FishnMan4215
New Member
So...this adventure began in in April, 2021 when enroute from St Augustine, FL headed for Hopkinsville, KY when we pulled into a campground near Atlanta when, as we slowed at the campground office that the "Trailer Disconnected" warning showed on the dash.
Pulled onto campsite, checked everything I could think of and found nothing amiss. Next morning, pulled off campsite, "No Trailer Connected" warning showed on display...until I hit a bump! "Trailer Connected"! Yay! Drove a couple hundred miles to Nashville, hit a bumpy section of the highway and got "Trailer Disconnected" warning again. Looked in rearview mirror and was relieved to see the camper was in fact still connected and following me!
This became the routine all the way to Hopkinsville, then on return trip to St. Augustine. I had all my lights un-interrupted, and it seemed I had working brakes as well.
After verifying that the Expedition plug was working properly by connecting to my son's RV,I re-wired the 7-blade connector with no success; then replaced the 7-blade connector with no success. At this point, I'm getting "No Trailer Connected" continuously.
After checking this forum, I saw a post pointing to the Brake Control Module sending a "pulse" at 4 second intervals as the means by which "Trailer Connection" is verified by the system. So, we rechecked all the wiring connections related to the braking system and all terminals and connections checked out OK...but still "No Trailer Connected". Sheeeesh!!!
My son decided to do "the crawl" the length of our 20' Coleman TT examining the brake wiring back to the wheels...and VOILA!!
The ground-wire of the two wires going to the driver-side wheel hub of the trailer was broken! The reason the "Trailer Disconnected" was intermittent is because, when the trailer traversed a bumpy road, the ground wire would make and break contact with "ground" (the trailer frame), thus making and breaking the circuit for the brakes, thus causing the intermittent "Trailer Disconnected" warning on the dash!!
Soldered in a new piece of wire and we're good to go!
Pulled onto campsite, checked everything I could think of and found nothing amiss. Next morning, pulled off campsite, "No Trailer Connected" warning showed on display...until I hit a bump! "Trailer Connected"! Yay! Drove a couple hundred miles to Nashville, hit a bumpy section of the highway and got "Trailer Disconnected" warning again. Looked in rearview mirror and was relieved to see the camper was in fact still connected and following me!
This became the routine all the way to Hopkinsville, then on return trip to St. Augustine. I had all my lights un-interrupted, and it seemed I had working brakes as well.
After verifying that the Expedition plug was working properly by connecting to my son's RV,I re-wired the 7-blade connector with no success; then replaced the 7-blade connector with no success. At this point, I'm getting "No Trailer Connected" continuously.
After checking this forum, I saw a post pointing to the Brake Control Module sending a "pulse" at 4 second intervals as the means by which "Trailer Connection" is verified by the system. So, we rechecked all the wiring connections related to the braking system and all terminals and connections checked out OK...but still "No Trailer Connected". Sheeeesh!!!
My son decided to do "the crawl" the length of our 20' Coleman TT examining the brake wiring back to the wheels...and VOILA!!
The ground-wire of the two wires going to the driver-side wheel hub of the trailer was broken! The reason the "Trailer Disconnected" was intermittent is because, when the trailer traversed a bumpy road, the ground wire would make and break contact with "ground" (the trailer frame), thus making and breaking the circuit for the brakes, thus causing the intermittent "Trailer Disconnected" warning on the dash!!
Soldered in a new piece of wire and we're good to go!
