Electric Brake

[Oasis-3]

My electric brake quit working. I changed the controler with a used one and no help. I replaced the plug on the back of the truck no help. I switched the relay under the hood no help. All lights and turns and brakes work just no trailer brakes.



Thanks for any help

Cliff



What should I check next

 

[Big Mike]

Have someone power up the brake controller while you check the plug with a meter, sounds like a possible broken wire. If you have power at the plug, check for power at the wheels.

 

[JimBob24]

Not sure if it is the same on 2nd gen trucks, but I had a problem with my 3rd gen trailer brakes using the factory trailer brake wiring plug. On 3rd gen trucks the sense voltage that goes to the brake controller from the brake switch is fused through the Center High Mounted Stop Light fuse. This sense voltage is the voltage that goes to the brake controller when you step on the brake pedal. There is a fuse in the box marked CHMSL (or something close to that) which sends power to the center brake light (and brake controller) On mine it was blown and I spent considerable time looking before I found the problem. Replaced the fuse and haven't had a problem since.



You might take a look and see if the 2nd gen trucks use the same system.

 

[jelag]

1 - got to the trailer plug on the back of the truck and identify the correct pin that provides power to the brake circuit on the trailer... have someone either press the brake pedal while you monitor the voltage at the pin you identified as the brake circuit on the plug..... you should see some DC voltage, based on how high your controller is set up in the truck..... I'm guessing from 4 to 8 Volts DC... . IF you see this voltage the problem is in your trailer... ... . If no voltage is available at the pin than I'd manually move the lever on the controller... . if you still have no voltage the problem is in your truck... If you have voltage the problem is in the trailer... .



From here your on your own..... only because the menu for listing all possible faults would take more space than I have time for ... ... ...



Jim

 

[Oasis-3]

Thanks for all the help so far.

To this point I have found a burnt out third brake light bulb but it still don't work so tomarow I will buy a new controler and see if that works. I have tried this on a good trailer but still no power comming out of the two controlers I have. I will check in when I put the new controler in.

Thanks

Cliff

 

[Oasis-3]

New controler in new light bulbs in 3rd brake light still not working.



still looking



Cliff

 

[Dieselnerd]

Does your trailer have a breakaway switch? If it does, pull the pin with a trailer wheel jacked up so you can spin it and see if it locks up. If it locks up the problem is in the truck, if it doesn't, it's the trailer. Trailer battery must be charged and in place for this to work.

 

[Oasis-3]

I fixed It

With the help of Fatcat's post I took a closer look at the plug area. What I found is the newer trucks are different then the 96/97 year trucks. My 2001 has a plug on the back of the hitch plug the 96/97 type have the wires going straight into the hitch plug. IF you have a newer type truck take a look and pull back the wire plastic protector and you will find that Dodge had someone test all the wires and you can see were they pushed a tester into each wire and this small hole in each wire gets salt in it and rots the copper wire away. I found the blue one was broken off inside. This link will take you to some pictures I took

http://groups.msn.com/oasis320015/trailerplug.msnw?Page=1



Good Luck

Cliff

P. S. Thanks FATCAT