Tow plug problem

Hardy · 09-03-2006, 08:30 AM

When I test the plug itself the running lights have power, but the brake lights and turn signals do not have power. The brake lights and turn signals on the motorhome work fine, but not on the tow car when it is connected. I can't seem to find a fuse that controls those two circuits in the motorhome. Any ideas?

Hardy · 09-03-2006, 08:30 AM

When I test the plug itself the running lights have power, but the brake lights and turn signals do not have power. The brake lights and turn signals on the motorhome work fine, but not on the tow car when it is connected. I can't seem to find a fuse that controls those two circuits in the motorhome. Any ideas?

Freddy · 09-03-2006, 10:18 AM

First, make sure you have the plug wired correctly, then make sure you have a good ground connection.

If that's not it, check the diodes in the wiring to toad's lights. Wires are typically attached to them using spade connectors, and mine used to come off quite often.

vicsryd · 09-03-2006, 12:39 PM

Another thing to consider is a blown fuse. Easy to do when wiring up a new toad and/or making your own cables and there is a separate set of fuses for toe wiring recepticle.

On my Journey 34H the tow recepticle fuse block is located in the shoreline electrical bay, to the right behind sheet metal. The engine ECU is located here too. I would beleve it's in the same location on your Meridian. Take the sheet metal off to gain access (4-5 screws).

Another methood to verify location of the fuses is by listening for the emergency flasher relay which is located in the same area. Turn on your flashers, open up your bay/shoreline doors and walk around while listening for the clicking of the relay. That's where the tow recepticle fuses are.

On Vectra/Horizon's this same fuse block is on the opposite side of the coach behind the A/C cover (unscrew and it hinges up).

For what it's worth thes fuses are not to be found on either Winnebago's or Freightliner;s wiring diagrams.

RVAITOR · 09-03-2006, 03:47 PM

Had the same problem with my tow vehicle, then I checked the connecting cord between the vehicles and found the wires loose, tightened them and everything worked fine.

Dsouthw524 · 09-04-2006, 06:26 AM

I am not sure that you have clarified the problem. Do you have brake lights etc at the plug from the coach at the connector without being plugged into the toad (use test light or VIM)? Has the wiring ever worked? These answers will help everyone try to help answer the problem.

PDB · 09-04-2006, 07:55 AM

On my Vectra I found two different probs.

One was the cord. Unscrew the end off the cord and make sure all the wires are still connected. One of them had pulled loose on the toad end on mine.

The other prob was the fuse. As someone else said, on the drivers side at rear of coach, open the grille panel. It has four screws - two you can reach thru the power bay the other two you can reach under the rear bumper. Inside the grille are two black boxes. Open the top one (it is hinged and opens left-to-right) and the are 5 or 6 fuses, each one labled clearly.

I fixed the cord wiring and replaced the blown fuses and all my probs went away.

Paul

Hardy · 09-04-2006, 08:37 AM

Jon and Vicki had the solution! We found the fuse by listening to the noise made by the flasher relay, behind sheet metal in the power compartment. We found 2 blown fuses and all is solved. This forum has once again earned our thanks!

Joe-K · 09-05-2006, 06:43 AM

The forums are great

I've got a 36G also and didn't know the fuses were there. Havn't blown any yet, but now I'll know where they are in case I do

jcar6109 · 09-05-2006, 08:19 AM

Does this apply to the Adventurer as well? Are there separate fuses for the tow receptacle on the Adventurer as described above? If there are separate fuses does anyone know where they would be on the Adventurer? I am not having any problem now but would like to know for future reference.
Thanks in advance for any replies.

vicsryd · 09-07-2006, 02:19 PM

While the information I provided is specific to Freightliner diesel chassis, I would think the "listen for the relay to find the fuses" method might might apply to any chassis.

skigramp · 09-08-2006, 11:32 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">On my Journey 34H the tow recepticle fuse block is located in the shoreline electrical bay, to the right behind sheet metal. The engine ECU is located here too. I would beleve it's in the same location on your Meridian. Take the sheet metal off to gain access (4-5 screws). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have a 2004 39W Journey ... the flasher is behind a sheet metal shield in the same compartment.

I took out the 3 screws on the inside wall ... the end of the sheet metal on the inside wall moves ... I could not get the outside end of sheet metal shield to budge ... what am I NOT doing?

OldBaldGuy · 09-19-2006, 09:13 AM

When we bought our 2002 Adventurer we discovered that, while the right rear turn signal worked on the RV, it did not work on the toad, and that pin in the connector, while it had a wire going to it, was not hot. I simply located the wire going to the RR signal on the RV, tapped off of it, ran that wire to the connector, and shazam, we had a signal on the toad. We found enough things wrong with the RV that we decided that it must have been made on a Monday...

R1chy · 11-23-2006, 01:10 PM

In case all of the forementioned did not fix your problem - I had the same problem but a different solution.

In my coach they used a set of relays in the rear battery compartment that are linked to the toad connector. One of my relays went bad. Took me a lonnnnnnnng time to find this problem, but replacing the relay fixed the problem. BTW - this problem started to show up by the toad lights sometimes working and sometimes not.

Good luck, R1chy

R1chy · 03-22-2008, 05:40 PM

This past week I had another toad connector relay fail on me, this time it was the brake light relay. Since there are two other relays that I haven't YET failed, I now have a "hot spare" stored nearby ready for use.

R1chy

Pusherman · 03-23-2008, 09:45 AM

skigramp, There are 3 screws on each edge of the sheetmetal cover which provides access to the fuses in the electrical bay on my coach. The bend of the metal on one edge (outside edge) has them at 90d to the other edge.

I just checked my coach. I have my panel out at the moment.

skigramp · 03-23-2008, 07:29 PM

Don ...

I finally figured it out ... the factory drove the screws for the compartment door strut through the sheet metal cover ...

I took off the strut, removed the panel and "sawed out the holes" ... then replace the struts ... now the panel comes out ...