Tow/Haul Mode 2011 Explorer without tow package

[Johnienhuis]

I discovered something new about my explorer the other day, and didn't see anything particularly well documented about it on the internet so I decided to share it.

I recently installed a receiver hitch on my explorer, and wanted to be able to activate the tow/haul mode. I looked into the options and had seen that people were able to add the tow button to there explorer, but they had to buy both the switch and the panel that the switch and headlight switch goes into. I didn't really want to buy these parts because i don't tow very often, so I did a little research and figured out how to activate tow/haul mode without having the switch. In order to view the images I posted you might need to right click on the IMG icon and click open image in new tab.

1. The first thing you need to do is remove the panel located on the left side of the headlight control switch.
   
2. Then, behind the panel there is a wiring harness with two connectors coming off of it. You will want to disconnect the lower one(the top one is for the headlight switch) and pull it out so you can see it. In my case the lower one isn't actually connected to anything, it is just a dummy connector to keep the harness from flopping around. The image below shows this.
   
3. The final thing that needs to be done is to momentarily jump the blue and brown/green wires together and this will activate tow/haul mode. You could use something like a paper clip to do this. The number for these two wires are pin 8 and pin 4 on this connector. The two images below show which pins to jump.
   
   

I hope this helps someone out that is also wanting to activate tow/haul mode without having to add parts to their vehicle.

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum.
This is what I had in my 2011 Limited without the tow package. In the 'Settings' there was an option to turn Tow ON/OFF

Peter

 

[Johnienhuis]

Thanks for the reply Peter,

I know that there is an option for trailer sway control in the menu, but that is different then tow/haul mode. I was never able to find an option for tow/haul mode in the settings, but it could be a different version of the software or something.

John

 

[Mbrooks420]

Why not just add a cheap aftermarket switch so you don’t have to pull the panel ever again?