2017 factory brake controller

[Char17EL]

Hello everyone. Has anyone had a factory brake controller installed on a ‘17 EL without the max tow package? My dealer is telling me it can’t be done but I’m not convinced that is true. My dash has all the trailer options in the display center like sway controll, and add a trailer and trailer options. Thanks in advance.

 

[coolzzy]

Find a different dealer, it's easy to do, the plug is already in the dash behind the cubby where the controller goes. If you are handy, you can download forscan and apply for a free license and enable it in the software for free. Any decent dealer should know this and probably charge you 100 bucks labor to enable the feature. Being an EL, you already have the 3.73 gears and aux transmission cooler (you might double check this, it's a 7 row cooler in front of the radiator under the hood). All you need is the brake controller and the 7 pin connector wired to the hitch

 

[Black]

Find a different dealer, it's easy to do, the plug is already in the dash behind the cubby where the controller goes. If you are handy, you can download forscan and apply for a free license and enable it in the software for free. Any decent dealer should know this and probably charge you 100 bucks labor to enable the feature. Being an EL, you already have the 3.73 gears and aux transmission cooler (you might double check this, it's a 7 row cooler in front of the radiator under the hood). All you need is the brake controller and the 7 pin connector wired to the hitch

I have an EL but there is no Aux transcooler that I can see. It looks like the plastic mounting bracket it there but no cooler.
I will at least be adding the HD radiator. I’ll price out all the hoses along with the cooler and decide if I add the cooler or not.


But back to the OP.
If you want the brake controller just buy it for like $75. Remove the left cubby, fish out the wiring harness, plug it into the controller, pop the controller in the place of cubby.
Download ForScan, make the needed programming changes.
Buy a 4pin to 7pin adapter and add the capped wired in the rear and you are golden.

You’ll be about $125 all said and done presuming you need to buy an ODBII module to do the ForScan programming.

 

[Char17EL]

Ok. I have the obd2 plug coming tomorrow and i plan to download FORScan and double check that the option is there to turn on the brake controller before i go to the dealer to teach them how to do it. Haha. Thanks again and I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

[Black]

No reason to bother to teach them. They aren’t going to care how to do it with a Russian Program. The majority don’t even know it is capable of even being done with their or software.
Or at least they tend to be pretty tight lipped when you ask about programming changes.

 

[coolzzy]

Don't bother with the radiator, the easy and cheaper add is the transmission cooler and it's also the most beneficial. You'd have to be working the truck pretty hard to notice a difference in engine radiators but a transmission can overheat rapidly without you knowing it (unless you have a Guage and are monitoring it). Engine overheats, you pull over and let it cool down. Transmission overheats, it burns the fluid, which you have no easy way of checking, and eventually burns the transmission. Get a factory 7 row cooler from the scrap yard for a few bucks and plumb it in.

 

[Char17EL]

I have an EL but there is no Aux transcooler that I can see. It looks like the plastic mounting bracket it there but no cooler.
I will at least be adding the HD radiator. I’ll price out all the hoses along with the cooler and decide if I add the cooler or not.


But back to the OP.
If you want the brake controller just buy it for like $75. Remove the left cubby, fish out the wiring harness, plug it into the controller, pop the controller in the place of cubby.
Download ForScan, make the needed programming changes.
Buy a 4pin to 7pin adapter and add the capped wired in the rear and you are golden.

You’ll be about $125 all said and done presuming you need to buy an ODBII module to do the ForScan programming.

Could you guide me to the proper place to turn on the controller. I looked in forscan and i found the trailer module but it does not have anything about the brake controller.

 

[17LimitedExpy]

Could you guide me to the proper place to turn on the controller. I looked in forscan and i found the trailer module but it does not have anything about the brake controller.

Where did you look for the FORScan info? Did you try the FORScan thread on this Forum - https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/forscan-tweaks-2015.32082/page-64

 

[Black]

Could you guide me to the proper place to turn on the controller. I looked in forscan and i found the trailer module but it does not have anything about the brake controller.

https://www.expeditionforum.com/posts/295954/

The ForScan spreadsheet on google docs appears to be down at the moment but that link will bring up the post giving you the changes that need to be made.

 

[Don Plata]

Find a different dealer, it's easy to do, the plug is already in the dash behind the cubby where the controller goes. If you are handy, you can download forscan and apply for a free license and enable it in the software for free. Any decent dealer should know this and probably charge you 100 bucks labor to enable the feature. Being an EL, you already have the 3.73 gears and aux transmission cooler (you might double check this, it's a 7 row cooler in front of the radiator under the hood). All you need is the brake controller and the 7 pin connector wired to the hitch

I have a 2017 Expedition XLT EL. So I plan to Install the OEM brake controller Module that goes into the "cubby" on the dash. I have verified that I have the connector waiting behind the cubby. At the back on the receiver hitch I have the 4 flat connector. I want to add the 7pin connector for my trailer brakes. I plan to buy a 4pin to 7pin adaptor. All the other brake controllers have a power line that attaches to the 7 pole. From what I can tell the 4 pin only has a blue wire labeled "trailer brake". Do I need to run another wire for power to the brakes? Or will connecting the 4pin to the adapter and the trailer brake wire be sufficient without the black 12v line? Of course I would ground the white wire ring to the frame and cap off the purple(reverse lights) and black wire (power). Or is there a power wire I am not seeing?

Thanks!