Intermittent trailer brake issue

Dukes · 03-08-2019, 10:23 PM

TV 2015 Ram 2500, TT 2014 282RK Hemisphere Lite, getting check trailer brake lite in truck. This is intermittent but occurring more often. Have checked all connections and wires on trailer for obvious defects, have had the trucked checked by a dealer and it is ok. Has anyone had a similar issue.

mwdilday · 03-08-2019, 10:36 PM

I would think it would either be a bulb or wiring.

clarkbre · 03-08-2019, 10:41 PM

It could be as simple as the connector needing cleaning and fresh grease. I had issues with a brake light that turned out to be exactly this.

Dukes · 03-09-2019, 10:10 AM

i didn’t explain properly, the truck shows “trailer brakes disconnected” intermittently and the trailer brakes are disconnected but lights and signals all continue to work. I have been told that the truck brake controller which is from the factory needs to read resistance and when this alarm goes off it isn’t. Is this correct. I have checked the resistance at the trailer plug and there is some but did not record the amount. I have visually checked all the wires but nothing stands out and being intermittent makes it that much more difficult. The intermittent part is getting more often and I have a 4000 km trip home in April so a repair is necessary. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

TheWolfPaq82 · 03-09-2019, 10:24 AM

Had similar issue with our old trailer and 2013 Silverado. spent almost 2 hrs under trailer tracing everything, used meter on trailer plug, truck plug and everything checked out fine. It wasn't until I was checking trailer plug at truck and I reached up underneath and moved wires...BINGO !!! A little movement of the wires into the back of the plug and connection was lost. Tore apart the harness on the back of the plug and sure enough...the brake wire was corroded. Cut wire, re-striped it, added some grease installed wire and TA-DA everything was fine.

saus · 03-09-2019, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dukes

TV 2015 Ram 2500, TT 2014 282RK Hemisphere Lite, getting check trailer brake lite in truck. This is intermittent but occurring more often. Have checked all connections and wires on trailer for obvious defects, have had the trucked checked by a dealer and it is ok. Has anyone had a similar issue.

I had the same problem with my Hopkins 7 pin “y” adapter for my 5er. Every time I would test it, it would test fine but the truck would periodically tell me that the trailer was disconnected. I called Hopkins and they said that it has been happening to some of their connectors. They sent me a new one and problem solved.

PinzPal · 03-09-2019, 11:16 AM

Dukes, had the same problem on a stock trailer, spent hours under and around trailer and truck. Problem was the plug connector on the trailer itself outwardly looked great, wires fine, no corrosion, a real head searcher. Turned out, just the tab for the brake wire inside the trailer connection plug had been pushed back in its socket and would just barely make contact with the truck receptacle, every bump caused the brake controller in the truck to alert " trailer disconnected"

Capt. Mike · 03-09-2019, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dukes

i didn’t explain properly, the truck shows “trailer brakes disconnected” intermittently and the trailer brakes are disconnected but lights and signals all continue to work. I have been told that the truck brake controller which is from the factory needs to read resistance and when this alarm goes off it isn’t. Is this correct. I have checked the resistance at the trailer plug and there is some but did not record the amount. I have visually checked all the wires but nothing stands out and being intermittent makes it that much more difficult. The intermittent part is getting more often and I have a 4000 km trip home in April so a repair is necessary. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

We had the same problem with our 2017 Columbus fifth wheel. One of the wires connected to the magnet in the left front brake caused the problem, with exactly the same message on the dash of our Silverado diesel. Dealer pulled the wheel, repaired the broken wire, problem solved.

High Country Duramax · 03-09-2019, 02:04 PM

Same thing happened in my ‘’06 fifth wheel a couple years back. Ended up being a wire that was grounding out inside the axle tube on camper.

TitanMike · 03-09-2019, 02:28 PM

With any brake or trailer light issue the first place go is the 7-pin connector/plug. When the trailer isn't hitched to the Tow Vehicle most of these plugs are just hanging or lying out in the weather. The connector on the vehicle usually has a weather cover that snaps into place when the plug is removed but the plug is not so lucky.

Next time you have the plug in your hand shine a light into the darkest recesses and look at how much tarnish/corrosion has built up on the contacts.

Most of the time just plugging in and removing the plug several times is enough to establish good contact but there are times when some work with a piece of fine wet/dry sandpaper on a thin piece of plastic is needed. FWIW a small, sharp, drill bit is also good for reaching in and scraping the verdigris off the connectors.

Most people don't bother with maintenance like suggested, they just wait until the plug no longer works and just put on a new one. To each their own.

Angels · 03-09-2019, 02:35 PM

I've had the similar problems with my 2017 Chev. no problems in the past with my older truck when I changed trucks started to have this problem, warning on the dash, lights worked. checked trailer wiring, new grease cleaned connectors and took it into dealership said not the truck connector. played some more took it back to a different dealership it was the truck connector, problem solved

Bob Maager · 03-09-2019, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dukes

TV 2015 Ram 2500, TT 2014 282RK Hemisphere Lite, getting check trailer brake lite in truck. This is intermittent but occurring more often. Have checked all connections and wires on trailer for obvious defects, have had the trucked checked by a dealer and it is ok. Has anyone had a similar issue.

had a similar problem. I isolated each brake wire and checked it with an owm meter. looking for a different reading. found one at the brake drum, replaced the wire, ops check ok. It was an intermittent wire. wiggle it, sometime I'd get a ready, sometime it was open. hope that will help you.

Good luck, Bob

rsdata · 03-09-2019, 04:55 PM

start with the easy part...
clean the 7 pin plug and trailer connector... make the contacts shine and clean

then move under the trailer and look for worn/broken wire connections to the trailer brakes, two wires each side...

chances are it is a bad connection somewhere...

I use the below product to keep my plugs connecting great... much better then contact cleaner

davechamp · 03-09-2019, 04:56 PM

Had the same problem with new silverado. Found the trailer brake connection on the 7 pin plug is the top connection and the tab holding the trailer plug in is on the bottom. The weight of the wire was pulling the top of the plug out enough to cause a bad connection. Put a wood stick between the plug cover and bumper to push up on the connector plug, problem solved.

Dukes · 04-15-2019, 03:15 PM

Further to my original post and thank you for your comments/ideas towards my intermittent trailer brake issue, I carefully inspected each wire connection that was visible, removed and inspected each brake magnet and wire, finding all to be good, this included removing each wire connector and megging each wire. I decided to run a new wire inside corrugated plastic pipe attaching to underside of trailer and installing all new crimped connectors. We departed on our 4,000 kilometre (2485 miles) home and had absolutely no issues. I suspect my problem was a bad wire connection in the belly of the trailer which cannot be seen.

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