I was wondering if anyone knew why my tow/haul button works intermittantly (when it wants to) if you pull back and hold the shift lever while swapping in/out of tow haul it seems to work properly.

Sounds like the wiring is loose or damaged. Could also be the switch and the lever trick is coincidental.

It is fairly common on trucks that get shifted in and out of gear often. The only fix seems to be replacing the entire shifter. I had mine done in my 01 about 6 months ago. The wires get chewed up in the column and ground out/or the switch goes bad. That's why it will work sometimes. Mine would only work in 1st gear after a while. I'd put it in 1st, push the button, then back to drive. You may be able to repair the wiring, but I didn't feel like the hassle. The switch is built in the shifter and isn't replacable.

clc19chase;

Mine was not operational when I first got my truck and I found that the two wires coming from the switch were 'broken'. Looked like the insulation had just got hard and snapped. You can get to the area by pulling out (carefully!) the rubber boot at the base of the shift lever and you should be able to see the wire that comes down through the shift lever, it will probably be showing a crack of some kind. Only one of the two wires needs to be broken to make it quit working. The wire on mine is orange and it is actually two wires molded together, kind of like a telephone wire. Anyway, I skinned the wires back and soldered some really flexible wires in for a splice. It does not matter which wire goes where, as long as you connect a wire coming from the switch to a wire going into the wiring harness.

Hope this helps.:)

Bill S.

I'm doing the same bandaid fix as goth2o until it fails to work. A dealership in Cold Lake quoted $208 Cdn last fall for the shifter part plus labor costs. Some people have tried to fix by soldering the wires, but typically the wire will then break somewhere else.

As usual, based on past history of timing of parts failures for me, the tow/haul mode will probably fail on me at the beginning of my 2 week holiday while pulling my trailer...sigh.

I fixed mine by using two scotch lock connectors (like the kind used for phone line splices), nice, easy, and weatherproof.