Unknown unplugged connector (1 Viewer)

[2002TLCyes]

The steel tubing that runs transmission fluid to the tranny cooler popped a leak the other day. I took the front grill off to fix that, and noticed a 2 wire connector that was dangling loose behind the top of the tranny cooler, so I plugged it in. Later at night, at about 5 am my car alarm started going off. For the first time ever. I didn't find any signs of intrusion, so I just figured an acorn dropped on the car really hard and it triggered it.

Then this morning on my drive to work, the ABS, BRAKE, 4x4 LOCK and VSC lights randomly came on. I pulled over to check and couldn't see anything wrong. It's raining out so everything underneath was soaked, so I wouldn't be able to see any fluids leaking, but I don't think there were.

Could it be that the connector was disconnected by the previous owner for good reason, and that's the reason for these two electrical weirdnessess?

 

[vishmuzty]

For the sudden wake up of the alarm, sounds like you plugged in your hood lock switch which is used for alarm triggering. There's a small microswitch that senses when the hood is latched, previous owner likely unplugged to eliminate false alarms.

For the ABS/VSC/BRAKE lights I'd run an OBD scan to see which codes are recorded. Might be as simple as an P0420 rear O2 sensor code that can trip those indicator lights.

 

[ramangain]

If the horn blaring happens when your truck gets wet, it was probably unplugged for a reason. These rigs can leak water into the drivers side kick panel and along the trench that routes wires to the back drivers side. See if there is any moisture down there after a good rain or car wash.

I speak from experience since I had the exact same symptom (the horn) when the truck got wet. I had water in the area I mentioned. I had some trim redone around the windshield, and the blaring horn stopped, along with the wetness in the footwell area.

 

[ramangain]

Additionally, if the rig had a previous leak, perhaps some connectors, fuses, or relays have corrosion on them already down in that area, causing the issue

 

[2002TLCyes]

It was all dry and had been dry for a while, so I don't blame water for this. The microswitch for the hood latch sounds more plausible, although it's not like anything or anyone tried to open it while it was sitting still at night. I'll unplug it. I guess it was unplugged for years for a reason.

As for all the christmas lights lighting up this morning, I've had 2 O2 sensors go bad, which I have replaced. They only triggered the check engine light for me both times. Today, it was basically all the lights on besides the check engine.