Wiring harness meltdown!

[WRStrong]

I had a short in my 5th wheel electrical connector and it caused my rear truck (2003) wiring harness to heat up, melting the insulation and shorting it out along 2 and 3 foot lengths. Fortunately, (if there is a bright side to this) the meltdown seemed to be limited to the rear harness and i was able to unplug and replace it. The new harness is nearly $600 and no fun to R&R. Shouldn't a fuse have blown before the wiring melted?



What's more, since the electrical system was not seeing any brake lights, the shifter would not come out of park. After getting towed I found and disconnected the saftey switch allowing me to shift out of park. The truck continued to run fine but no rear lighting and the park issue. We had to get the truck and 5th wheel towed out of a 4-wheel only access area. Another $500!



I searched the forums but haven't found any posts of anyone else having this problem. Anyone else out there had this problem?



Beware of shorts. The light-gauge wire seems to have a hard time carrying the load. If you get in a situation where the truck won't shift out of Park and you are out in the boondocks, remove the access panel under the steering column and unplug the connector from the Park safety switch. This will allow you to get back to civilization for real repairs.

 

[FLynes]

The only problem I ever had was that my backup lights blew the fuse, when I would hook up our travel trailer. I found out, from the dealer, that the truck has to be off, when you connect the trailer harness, or it will short out every time. I tried it again, with a spare fuse on hand, just to make sure that was the problem and it was. My 97 never did that, go figure.