I have been having problems with my shifter sticking first thing in the morning.It is parked on a level area,and it takes some effort to get it to shift the first time,after that its fine the rest of the day.it is a 2003 H2 with 68,000 miles on it.If anyone has experience with this any help would be appreciated . Thanks

 

Shifter button would not push in this morning at first managed to get in gear after a couple of minutes. My wife drove the truck to work and it functioned perfectly the rest of the day.this is the third day in a row that it has happened.

 

There is a tiny Yellow wire (Or Black one next to it), located at the base of the shifter mechanism that can have a break in it. It will cause you to not be able to come out of Park... there's a bypass button that allows you to just lift the cup-holder plastic housing and press that to get out of Park, and it will shift fine anytime after that.

There's something else that can cause this issue, but I do not remember enough details about it... has to do with something in the key housing, but that's more towards problems with getting the key in / out.

Newer H2s fixed this with a slightly different connector clip and moves the wiring just enough so that it doesn't stretch over time and cause that break.

 

Thanks for the help!! I will check it out in the morning.

 

You can also check to see if you hear the click when you press the brake down. If you don't hear the click, pop off the cover and do a manual release, that will tell you if you have a mechanical hold (i.e. pressure against it from the parking paw). To get the cover off you'll need a torx to remove the shift handle, then just lift on the cover, there's 3 clips holding it in. You'll see a metal button at the base of the shifter, it's got a little spring on it.

 

Dont hear a click,but pushing the button works. I'm going to see if I can find the bad wire.Its locked up every morning.

 

I don't advise doing this---buuutttt when my floor shifter started hanging up in my 97 Cougar I removed that lockout hardware.
If my deuce gives me these kinds of troubles I'll disable that crap as well.
The old cars never had lockouts; I watched an old Mustang roll out into the traffic lane, but that was because the lady left her kids in it and they were screwing with the shifter.

 

Have you checked to see if your brake lights work? If you're not hearing the click from the lockout release, it's possible that you may not have working brake lights as well. If you do have lights, try powering up just the release (jumper wires directly to the unplugged lockout actuator) and see if the actuator is functioning properly. Try it with a known good 9v. It's easy for 12 volt items, like this actuator, to work off of 12 volts, but if your actuator is going out it most likely won't be able to release off of just 9 volts. A properly functioning actuator will work off of a 9 volt. This is actually a trick from my Land Rover days. Since the land rovers have MAJOR issues with lockouts, you keep a 9 volt battery under your center console so that when you're out and get stuck in park you jump it so you can drive home and fix it later (yes, happens that often). If it's not working in the morning it could be because the actuator is going out and in the mornings the lubricant in the actuator is cold enough to cause just enough resistance so that the actuator won't function. But as the day warms up the lithium grease inside the actuator it has enough power to function. In cold climates like Michigan where I grew up, it's really common for this to happen to door lock actuators (similar style electro magnet release, same grease internally). Used to **** me off because in the morning you're really cold and want to get in, but the actuator is too cold to work.

 

I do believe it has something to do with the cold.I have been traveling to Iowa for the last two days and the problem has been getting worse.Also the key is starting to get stuck in the ignition.Its happened three times so far.Can it be tied into the shifter problem??

 

Yes, definitely! The key issue is the 'other' problem with the H2s. I'm trying hard to find the post I had seen before with the solution to that key sticking issue. It has to do with the brake release mechanism if I remember correctly, but there's a way to permanently fix it without 'rigging' it. I'll keep searching for you.