Trouble With Brakes

[Wesair]

We drove several hours in the rain today with no troubles. Then I saw some intermittent messages on my dash that my trailer was connected. That was odd and never happened before. Then I received a message on the dash that my trailer was disconnected. I pulled over and the trailer breaks did not work but the trailer lights did.
I wiggled the 7-way connector and it seems to have a good connection.
I checked the fuse for the brake controller under the hood and it is okay.
Now the lights on the trailer don't work either.
Now we are sitting at an RV park in Mississippi waiting for Monday and a dealer to open.
Has anyone had this trouble? Suggestions?
We have a 2013 f-150 ecoboost. 2015 25' Flying Cloud

[PaulnGina]

So the trailer "brakes" did not work? You DID try them by themselves?

[CRH]

Sounds like a bad ground. I would check/clean the plug and socket.

[OTRA15]

There have been reports of the Ford OEM brake controller going bad:

https://www.google.com/search?q=f150...=airforums.com

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f238...50-137280.html
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f238...50-160736.html

A wider search shows these results:

https://www.google.com/search?q=truc...ih=604&dpr=2.4

. . . many of which suggest that your Ford OEM brake controller may be shot IMO.

I would find the nearest Ford dealer and get an appt. ASAP. Some may be open on Sunday? If they say the part will take a few days, any chance they have an F150 on the lot and could swap out the part? Is your 2013 F150 still under warranty?

Good luck!

Peter

PS-- Good question from PaulnGina -- did your trailer brakes still work? How about manually applying them via the brake controller's slide/lever for doing so -- can you manually engage the trailer brakes?

CRH has a good idea about a bad ground. Check as many wires as you can, leading to the F150's rear umbilical cord socket. Any external signs of damage or road-scrapes? Maybe unplug and re-plug any nearby wiring harness plugs. Your drive in the rain may have resulted in moisture getting inside the wiring. Try a hair dryer -- carefully -- to dry things out every place you can find?

[woodfox45]

I had that problem a few years back . I hooked up in the rain and the connections must have been wet . i sprayed them with wd40 and everything worked . this was with my 2009 GM 2500 hd. I didn't have far to go and towed without trailer brakes not fun .

[heslinhotel]

Wesair, Have you recently greased ball hitch? if so did you use dielectric(sp) grease?

[Bgibbs]

The 7-pin connector has its own ground and does not rely on a ground thru the ball. At least, that's the way mine works.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Wesair

. . .
Now we are sitting at an RV park in Mississippi waiting for Monday and a dealer to open.
Has anyone had this trouble? Suggestions?
. . .

Wondering if you have tried any of the suggestions here?

Good luck tomorrow. Hopefully you have had some extra time to explore the local sights!

Peter

[Wesair]

Sorry for the slow reply, here's an update.
We took the truck to a Ford dealer and the brakes started working again along the way but trailer lights did not work. Ultimately the repair man found a slot under the hood with a missing fuse that should not have been empty. He put in a fuse and presto everything now works perfectly.
Of course this makes no sense to me. I've driven thousands of miles with no problems and to my knowledge the fuse has been missing since I purchased the truck 3 years ago.
The service guy had no answer other than that sometimes electrical systems sort of reroute themselves to get things to work. I've renamed my truck Hal.
Thanks for all of your suggestions.

[Hans627]

Originally Posted by Wesair

Sorry for the slow reply, here's an update.
We took the truck to a Ford dealer and the brakes started working again along the way but trailer lights did not work. Ultimately the repair man found a slot under the hood with a missing fuse that should not have been empty. He put in a fuse and presto everything now works perfectly.
Of course this makes no sense to me. I've driven thousands of miles with no problems and to my knowledge the fuse has been missing since I purchased the truck 3 years ago.
The service guy had no answer other than that sometimes electrical systems sort of reroute themselves to get things to work. I've renamed my truck Hal.
Thanks for all of your suggestions.

If your truck starts talking to you I think I would be really concerned!

[rmkrum]

“My brother the truck?”

10 points to those perceptive enough to catch the reference...

[SSquared]

I will bet you a cold one that fuse has nothing to do with the actual problem. I think it is all about water getting into the wiring somewhere. Keep an eye on it next time you drive in the rain.

[OTRA15]

"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, Wes, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do."

SS -- Agree -- water --> short.

rmk -- no idea.

[ShinyPete]

Wesair-

I'm with SSquared and OTRA15 on this one, it was because of the rain. And I'm not picky about my beer.......... Pack dielectric grease into the plug end of the trailer umbilical cord, and make sure nothing causes it to be put into a bind or strain (like turning), that can "loosen" the connection to the truck. It cured most of the ills on ours.

Hal should be fine, maybe he doesn't like the rain either. Your name isn't Dave is it?

Hope this helps.

[YippieKiYa]

Obscure “My Mother, the Car” TV show reference?

Don’t get nervous until HAL locks you out.

[rmkrum]

Bingo.

Ask your Amazon Echo if she knows HAL, then ask her to “open the pod bay doors”.

A little freaky, IMHO.

[Al and Missy]

On my older F-150 the fuse was to enable the trailer battery charge (12V power line) in the 7-way connector. Nothing to do with the brakes.

Al

[GCinSC2]

Originally Posted by Wesair

The service guy had no answer other than that sometimes electrical systems sort of reroute themselves to get things to work. I've renamed my truck Hal.

Thanks for all of your suggestions.

Wow an electrical system rerouting on its own. I’ll have to remember that one.

Wesair best of luck hope the problem is gone or that tech retires.

Can anybody explain a truck rerouting it’s electrical circuits intentionally?

[OTRA15]

. . . a standard feature of Ford’s SYNC system . . .



Each system update includes new software to “re-wire” the hardware.

HAL

PS — See quote at top of Post #13:

Originally Posted by OTRA15

"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, Wes, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do."
. . .

[NevadaGeo]

Rain, wet problem. I had a new '97 F250 that the turn signals would come on by themselves in a foggy night and other noises in the steering column. No issues in the dry.