rear wheel drive or front wheel drive when in 2 wheel drive?

No, even a 4x4 will have only 1 wheel that will spin on each axle in this instance. It's called a floating differential. For stock vehicles with non locking differentials like you have, both cannot spin or have full power at the same time. Hard to explain on this, but picture your car making a hard right turn. Both front wheels would be spinning at different speeds because of the turn. The passenger side tire is spinning much slower than the drivers side tire, therefore if both were spinning at the same time, your tires would chirp and skip on the pavement which would eventually ruin your differential. In offroad applications, we WANT the differentials locked and turning at the same time with true 4x4. But in normal everyday vehicles, even standard stock 4x4's, only 1 tire will do the spinning per axle unless it has possitraction or full locked axle. Clear as snow?

If wheels spin slow down and or touch brakes to allow abs to kick in

normaly you drive in 2 wheel dive rear whee lls driving jeep
when you select 4 wheel high or 4 wheel low you engage all 4 wheels bring intthe front axle and all 4 wheels drive high box for slippery roads ice snow etc
important low box only for extreme conditions such as heavy mud deep snow etc
LOW MUST BE SELECTED WHEN STOPPED OTHER WISE DAMAGE TO TRANSMISSION
hope this helps

are the front wheel hub locks manual?

Check front wheels there is 2 pipes going to the wheels 1 is for brake fluid to the callepers and the other one is for vacume suction to ingage or dis ingage the free wheel function 99% of the time this pipe is leaking or it is broken. enjoy !! Willem SA

Jack the front wheel up. Try to turn the wheel, if it loc it do engage, if it turn it do not. Put it in 4X4 but in neutral car must be started

It sounds like maybe your auto lockers in your front wheel hubs are not locking. You may be able to get them to lock if while in 4x4 you jab your brake pedal several times, sometimes this will work to get them to engage but even if this works I would advise that you either invest in a good set of manual locking hubs or replace the ones you have with new auto lockers. The auto locking 4x4 hubs are great when they work but when they don't they are not serviceable. The manual lockers are allot less likely to fail on you in the future.

Is the four wheel drive activated by vacuum? Check vacuum.

That light sounds like a differential lock or 4-wheel drive. This is usually found in 4-wheel drive and all-wheel drive vehicles. Being the light is "GREEN" and not amber or red tells me that it's not an abnormal problem.

Look around your dashboard or gearshifter for a button labeled 4x4 HI, 4x4 LO, 4x2 HI. sport/off road button, or a second, smaller shifter. Switch them around a little, and if it is a 4x4 selector, be sure when you drive on paved roads to have it set to 4x2 HI. 4x4 HI should only be used if you get stuck to help you get out (snow/mud) and 4x4 LO is only for off road driving (trail blazing/rock climbing/4-wheeling/mud bogging,etc.)

Also, check for any switches labled "DIFF LOCK" or 'AXLE LOCK". In most cars a green light is normal operations.

I hope I could help you find a solution to your problem.

I have the same problems but found the problem. Put a vacuum pump on the hub and see if there is any. I have one that has 30 inches of vacuum and one with zero. The only solution I found was to buy a used one from a salvage yard. The hand vacuum pump is only $40 but you will save over a $1000 doing this.