trailer running lights keep blowing 20 amp fuse
03-28-2011, 11:15 AM
#2
No Pain, No Pain!
The fuse on your truck's fuse panel?
Sounds like a short somewhere in the wiring harness for the trailer plug, but I am not an electrical expert.
I am sure someone here will be able to offer some better suggestions. You can help them by giving us more detail about the truck you are hooking up to and the make/model of the trailer.
Good luck!
Sounds like a short somewhere in the wiring harness for the trailer plug, but I am not an electrical expert.
I am sure someone here will be able to offer some better suggestions. You can help them by giving us more detail about the truck you are hooking up to and the make/model of the trailer.Good luck!
03-29-2011, 11:53 PM
#5
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OK, first off is it just the trailer lights or both truck and trailer lights? If it is just the trailer then there is a few things to look for.
1) short in trailer wiring harness
2) bad plug coming from truck (corrosion or frayed wires)
3) bad plug on trailer wiring harness (corrosion or frayed wires)
Now if there is a problem with truck tail lights, this could also be causing trailer lights to fail also. Start by checking the items above. If nothing bad there move on to these next steps.
Now, not knowing what year your truck is, I'm going to tell you that Ford had some problems with wirng harnesses on a few years aroung '03. I know this from experience and have talked to a few friends and people that had the same problems I did. But not to worry, it is a pretty easy fix. OK, here are the next steps to take, but remember this is just if only if both truck and trailer lights are malfunctioning.
1) remove the cover from the steering column and locate the multi switch. (controls turn signals, tail lights, and hazard lights)
2) check the wiring to all the connectors going to the switch. Most likely, there will be a broken wire here, but you may not be able to see it if the isulation is not broken.
3) If there is a wire broken, sometimes lights will work when the tilt steering is in the up position, and then when you pull it down to drive, the wires pull apart causing lights to fail. (don't know if this is caused by bad wire or wiring harness is to short)
4) If there is a broken wire, most likely it will be right at the plug so you will probably not be able to splice it correctly. You can get a kit that contains the new connector, shrink wrap and a short wiring harness adapter to splice in from your local ford dealer for just a few bucks. All you need is a solder iron.
Hope this helps! By the way while the steering column cover is off, check the wires to the overdrive switch in the shifter. They will break where the wires come through the hole in the bottom of the shifter not letting you be able to turn overdrive off. Just trying to save you a little time from doing it later. Unfortunately, if they are broke, you have to buy a whole new shifter with the wiring. About 90 some odd dollars from ford!
1) short in trailer wiring harness
2) bad plug coming from truck (corrosion or frayed wires)
3) bad plug on trailer wiring harness (corrosion or frayed wires)
Now if there is a problem with truck tail lights, this could also be causing trailer lights to fail also. Start by checking the items above. If nothing bad there move on to these next steps.
Now, not knowing what year your truck is, I'm going to tell you that Ford had some problems with wirng harnesses on a few years aroung '03. I know this from experience and have talked to a few friends and people that had the same problems I did. But not to worry, it is a pretty easy fix. OK, here are the next steps to take, but remember this is just if only if both truck and trailer lights are malfunctioning.
1) remove the cover from the steering column and locate the multi switch. (controls turn signals, tail lights, and hazard lights)
2) check the wiring to all the connectors going to the switch. Most likely, there will be a broken wire here, but you may not be able to see it if the isulation is not broken.
3) If there is a wire broken, sometimes lights will work when the tilt steering is in the up position, and then when you pull it down to drive, the wires pull apart causing lights to fail. (don't know if this is caused by bad wire or wiring harness is to short)
4) If there is a broken wire, most likely it will be right at the plug so you will probably not be able to splice it correctly. You can get a kit that contains the new connector, shrink wrap and a short wiring harness adapter to splice in from your local ford dealer for just a few bucks. All you need is a solder iron.
Hope this helps! By the way while the steering column cover is off, check the wires to the overdrive switch in the shifter. They will break where the wires come through the hole in the bottom of the shifter not letting you be able to turn overdrive off. Just trying to save you a little time from doing it later. Unfortunately, if they are broke, you have to buy a whole new shifter with the wiring. About 90 some odd dollars from ford!
