Troubleshooting Trailer Brakes Locking Up As Soon as Nissan Frontier is Started  

Question:

Expert Reply:

If the trailer brakes are locking up as soon as you start your Nissan Frontier then there is likely a short somewhere on the wiring or inside the connector itself.

What I first recommend doing is inspecting the 7-Way connector on both the vehicle and trailer, looking for any corrosion or debris inside the pins that might be causing a short and cleaning out as needed.

This issue also sometimes comes up when the connector on the tow vehicle and the connector on the trailer are wired differently. Does your trailer by chance use a 6-Way adapter and if so, are you using an adapter to connect it to your 7-Way? If this is the case, there are two common ways of wiring a 6-Way connector, one that uses the center pin as the brake output and another that uses the center pin as the 12V accessory. You will want to make sure that the adapter you're using matches the pin setup on the trailer.

Lastly you can test the brake controller itself to make sure there isn't an internal issue. To do this simply sever the blue output wire 4 to 6 inches away from the controller. Then test the wire with a circuit tester like # PTW2993 to make sure you are only getting power when applying the manual override or stepping on the brake pedal. If you still get power at idle then there is an internal short and it would need to be replaced.

Please let me know if you still can't locate the issue and we can continue to troubleshoot.

expert reply by: Chris R

0