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DanFromGC · 08-02-2015, 01:59 PM

I wanted to share my recent experience with the new 2015 F150. I recently towed our Jayco to a camp site, with my 2013 F150, and got things squared away for my son and his buddies to have a nice camping experience. My wife and I then went to the dealership and traded our truck for a new 2015 F150 with the tow package. A few days later I picked up my son and the Jayco, checked the lights and made sure the brakes were working and started to head out. After just a few feet, the display on the dash played a tone and displayed "Trailer Disconnected". I stopped, and checked everything again. Lights were still on and the trailer brakes worked, so I scratched my head and started driving again. I pulled up to the dump station and emptied the tanks, and the error displayed a few more times. Everything seemed to work, and I needed to get the trailer home so we kept going. The same thing happened all the way home, with no rhyme or reason. Sometimes it happened while I was braking, others when I was accelerating, and others while cruising along.

I took the truck to the dealership, and they could find nothing wrong. I searched the net, and saw a few others with the same experience and each time it was wiring in the trailer. I did my best to troubleshoot the wiring with a multi meter, but everything appeared normal. I hooked up to a buddy's trailer and had no issues. That told me it was my trailer, not the Ford. I took it to a local "ma & pa" RV repair shop. Where I just tested connections, They yanked hard on the wire crimps and junction box wire nuts, and several of the connections came apart easily. In fact, one of the brake lines, down by the axle, was not crimped at all. The factory had missed one of the wires when they crimped it, so the wire was just next to the ground. Anyway, they replaced all the external factory crimps and wire nuts. We did not look inside. We then connected it up, and problem was solved.

It was a frustrating week figuring it out, and I was really thinking it was the new Ford since I have towed this trailer for 3 seasons with my previous truck. The internet theory (not Ford's dealership) is that the new trucks are so "sophisticated" they detect the bad wiring as a disconnect. Who knows? But, I wanted to share my experience in case anyone else has this same issue. Good luck!

Dan
2013 F150 4x4 Lariat Crew Cab Ecoboost
2013 Jayco Jayflight 28BHBE 28'

tuffr2 · 08-02-2015, 03:05 PM

Very interesting story. I guess the newer truck detects things that the other truck did not detect. Good thing you had a buddies trailer to test with. That saved you some time.

Is the 2015 F-150 much better than the 2013?

L.C.Gray · 08-02-2015, 03:47 PM

Mine alerts me fairly constantly of being connected and disconnected when pulling my flatbed. Not a problem with the TT. I suspect a chaffed wire on the flatbeds's brake wiring as being the root cause.