Need Wiring Help

[jmg]

After spending way too many hours in a hot garage yesterday trying to fix a non operating rt. signal trailer light, I figured I better ask the pros at HSO for help.  Bought a used rig this Spring with 1996 ShoreLander bunk roller trailer.  The night I bought it, I noticed that the male connector for the rt. signal(green wire) had a chip out of it.  The tail light and brake light worked on the rt. side, as did the emergency flash mode, although it was VERY weak on rt. compared with left. But, the rt. signal wouldn't work by itself and wouldn't light up without the lights on.  Of course, the old guy I bought it from denied any knowledge of this ever happening before.  Anyway, got it home ok and have not had a chance to work on it until now.  Discovered that the wiring coming from my vehicle had a problem when I bought a test device.  Found no power to rt. Green Wire).  Took it back to UHaul last Wed., where orig. hitch and wiring was done and they said the connector assembly was "Fried" and put on a new one.Orig. was put in in April 2013 and was only used once to trailer my old boat and everything worked fine.  UHaul figured it was due to something in the ShoreLander trailer that caused the problem.  Since I don't want to fry any more connector sets, I need to fix the problem.  Put on new Quick fix Hopkins connector(Male) yesterday, but no change.  Then took rt. trailer light apart and replaced bulbs, but no change, despite cleaning up ground to light.  I think there is a grounding problem, but the entire frame on the trailer is enclosed and the white wire runs right with the other 3 wires into the frame,(where on my Spartan trailer, the white wire grounded onto the frame before the rest of the wires went into the opening in the frame), not to be seen anywhere else that I could find.  Am ready to replace it all with new LED kit, but don't know how to get old wires out, off or whatever.  I live in SW metro.  Anybody know someone besides a dealer who is good with such wiring issues?  Very frustrated right now.  Thanks to anybody who reads through all this and, as usual, any help will be Greatly appreciated.  Stay Cool today.

[marine_man]

Can you clarify what you would like to do next?  It kind of sounds like you want to replace the lights (and wiring?) on your trailer?

If you're going to replace everything (lights and wiring, which might be your best bet at this point if you're not familiar with troubleshooting), can you answer a couple more questions?

1) Do you have side marker lights (usually on the fender?)

2) Do you have the light bar that goes across the back cross member of the trailer?

3) What does the new wiring harness look like, or what's the brand and model number so I can give you a little better help.

marine_man

[jmg]

Thanks so much for replying!,Marine man.  Trailer does have side amber lights on frame ahead of fenders.  Trailer does not have light bars in back.  After mulling situation over, I was able to talk to tech support at Shorelandr.  Tech gave me some tips on getting new wiring through frame, etc. so I think I will get new wishbone style wiring harness and go for it.  Will let you know what happens.  Thanks again for your response.

[marine_man]

That's what I was going to suggest...

Once you get your new harness, I'd cut the harness at the Y in front, and tie the tail light end of the new harness to where you cut it and use the old harness to pull the harness down to the tail light.  Splicing into the harness / getting access to the amber side lights will be a little bit of a challenge, but nothing serious.

Good luck!

marine_man

[jmg]

Thought I'd put in a follow-up to my questions about the wiring.  I FINALLY got to it this weekend and it wasn't too bad for my first re-wiring attempt.  Everything works except for the rt. side marker .ight.  Could be it's burned out.  Is the rt. one supposed to be amber or red?  This one is red.  The left amber light had a metal ring where the screw went through into the frame but the right one did not.  Should it?  figured all the other lights had their own form of a ground but the right one did not.  Anyway, thanks for all the tips and info.

[marine_man]

Glad to hear you got it figured out!  I'm not sure what the "regulations" are as it pertains to side marker lights, but the majority that I've seen have been amber.

The clearance lights need some source of ground.. I presume the marker lights are on the fender.. is the fender plastic or steel?  If it's steel, the metal ring on the light makes sense - it grounds through the fender.  If it's plastic, you'd need two wires running to the marker light.

marine_man

[gunner55]

We've gotten rid of a lot of our trailer light problems since we went LED. For a few $ more, the lenses are all 1 pc so no leaks. Maybe clean a pin or ground & put a little di-electric grease it, once in a while.