sounds like the button is stuck engaged. You should be able to plug it in and it wont do anything till you tap the button.

If it's not throwing a check engine light, then I still think it's too cold to enable 4th gear. Otherwise it would throw a code for the OD solenoid not responding.

 

Well the wires weren't ever hooked up from what I can see. I had some randon misfire codes P0308 and such so i did a quick tune up to see if that helped. Plugs, cap, rotor, and coil. Initally it still had a misfire but i unhooked the battery for a while to get rid if the CEL. Hooked it back up and NO CEL after a 12 mile run. And it seemed to be running better. I guess the computer was so used to the misfires that it took a bit to compensate for all 8 cylinders actually firing. The plugs (Splitfire JUNK) that I pulled out were SO WORN that they gapped at 55 or more!! I was shocked it even ran as well as it did. The cap and rotor were all corroded up and worn as well. SO now there aren't any engine codes I should be getting some trans codes but it's not throwing any??
I took it to a local very reputable trans shop and they couldn't start to diagnose the OD issue until the engine codes were gone. I was able to go on a test drive with the tech that had one of those schmancy scan tools that showed everything! he was showing me the torque converter lock up signal and the OD solenoid signal as well as trans temp and everything in between. He said there is for sure something wrong with the OD unit. He said the solenoid signal call was there but it never did anything with it. I'm planning on going back tomorrow morning, dropping it off and seing IF they can get further now that it's running better........

 

makes sense. Yea, it should be throwing a code for OD activation failure, P0740, P0743, P0753, P0783 among others. But the button definitely sounds like it's bad. Did you try putting it in different ways? The manual says it's not keyed and can be connected wrong.

 

The button on the aftermarket piece is not like the picture of the OEM end you provided at all. All there were was the two wires (frayed and all beat up) coming up the shaft with no end or connector on them at all. The button on the craptastic end is cheap plastic and didn't even push in or pop out at all. I hear ya, on the OD codes, it's strange for sure. I don't think it's the temps though. I've driven vehicles in temps down to a BONE CHILLING -50 F here in Alaska and have had automatic trannys work. I hope to have some answers tomorrow. Thanks for all your input thus far.