[snakebitten]

There's also a fairly significant number of counterfeit "Ford oem" trailer brake controllers.
So be cautious

 

[smitty6153]

Thanks for the heads up. Does Tasca sell counterfeit parts?

I thought they were one of the few places that supplied only true Motorcraft parts.

I will likely end up buying the part from my local dealer anyways (if it ends up being the TCM).

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[smitty6153]

Heck, if my TBC is bad after 48,000 miles and 1 use, maybe a knock off one would actually provide more value.

If it works twice it would beat the OEM one.

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[snakebitten]

I think Ebay was the most common source for the counterfeits.
A dealership or online Ford store is probably as safe as you can get.
It'll be interesting to see if the controller is the issue.
They really are cheap feeling in your hands.
And you are right that getting the genuine controller doesn't guarantee that you get a good one.

 

[rjschatts]

Mine cluster never glitched out but I had trailer disconnected when nothing was connected and it is a 2018. The shop replaced it and told me they (factory) typically last 50-100k before the wires corrode on the 7-way


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[smitty6153]

Mine cluster never glitched out but I had trailer disconnected when nothing was connected and it is a 2018. The shop replaced it and told me they (factory) typically last 50-100k before the wires corrode on the 7-way


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They replaced the bumper plug or the brake controller? I presume from your post that it was the bumper plug.

Mine only has fits when a trailer is connected and only when it is the 7way being used.

Wish I had another trailer with brakes I could connect to. That would help me determine if it is a problem with the trailer.

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[rjschatts]

The bumper plug was the problem. Ever since they replaced it, I towed and haven’t had an issue.
Before it would act like there was a trailer for 5 seconds up to a couple miles, brake controller screen showed the brake pressure going up like there was something connected. I have an XLT, so no fancy cluster for it to glitch.
I live in Minnesota so the salt caused the corrosion, but it looked good just “dusty”


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[rjschatts]

Would a 7-way tester possibly cause it to have a fit?


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[smitty6153]

Don't know. I don't have a tester anyhow.

My guess is that it would. The truck just has to sense a load (I think) in order to allow you to start adjusting things.

Keep in mind that the lights always work fine. It has to be something with the brake circuit only.

I think if the bumper plug was bad it would affect all of the circuits or connections.

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[smitty6153]

Trailer worked great today for a while. Then the disconnected error started popping up again.

Strange thing is that the brakes still work when the screen says disconnected.

I hate problems but I hate intermittent problems the most. Hard to diagnose, hard to fix when the issue is sporadic.

Oh, and the screen never did the glitching thing. Even with the gain set to 10 and me holding the TBC to engage the brakes. WTH?

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[snakebitten]

Amazing that it still supplied braking voltage while the screen prompt displayed no trailer present.

That implies that the notifications related code is separate from the actual function command code.

 

[smitty6153]

Amazing that it still supplied braking voltage while the screen prompt displayed no trailer present.

That implies that the notifications related code is separate from the actual function command code.

It's a strange thing for sure. It said Trailer Disconnected on the screen but I had not hit OK to clear the message so maybe in the background it had re-detected the trailer, thus the brakes worked?

Heck, I don't know what to think about it. I'm sure the Ford dealer is going to want to throw random parts at it until it's resolved.

None of those parts take a rocket scientist to install, I just want them for the software update and diagnosis.

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[smitty6153]

One day in the shop and they haven't found the issue yet.

Service rep said something about needed to run some wires to help with diagnosing it. Not sure what that's all about.

I just hope they don't screw anything up. I have a lot of time and money in that dash from my stereo build. Didn't like flashing it back to the stock tune either.

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[madmaxmutt]

It is possible that you have already fixed these issues, but I am going to make one simple recommendation, and show you a couple of examples, that I hope will help you.

Go back to basics. This is 12VDC and the trailer wiring is normally sized to transmit that voltage properly. You have a least 2 wires that are actually abount half the guage they should be from your photos. The two wires specifically in question are important to sensing the connection.

Your brake controller wire is cut about halfway through. Note whoever cut the sheath sliced through several of the wire's insulation.

Your junction box also has an issue. Your battery power wire is using an improperly sized terminal connector for the wire guage, so half the wire isn't in the crimp.

Finally, make sure the ground is firmly attached in the junction box and on the trailer frame.

 

[smitty6153]

I agree with all your statements. Unfortunately I have already fixed all those issues.

I removed their small ones and used the correct size wire terminals on the ground and 12v wires. I also cut back the main harness and re-stripped everything.

I then ran a dedicated 12ga ground loop and blue 12ga from the j box all the way to the first brake magnet. Added a good trailer chassis ground (10ga) by sanding down the powder coating to bare steel before attaching the ring terminal.

I also replaced the 7way trailer side plug with a new one.

I should have taken an after pic of the J box. It's much better now but the issues persist.

This pic is a semi before pic. You can see that they had no rhyme or reason to the trailer wiring colors. I fixed all that and made things the right size. I also soldered, greased then heat shrunk all connections instead of those crap T tap splices they use.

The wire going out the top of the pic is a new 10ga chassis ground. The white going to the left runs all the way to the first magnet, picking up other grounds as it goes. They ran Blue to White but I ran a new brake power wire as well in Blue.

The black had the wrong size terminal and they had over tightened it on the stud and stripped the stud out of the plastic j box. I had to use vice grips to pull it out. I then re-epoxied the stud into the j box.

This trailer doesn't have a battery charger so I haven't connected anything to the 12v wire.

It was a mess

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[madmaxmutt]

I agree with all your statements. Unfortunately I have already fixed all those issues.

I removed their small ones and used the correct size wire terminals on the ground and 12v wires. I also cut back the main harness and re-stripped everything.

I then ran a dedicated 12ga ground loop and blue 12ga from the j box all the way to the first brake magnet. Added a good trailer chassis ground (10ga) by sanding down the powder coating to bare steel before attaching the ring terminal.

I also replaced the 7way trailer side plug with a new one.

I should have taken an after pic of the J box. It's much better now but the issues persist.

This pic is a semi before pic. You can see that they had no rhyme or reason to the trailer wiring colors. I fixed all that and made things the right size. I also soldered, greased then heat shrunk all connections instead of those crap T tap splices they use.

The wire going out the top of the pic is a new 10ga chassis ground. The white going to the left runs all the way to the first magnet, picking up other grounds as it goes. They ran Blue to White but I ran a new brake power wire as well in Blue.

The black had the wrong size terminal and they had over tightened it on the stud and stripped the stud out of the plastic j box. I had to use vice grips to pull it out. I then re-epoxied the stud into the j box.

This trailer doesn't have a battery charger so I haven't connected anything to the 12v wire.

It was a mess

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Good deal, but stick with the theme. If the truck is telling you the trailer is disconnected, it knows it was connected. You have some basic power flow problem affecting the sensing. Somewhere between your controller and your trailer brakes, you probably have a minor open condition. The controller should be attempting to sense the magnets in your brakes. Could be a frayed or poorly connected wire anywhere in that system. The relay could be bad. Yes, the controller itself could be bad, but that is probably the most costly peice to rule out. The others are magnets, connectors, wires and circuit protection devices. The 12V wire is to charge a battery (which you still may not have), not for a charger.

 

[smitty6153]

I have a breakaway battery but it doesn't have a charger on it.

3 days in the shop now and they can't find the issue. I told them that if they spend more than the cost of the 3 parts investigating it then it's a losing proposition.

As much as I hate to do it, I'd almost rather dump the Ford controller and install a Tekonsha or Reese and be done with it. It's obvious that Ford has overcomplicated these trucks to the point of unreliability.



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[snakebitten]

It's nice to have the integrated features of the oem brake controller. But if I have to go old-school to get reliable and confident trailer braking, then that's not going to be an option. I'm doing it.

You have given it a worthy effort. That's for sure.

 

[Arkansas Eco]

I do luv a nice Tekonsha. Is that spelled correctly ?

 

[smitty6153]

Close enough for this guy.

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