trailer brake problem.

[youngbk]

Hello,
I hope someone may have had this same problem. I have a Drawtite activator11 brake controller on my ford f250. When pulling my trailer the problem is the trailer brakes don't work and the controller flashes OL repeatedly. Then the next time I step on the brakes they work fine. You never know if you are going to have trailer brakes or not. Thanks for the help

 

[tallyho8]

It sounds like a bad/loose wire connection.

 

[Blk88GT]

I agree, sounds like a bad connection or broken wire somewhere.

 

[Bird]

FINDING an intermittent problem can sure be tough at times, but like the other guys said, there's a bad connection somewhere. It could possibly be a defective controller; i.e., bad contacts inside the controller itself, but it's far more likely to be in the wire somewhere between the controller and the trailer brakes. Personally, I'd probably start by checking for continuity between the plug on the trailer and one of the brakes. If you can, connect a meter to those and wiggle the wire around to see if you lose and gain continuity. If you don't find it there, check the plugs, both on the trailer and on the tow vehicle to see if you're always getting a good contact in the plugs themselves. And if everything checks out so far, then check from the controller to the plug on the tow vehicle.

 

[firemanpat2910]

start with the ground. Alot of intermittant problems are from a ground that is happening through the hitch ball not the wires, and as you drive the ground is hit and miss. one way I have proved this in the past is hook up your wires with no metal to metal contact, then set the trailer on the ball and watch the lights come on.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Sounds like a ground issue as was already mentioned. 99% of trailer electrical problems are ground problems. If you still have the installation instructions for that controller, it will have an "error code" listing in it. (I installed one just like that in bro-in-laws Ford Explorer)

 

[youngbk]

Thanks so much to everyone, you have given me alot of good information. I will be all over finding a bad ground or loose wire this weekend.

 

[AlanB]

I take a pair of jumper cables sometimes, and hook to a known good ground on the truck and on the trailer and eliminate bad connections that way.

They can help to narrow your search often times.

I constantly seem to have trouble in the connectors themselves, sometimes that is worth checking as well. Sometimes brand A connecter just does not seat as securely as they should in brand B, and sometimes with ours they just get worn out and sloppy.

One other technique I use a lot, is I have multiple trucks and trailers, it can be a real help to switch them around a bit to isolate if it is a truck or trailer problem. Don't know if you have it available or not, or maybe you have a freind with a similar set up?

Good luck, and it can be an aggravating deal to find an intermittent problem.

 

[Renze]

You never know if you are going to have trailer brakes or not.

That's exactly the reason that electric brakes never catched on in Europe or the rest of the world. Dexter exports to the U.S, Canada, Australia and there is a guy trying to sell it over here in Holland, though he has very little success.

Up to 3,5 ton it is overrun (inertia) brakes, all the rest is hydraulic or air brakes in europe.

I think due to the lighter tow vehicles (no HD pickups in Europe) and more crowded traffic, i suppose brakes are more critical in Europe.

 

[Bird]

Renze, maybe you're right, but your reason for electric brakes not catching on in Europe doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. Yes, some people have trouble with their electric brakes; especially those who only occasionally use their trailer and/or fail to properly maintain it. I've owned 2 conventional travel trailers and one fifth-wheel travel trailer with electric brakes and they never failed. Hydraulic or air brakes require some degree of maintenance, just as anything does, and if you have a leak in a hydraulic or air line, you've got a problem just as you do with a broken electric contact.