Troubleshooting Electric Trailer Brake Controller Connection on 2009 Chevy Silverado 2500

Question:

I have a 2009 chevy 2500 It came with the towing package. I went on a trip 200 miles. Trailer brakes worked. went to come home, no brakes. I checked trailer brakes with 12 volt battery and clips. I hear them moving making noise. I check plug to trailer, a little voltage kinda like a heartbeat..bump bump...real small volts. I replace power control module under truck by spare tire and relay in fuse box. now when I put tester on ground and brakes it says on dash TRAILER CONNECTED for about one second and goes out. when I check the volts at the plug to trailer its more than the heartbeat that I had got the meter goes up 1/2 way but back to zero. please tell me what to look for or try so I can get this fixed. Today I unhooked the battery for 5 minutes to see if it would reset, Thanks!

asked by: David O

Expert Reply:

If you have the factory integrated brake controller, it sounds like it isn't seeing a connection and this is due to not having a draw on the brake controller output wire. It could be an issue with the wire at your connection or it could simply be that the connection needs to be cleaned well. The brake controller output pin is at the 5 o'clock position as you look at the controller from the back of your truck. Clean that pin and use a circuit tester like # PTW2993 which uses an incandescent bulb to create a draw on that pin. See if your controller reads connected when doing this. If it does, we can troubleshoot the trailer side. If not, then the wire needs to be traced for a short and replaced when found with # 10-1-1 sold by the foot.

expert reply by: Jason S