Got a problem here. Sorry for the novel.
Two weeks ago we took a small road trip. Along the way, I noticed that the gauge lights (speedo, tach, etc.) were out. When we got there I shut off the truck. Then came out later and found that I couldn't shift out of park. A quick mud search brought up the bit about the shifter interlock being on the brake light circuit - sure enough, the 10A brake light fuse is blown. Replaced that, bought a few spares, and we're on our way again. But with a few issues...
- several warning lights (A/T oil temp, brake, oil level, and the red square one by the ammeter) come on together at random intervals - tapping the brake makes them go off
- gauge lights still off
- D indicator and clock dim significantly with left blinker, brake or hazard lights
And then about 3 hours into the return trip, the truck died at 70 MPH on the interstate. That was more excitement then I really needed. This was a complete electrical system shutdown as far as I can tell - clock and radio presets were gone, though it didn't run rough like it sometimes does when the ECU has to re-learn things. Once I got it stopped on the shoulder, it started up like nothing happened. Then the same thing happened on a side street a few minutes later. Started again, and drove the remaining 15 minutes home.
So last weekend I dug into it, suspecting the left rear wiring harness somehow. Lots of additional weird stuff going on as I troubleshoot - at one point the shift interlock enagaged/disengaged with the flashing of the left turn signal/hazards and the 15A tail light fuse blew along with another event that reset the radio and clock again. Eventually figured out that most of the weird stuff went away if I disconnected the trailer wiring harness adapter. It's marked "Hoppy" and is something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-LiteMate-Vehicle-1991-1998-1996-1998/dp/B000JKCSX8/?tag=ihco-20
I've driven about 40 miles since then. No more lights dimming when i apply turn signal/hazards/brakes, no more blown fuses, shutdowns, etc. But the gauge lights are still out, and the set of warning lights described above still come on and off together at random intervals - though touching the brakes no longer causes them to turn off. Happened probably 6 times on my 20 mile commute this morning.
So ... any ideas? Did the trailer adaptor failure feed excess current back into something else and cause additional damage?
More information that may be relevant - back at the end of march we did a big trip out to Utah & Canyonlands towing an offroad camp trailer - I think it was about 1500 miles total, several days of offroad, one water crossing with water up to about the rocker panels, lots of deep snow and mud at one point - pulled the winch out once. And an extended pressure washing session when we got back to clean things up. Trailer is wired with LED side markers and tail lights. The road trip where all the problems started was the first significant use after this trip, though I did drive it around town and such a few times. I'm running dual batteries with a Hellroaring controller and a 130A Tundra alternator.
Two weeks ago we took a small road trip. Along the way, I noticed that the gauge lights (speedo, tach, etc.) were out. When we got there I shut off the truck. Then came out later and found that I couldn't shift out of park. A quick mud search brought up the bit about the shifter interlock being on the brake light circuit - sure enough, the 10A brake light fuse is blown. Replaced that, bought a few spares, and we're on our way again. But with a few issues...
- several warning lights (A/T oil temp, brake, oil level, and the red square one by the ammeter) come on together at random intervals - tapping the brake makes them go off
- gauge lights still off
- D indicator and clock dim significantly with left blinker, brake or hazard lights
And then about 3 hours into the return trip, the truck died at 70 MPH on the interstate. That was more excitement then I really needed. This was a complete electrical system shutdown as far as I can tell - clock and radio presets were gone, though it didn't run rough like it sometimes does when the ECU has to re-learn things. Once I got it stopped on the shoulder, it started up like nothing happened. Then the same thing happened on a side street a few minutes later. Started again, and drove the remaining 15 minutes home.
So last weekend I dug into it, suspecting the left rear wiring harness somehow. Lots of additional weird stuff going on as I troubleshoot - at one point the shift interlock enagaged/disengaged with the flashing of the left turn signal/hazards and the 15A tail light fuse blew along with another event that reset the radio and clock again. Eventually figured out that most of the weird stuff went away if I disconnected the trailer wiring harness adapter. It's marked "Hoppy" and is something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-LiteMate-Vehicle-1991-1998-1996-1998/dp/B000JKCSX8/?tag=ihco-20
I've driven about 40 miles since then. No more lights dimming when i apply turn signal/hazards/brakes, no more blown fuses, shutdowns, etc. But the gauge lights are still out, and the set of warning lights described above still come on and off together at random intervals - though touching the brakes no longer causes them to turn off. Happened probably 6 times on my 20 mile commute this morning.
So ... any ideas? Did the trailer adaptor failure feed excess current back into something else and cause additional damage?
More information that may be relevant - back at the end of march we did a big trip out to Utah & Canyonlands towing an offroad camp trailer - I think it was about 1500 miles total, several days of offroad, one water crossing with water up to about the rocker panels, lots of deep snow and mud at one point - pulled the winch out once. And an extended pressure washing session when we got back to clean things up. Trailer is wired with LED side markers and tail lights. The road trip where all the problems started was the first significant use after this trip, though I did drive it around town and such a few times. I'm running dual batteries with a Hellroaring controller and a 130A Tundra alternator.
Last edited:
