Tundra Tow Lights --Help Please

[tmvikings]

Looking for the best way to fix this issue, my tow lights do not work and they always have. I ran a test on the plug to the driver’s side and all looked well and the tester light worked for power and the blinker. I then went to the passenger side and noticed that the plug had one terminal that did have a little corrosion on it and nothing worked on that side. I followed the ground back to the license plate area and tried to re-ground it nothing. What is the best way to make this work again I want to go fishing! Should I just replace/bypass that passenger side plug, I already tried cleaning that side and nothing worked. Thanks for the help.......

Ok Thinking I should just add a new female connector and just bypass the first T-Connector I have check everything from the fuses to taking apart every T-connector and cleaning them and removing the drivers side tail light and checking all in their also looks ok- the last owner did splice in to the tail light and add a fuse fo the back topper light but that all checked out. the wires all seemed ok... again any helpful hints would be awsome dont really want to keep striping wires to fix this.......THANKS...

Ive added some picks maybe this will help

[Jeremy airjer W]

I don't understand what you mean that there isn't any power at the T connectors. if this is an aftermarket wiring harness (which you showed a picture of in the other post) than it is plug and play. If the tailights on the vehicle are working than there is a power source for the aftermarket wiring control box. If you have no power going into the aftermarket trailer wiring control box than its a simple matter of getting a new aftermarket trailer wiring harness, unpluging the old one, and plugging in the new one. It is not uncommon for these to go bad.

[gofishingtom]

Tow lights can always be a hassle especially living in minnesota through winters and snow and salt..But every other year i cut the plug on the truck and just put a new one on..makes life much easier then trying to find where the problem is..because i think 90% of trailer light problems are the truck plug or bad ground connection..if the lights all work to the back of the truck then theres a problem in the plug or somewhere on the trailer..possible wire on trailer side that doesnt work has a bare wire touching something or broke..so i would look at the side that isnt working and run all the way down the wiring and make sure that there isnt a bare wire showing that got pinched or even chewed by a mouse or red squirrel.. that's where i would start..clean ground terminal and change the plug on the truck first..then go from there...

[JimBuck]

I agree with gofishingtom on the 90% hypothesis. Over the last 6 years I've had an issue with my trailer lights.....blowing fuses, bulbs and my mind in the process. A few things that helped me troubleshoot and finally get things working 100%

-Try a different connector

-Try a different vehicle(I noticed my trailer was blowing fuses in the truck resulting in nothing operating)

-Check fuses in vehicle & trailer

-Invest in a volt meter.....these devices are priceless for troubleshooting those pesky trailer wires. The volt meter is great for....

*Quickly testing fuses without removing them

*Making sure trailer plugs function correctly

*Testing wires by making a small puncture with the needle end of the +/- connectors....Instead of stripping wire molding.

Maybe a few of these ideas might help get the ball-rollin'. The other thing I'm happy I did was purchase a set of LED trailer lights. I have an older trailer and between the wiring complications and water leaking in the bulb casing causing burnouts it was easily worth the money. In fact, I saw a set at Cabela's in the bargain cave for about 25 cheaper than I paid for mine....

Good luck,

-C

[Jeremy airjer W]

In the other thread you started you showed an aftermarket wiring harness. I do believe according to the pictures that you have a factory wiring harness.

Unplug this connector

Turn on the lights and the four way flashers. Then check the pins that the green, yellow, and brown wires would have connected to with a test light that is connected to a good ground. What happens?

Then with the test light connected to power check the pin that the white wire would connect to. It should light up? If it does not you have a bad ground. If any of the other pins do not light up or flash the test light you have a wiring issue that needs professional attention since you have already checked the basics.

If the test light works on the ground and flashes or is on steady when checking the other three pins, then reconnect the connector and do the same thing on the four way connector for the trailer. If you don't get the same results than you need a new 4 flat trailer harness.

Please stick with this post! It would also be helpful if you gave some answers instead of starting new posts!!

[tmvikings]

(Yep that's it) I would of just cut it all out if that plug had any power to it-but it does not. where is the ground for this thing may be this is the problem

[Jeremy airjer W]

TM you need to bring it in. Electrical issues will get the best of the best and I think this is one that likely has an easy fix but needs a fresh pair of eyes and a little experience to narrow down the source of the problem.

The box in the pic looks like it could possibly be some sort of traziler lighting control module. I do not have any experience with that module. but if thats what it is it is a simple as checking inputs and outputs. I am not sure what part of the country you are from but many local libraries have free access to alldata. It would be worth your time to get the wiring diagrams for the exterior lighting and trailer lighting.

Like I said I think this one needs to be checked out by somebody who has some electrical experience!

[Macgyver55]

The first thing you want to do is get rid of all those 3M quick connectors in there and solder all of those connections! They work great for a quick hook up in areas where weather cannot affect them, but after exposed a while they can corrode inside and cause intermittent problems.

Typically the ground will be a white or black wire.

One question for you though...are those fuse holders I'm seeing back there? If so, did you check those fuses in addition to the vehicle fuses?

[Shack]

Quote:

The first thing you want to do is get rid of all those 3M quick connectors in there and solder all of those connections!

Ya, those 3M quick connectors are junk.

Those black rubber boxes on both orange wires do possibly look like fuse housings. I would cut the white elec. ties off and take a peek.