No trailer tail lights/tail relay location for 1997 Fzj80?

[Anvil]

After searching Mud and the internet for two hours... I need to ask a question.

I have no power going to my trailer tail lights. The vehicles tail lights work. All other trailer lights work fine. I have continuity through the trailer adapter. Tail lights had previously worked fine.

The wiring diagram shows a tail light relay. Where is this relay located?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ppc]

Check both the grounds on the vehicle and trailer. Run 12V directly to the trailer from a battery and see what lights up. What do you exactly mean by "continuity through the trailer adapter"? Very frequently a defective trailer light converter will show a voltage when not under load or not connected but as soon as you connect and add the load the voltage will drop very low or go to zero.

 

[BILT4ME]

Left side kick panel down low. Two round relays. Pull and reseat.

 

[Anvil]

Check both the grounds on the vehicle and trailer. Run 12V directly to the trailer from a battery and see what lights up. What do you exactly mean by "continuity through the trailer adapter"? Very frequently a defective trailer light converter will show a voltage when not under load or not connected but as soon as you connect and add the load the voltage will drop very low or go to zero.

PPC, Thank you for the input! "continuity through the trailer adapter" means continuity through the convertor. I disconnected the splice on the red/black wire (power) before the converter, thinking I had a bad connection. There was no power input. I checked the continuity from the splice to the trailer, I have continuity. I have ground, the turn signals and brake lights work fine.

I recently built/installed a new rear bumper, The OEM trailer connection was in bad shape, so I had to splice into each wire using waterproof connectors. All worked fine until last week.

I also replaced the trailer 1157 bulbs.

Here is the wiring diagram. Am I wrong thinking it is the relay? Power to the converter comes from the red/black wire.

Thanks again!

 

[Anvil]

Left side kick panel down low. Two round relays. Pull and reseat.

Thanks Bilt4me! I finally found the relays! Just curious, please educate me. What does pulling and reseating a relay do?

Thanks again!

 

[LINUS]

Thanks Bilt4me! I finally found the relays! Just curious, please educate me. What does pulling and reseating a relay do?

Thanks again!

It knocks the crusty crap off the terminals. You might even toss a light coat of grease on the terminals, and wipe the relay spades with a little sandpaper of scotchbrite.

All you connections are 20 yrs old, this is going to be a common problem & solution moving forward.

I grease all connectors I open - it really goes a long way to stabizing runabilty esp since I can take a solid splash on any connector & the grease beads off any water/crud.

Lithium or dielectric grease is your friend with old cars.

 

[Anvil]

That makes sense. Thanks!

 

[Tools R Us]

... I have no power going to my trailer tail lights. The vehicles tail lights work. ...

If it were the relay, the vehicle tail lights wouldn't work. In this case it has to be something in the converter or associated wiring.

 

[Anvil]

If it were the relay, the vehicle tail lights wouldn't work. In this case it has to be something in the converter or associated wiring.

Thanks Tools R Us! That's what I thought... but, I have no power from the red/black wire before the converter and the vehicle tail lights work fine. If I read the diagram correctly, the red/black wire comes directly from relay to the rear of the vehicle for trailer lights.

I hate to do it... I guess I could tap into the green tail light wire... Any thoughts?

 

[ToyotaDon]

Red/black wire is the ground side control for the relay. It should not be feeding the converter 12V.

Converter should be getting tail signal from the green wire at the trailer socket.

 

[BILT4ME]

Do you have dash lights?

 

[ppc]

Do you know what brand/model converter you have? Is it just a 4-wire connector to the trailer? The Hoppy/Hopkins model specific to the 80's series inserts itself right at the pigtail connections to each tailight so if the lights work the converter is being supplied correctly. Its a plug and play solution. These devices are relatively cheap on Amazon so rather than wasting a lot of time diagnosing the problem just replace what you have.

 

[Anvil]

Red/black wire is the ground side control for the relay. It should not be feeding the converter 12V.

Converter should be getting tail signal from the green wire at the trailer socket.

Now I'm really confused (which isn't hard to do). After installing the new bumper, I wired the new trailer converter and rented a uhaul trailer. All lights worked well. When wiring, I had 12 volts on the red/black wire...

Do you have dash lights?

Yes sir, all lights work well!

 

[ppc]

It wouldn't be the first time a Uhaul POS trailer destroyed a converter. You never know who may have screwed with the trailer wiring.

 

[BILT4ME]

Now I'm really confused (which isn't hard to do). After installing the new bumper, I wired the new trailer converter and rented a uhaul trailer. All lights worked well. When wiring, I had 12 volts on the red/black wire...




Yes sir, all lights work well!

If you have dash lights, it's not the relay.

Focus on the converter......

 

[ToyotaDon]

Now I'm really confused (which isn't hard to do). After installing the new bumper, I wired the new trailer converter and rented a uhaul trailer. All lights worked well. When wiring, I had 12 volts on the red/black wire...

You will normally have 12V on the red/black wire when the headlamp switch is off. You are measuring the voltage drop across the switch. Once the switch is on, it should go to 0V.

If that's the wire you used for the converter, you need to pick a different one. You could always try running a long jumper wire from the battery to the converter and see if it feeds the taillights at the trailer. That circuit should just be passing straight through the converter to the plug, anyway, so why not bypass it?