How To Test A 4-Way Wiring Harness On A 2006 Jeep Commander

Question

Question:

2006 Jeep Commander I bought my Jeep a few years ago from a dealership and they installed a towing package with this Hopkins wiring package. I have fried the converter box multiple times. First trailer I hooked it up to I had no power so I believe it went bad in the first year just being on the vehicle. The last time it was replaced, it worked last summer but we noticed a pulsing in the trailer lights which we believed was a grounding issue. Now this spring we had no power to the 4 way plug again. After looking into the wiring setup we found that the ground was put in with a self tapping bolt into the driver side tail light compartment. No paint was removed and I dont know if the material the body is made out of is a good ground. Does this seem like a sufficient way of grounding? Also we pulled the in line fuse out and found that the ground side was still reading a charge. Can you explain this to me? The dealership keeps insisting the only way the converter box keeps failing is a problem with the trailer wiring even though I have no issues when hooking it up to other vehicles. What are your thoughts from what I have described?

asked by: Shane D

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Expert Reply:

Generally speaking, a converter box will usually fail if there is a short somewhere in your trailer's wiring or on the wiring harness itself, which can occur during installation. A faulty or inadequate ground connection will not generally cause a short of the converter box however, may cause the lights to act erratically.

Per manufacturer's recommendation, a ground wire must be attached to the frame of the vehicle on a bare metal surface. In most cases using the body is a sufficient grounding source however, you will need to sand down and remove all surface materials (paint) before attaching or you will risk running into an improper connection that can cause erratic lighting functions.

In order to test for certain problems that may be occurring in your wiring harness you may want to use a circuit tester like part # PTW2993. The first thing I recommend doing is visually checking all wires to ensure none are pinched or damaged. A pinched or damaged wire can cause the system to short circuit. The next step to check entails amp draw. I recommend using the 7-Function Digital Multimeter part # PT89ZR to test each trailer lights wire circuit to ensure you are not exceeding the maximum amp draw rating per the wiring harness manufacturers recommendation of 5 Amps.

If you still continue to read a charge from the ground wire with fuse removed from the in-line fuse holder, you will want to test each of the wires leading into the device to ensure you are connecting the proper wire.

I have attached a wiring troubleshooting article for your review.

expert reply by: Conner L

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