Troubleshooting 4-Way Trailer Wiring with 5 Wires That Isnt Working Correctly

Question:

I replaced my tracker boat trailer lights. I have 5 wires coming from the trailer . . white, green, yellow, brown w/ green and brown w/ yellow. how do I connect these to my flat connector to the truck. The flat connector has white, yellow, green and one solid brown? My turn and break lights work but running lights dont? Ive tried connecting the solid brown to the brown w/ green and brown w/ yellow but they dont work? any ideas

asked by: Steven R

Expert Reply:

It sounds like your new trailer wiring is designed to connect to a 4-way wishbone connector where there are two brown wires for the running lights. The yellow/brown wire is for the running lights on the left side and the green/brown wire is for the running lights on the right side. This makes it so you don't have to use a jumper wire to go from one side to the other.

What you've tried to do should work; connecting the two brown wires to the single brown wire on the connector. Since this isn't working I would check your ground wire first of all. Make sure it's grounded to a clean bare metal location on the trailer's frame. You should also test the truck side connector with a circuit tester, like part # PTW2993, to make sure the problem is actually on the trailer. It could be a fuse or wiring issue on the truck and you don't even know it.

If the truck is good check to see if the two individual brown wires are working correctly on their own by connecting each one to the positive post of a 12 volt battery while connecting the ground wire to the battery's negative post. If the lights come on then the two wires are good and you just need to get them wired to the connector. It might be easier to get a wishbone connector like part # 002402 and connect each brown wire to the connector's brown wires.

It could be a problem with the connector itself.

expert reply by: Charles S