Hi all,
Over the past 6 months, we've been having an intermittent issue with the trailer plug connection - the RHS indicator would only work if I cable-tied the plug up to the tailgate to put some upward tension on it, etc. I'd also noticed the electric brakes not working as well as they used to.
Being lazy, I started at the rear end and worked my way forward, checking trailer wiring, trailer plug internals, fuses, etc. Everything was perfect. Last spot to check was the trailer plug socket on the car. It's difficult for me to do this, because I thought I'd be tricky and recess the socket into the rear bumper. So much for that idea
. Anyway, I'd inspected the socket and everything looked good on the outside. I was getting the right voltages on the pins, and was scratching my head. Since it was the last link in the chain to be checked, I pulled it out and opened it up anyway.
What I found was that *most* of the wires had broken off or were about to break off where they enter into the back of the socket
. The indicator wire had severed completely, but had just enough bare strands sticking out the end so that when I tensioned the plug, it would touch the broken wire to the bits of wire left screwed down in the socket connection. Of the wires that hadn't broken off completely, some only had one or two strands left connected. All the little brass screws had worked themselves loose.
Cue a morning of trimming cable, cleaning out the back of the socket terminals and re-terminating all the wires into the socket terminals. All the little brass screws were tightened up hard with a liberal dose of blue Locktite to keep them done up. I believe in the past Symon has advocated crimping on little baby bullet connectors to the wire, and inserting the bullet into the socket terminal - I didn't do this (didn't have any bullet connectors to hand), but can easily see the reasoning behind it and would probably recommend it. I've also made sure to secure the cable where it comes out of the back of the socket tightly to the car, as I believe it was the main cable vibrating that has lead to all the wire cracking down inside the socket. Time will tell if I'm right.
SO - given that we're heading into summer, and all the public holidays are lining up in front of us, I thought I'd post about my morning's exercise as a warning to everyone else. It's a good excuse to pull your trailer plug socket apart and inspect it inside, to make sure you're all good to go for the year ahead. I was lucky, but if I'd left it go any longer I would have lost the trailer brakes and stop lights as well. Needless to say there would have been serious consequences if that happened.
Good luck!
Matto
(Mods - if you feel this would be better served in Electrical, Mech or General Tech, please feel free to move. Figured I'd put it here to alert people who may not think to check the other subareas)
