What the $^%$ is wrong with my trailer brakes

[Darel]

OK, I have a '97 with the factory tow brake setup. The only way the red light would come on would be if you stepped on the pedal and fingered the controller at the same time.

I figured the problem was in the controller, so I bought a Tekonsha Prodigy. It is wired correctly, all I did was cut the factory plug off the old controller and splice the harness for the Prodigy on it. Yes, I double and triple (then later cut off all my electrical tape and quadruple) checked the wiring. I get the red light on the display indicating the controller has a good 12V circuit. Supposedly, when I plug a trailer into the socket on the hitch, regardless of motion, I should get a "c" on the display. No "c". If I finger the controller I get "nc", which means no connection. When I finger the controller and step on the pedal at the same time, I get a blank display with just the little red light for 12V power. Basically, the controller isn't recognizing that I have a trailer back there. A test light on the plug confirms all this, I only get current when i finger and step simultaneously.

I have tried this on 4 different trailers, two less than a year old. Same results every time. I know the prongs in the 6-round plugs are matched up because like I said, the brakes used to work when I fingered the controller and stepped on the brake at the same time. What is the problem? The lady at Tekonsha Customer Service (who was really *****y, by the way), basically confirmed that the controller is working properly and is hooked up properly. She wasn't any more help than that. The controller has displays for short circuits, overloads, bad grounds, and a couple of other common problems and it indicates none.

Please help! This problem has been driving me nuts for months!

 

[Turbo Thom]

I am very supprised at what happened with Tekonsha. I had trouble with a 5 year old controller and was walked through as how to hook up the wires. When that did not work I was told to get a new one from the supplier. I did and the way I was told to hook up the wires made all OK. I think the ladys name I spoke to was Virginia.



One thing I had wrong was the wire to the 3rd brake light. That tells the controler when to work. Chech the wire hook-ups again.



. . Preston. .

 

[Darel]

The wire hookups are correct unless they somehow magically got switched from the time the brakes worked to the time they didn't, between their individual sources and the factory plug.

Was Virginia an older lady? The lady I talked to sounded kinda older. She seemed really impatient and expected me to have a spare set of electromagnets around to test with, then was ****** when I didn't, kinda like "Why are you calling me if you haven't even got a drawer full of electromagnets lying around your house?"

 

[danandamy]

FUN TIME

You've got a wire lose somewhere. So, it's fun time tracking the wire down. I know I know, I wish it could be me but I wouldn't want to hog all the fun. Your original controller probably quit working because you lost the connection somewhere. Now for the helpful part. Take your socket loose on the truck. Take the little screw out and push the center piece out of it and check your connections. Betting's not allowed on here but if it were that's where I'd lay odds your problem lies. We tow trailers all the time and whenever there's a problem with wiring related to the trailer, I ALWAYS start there, 9 times out of 10 the problem's in the socket or the plug (which you've already eliminated the plug by trying different trailers).



Have Fun dan

 

[WestTN]

groung problem?

Is your trailer grounding through the harness (preferred) or the hitchball (no good!) Water can enter the back of the trucks connector sometimes and can corrode the wire away to nothing.

The Prodigy should automatically sense the trailer. It does so by checking for continuity through the brakes.



Good luck!!

 

[Turbo Thom]

Weel Darel:

You ask if I spoke to a older lady. Now I'm not sure. I'm 58 and she didn't sound any older than me. Am I old? All I know is she was older than 16. Damn I hope I'm not old. Don't feel like it.



Gotta go now. Geritol time.



. . Preston

 

[Darel]

UPDATE:

Replaced the 40A fuse, relay, and socket in the rear of the truck. It was pretty corroded, but now it's brand new. Again, I know I got the wiring right because all of the lights work properly, and hell, there's only one other wire. I also replced my hitch, because on the driver's side it was cracked almost all the way through! The PO must have WAY overloaded it because my towing hasn't even come close to rated capacity. I'll post some pictures later. The trailer grounds through the socket. I did clean up all the ground connetions. We also blew out all the wiring harness plug-ins while we were in there. A bud and I found another socket spliced into the factory harness up in the bed, for plugging in a slide-in or gooseneck. I've got a plastic bedliner so I never saw it before. Anyway, we removed the second socket and lo and behold, I get a proper signal to the brakes (as evidenced by a test light that gets dimmer and stronger as you finger the controller OR step on the brakes), however the Prodigy controller still will not recognize the connection. I still get "nc", and have yet to have gotten a "c". If nothing else the brakes should work now, but I spent a lot more money for that controller than I had to, so I'd like it to work properly. Any more ideas?

Thanks for your help so far!

 

[mike r]

Good Job

I was gonna suggest you look for something else spliced into the wiring since you've had the setup working before. On the PSD's at work they use one of the RV splice boxes under the bed near the hitch to splice into the wiring to bring out to the connector. They do the same on the trailers. Guess what, after about three years of on and off roading in all types of weather the same thing starts happening. Same solution, change controller, problem still exists. Oh well, she's fixed and it's cheaper than a trailer coming off the hitch and killing someone. The splice boxes do collect alot of interesting stuff though. As for the cracked hitch, sounds like the PO was pulling stuck equipment or tree stumps or something else he shouldn't have been. Maybe take some time underneath the truck to look for any other damage you may not know about. Better safe than sorry!

 

[WestTN]

hitch ratings

Many people are unaware there are two weight ratings on a platform hitch. The maximum rating is valid only when using a weight transfering hitch. The load carrying rating is usually much lower. The PO may have towed heavy equipment without an equalizer hitch. There also were some defective factory hitches some time back. Unfortunately I don't remember which years were involved. Maybe someone else can jump in here with that information.

Good luck!