Long shot but we recently bought a 2nd hand trailer, when I hooked the trailer up and went to leave the car would not start only a red light came on the push start button. Also the shift lock would not release . I disconnected trailer plug and car started 1st time but I had no brake lights. Took trailer to mechanic who checked out the wiring was correct and working fine, which it was. Had a brand new towbar fitted by the towbar guy about a month earlier so thought maybe there was something wrong that end but nope that checked out fine too.
Brake lights started to work properly a few days later (and no we didn't drive it without them)
We are at a loss as to what the issue is, any ideas?
franc123,
May 13, 4:08pm
I would be very interested to see what would happen if a different trailer was plugged in. If you got the same result there has to be something suspect with how the socket has been wired into the vehicle. On many modern cars a dedicated stop lamp feed must be used that is independent, not the trailer harness simply teed into one of the actual stop lamp circuits that goes to the tail light units.
poohbear100,
May 13, 4:13pm
Franc123, we tried that and same issue. We tried new trailer on our other car and worked flawlessly.
franc123,
May 13, 4:20pm
Refer above. Youve got an issue with how its been wired in.
poohbear100,
May 13, 5:11pm
I will take it to auto electrician in the morning, and I will put your idea towards them. Would it also explain the starting issue?
franc123,
May 13, 5:15pm
Hard to say without looking at it. Seems suspicious to me.
intrade,
May 14, 5:09am
Well I have said this 100 times or more now. Modern cars require an expensive towbar computer module to be coded in to the cars' system= 100%, a requirement if the car has stability control. Now there is more problems post if the trailer has led lights?
martin11,
May 14, 5:31am
YOU ARE LIKE A STUCK RECORD .
kazbanz,
May 14, 8:36am
Doesn't that answer your question? If the trailer works perfectly you can take that off the list. If the estima lights worked perfectly pre towbar you can reasonably safely eliminate that. That leaves the only issue being something not right with the wiring to the estima trailer plug.
bigfatmat1,
May 19, 11:28am
I would suspect that trailer has bulbs and too much load. The bcm has cut the brake lights out because it thought there was a overload or short on the circuit. A couple of key cycles would probably of corrected itself. Going forward I think the vehicle will need a interface. An aftermarket one would be fine on that vehicle. Essentially it just takes load off the circuit. This is all just probable based off experience. 2008 vehicle pretty old these days and a while since I worked on one so cannot be 100% sure that the bcm controls the circuit in question.
franc123,
May 19, 11:43am
I think those third generation Estimas do require one, the early 2000's ones not so. Only a dumb module though. There was a change around 06.
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