Chip and trailer wire goes NUTS!!! Lesson learned!!! - Diesel Forum

Roger45 · 11-30-2006, 03:18 PM

This updates a previous topic...I have a new 4 position chip that was working great until I had to do an emergency haul, then things went nuts. I loaded a 3 horse steel slant load bumper pull trailer to my rig with one horse (about 4500# total). It was 0F outside. As I went from a dead stop to 55 MPH my tranny could not find a gear, popping between 2-3-4 [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img], with TC locked and unlocked...no rhyme or reason that I could see. One of my four postions on the chip was Stock, but it still had problems [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]. My Cruise Control would not work at all. After 30 miles I pulled the chip and the truck ran great. Once it warmed up I went back to check WHY this happened and here is what I found...
The wife had lent the trailer to a friend who did not have the same plug-in, so they let it drag on the ground and one side got ground down a bit. None of my running lights worked. Left tail marker didn't work. When the right blinker was on, the left one blinked (dim) as well.
I then replaced the chip back in the truck (without the trailer) and it worked perfectly. Next, I replaced the seven blade male plug-in on the trailer an re-hooked up. Two of the six running lights now work, both tail lights, brakes, and turn signals work. The CHIP works in all four positions! Cruise control works with or without the trailer. I ended up having 4 running lights that had rotted out from the inside (15 year old trailer) and replaced them with new ones.

The lesson I learned was that a CHIP can act very strange when towing if there is an electrical problem. I was ready to re-flash the chip, but I am glad I looked deeper and found the problem. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smokin.gif[/img]

Steve Spaulding · 11-30-2006, 04:05 PM

Another thing you learned is not to let your wife loan out your trailer to people who don't respect other peoples' property!

short_stuff · 11-30-2006, 05:18 PM

Amen to that. I was raised that if I ever had to borrow something, I always brought it back in as good or better shape than when I got it. If I had to borrow a car for a quick errand, it was always given back with the gas tank topped off. Just common courtesy stuff.
Guess that's why I'm real picky about who I loan things to. Certain people that I have loaned things to in the past, I don't expect to get those items back.
Glad you figured out the trailer plug was bad. I don't run a chip, but I've had weird electrical gremlins before when hooking up a trailer and having errant or bad grounding.

Roger45 · 11-30-2006, 06:01 PM

You guys are great...I needed that laugh after what I went through. I just went on a small deer hunting trip in SE Alaska and a friend lent me a car to use, saving me big bucks. I left it with a full tank of gas, all the windows and interior cleaned...and as a special thank you I left him a headset LED lamp. I learned like you...always give a big thanks whenever you barrow something...never leave something damaged or worse than you got it!

short_stuff · 11-30-2006, 06:11 PM

Oh, and the biggest lesson I was raised with was to never borrow something that I wasn't prepared to replace, be it a shovel or a car. It makes you stop and think really carefully about whether you want to borrow someone else's tool, or bite the bullet and go out and buy your own. It just too bad that as I go through life, I find more and more people that weren't raised that way, and don't think twice about borrowing one of your tools and trashing it, or not returning it at all. So, as I said in my previous post, certain things I loan out to people I don't ever expect to get back.

**Kanman** · 12-05-2006, 03:44 PM

Guess I should pick myself some better friends. Not so long ago I let a buddy of mine borrow my 16' enclosed trailer to move with. Of course his (if it even had one at all) truck plug didn't fit my trailer. So he brings the damn thing back when he was done minus the 7 way trailer plug. Swears up and down the damn thing "just fell off" of course it had signs of being drug down the road, and my bud acted half like it was my fault!!! Not even so much as a thank you. Guess what, he's on the Never Gets to Borrow Anything Ever Again List.

I am the same way as you guys. Fill it to the top with fuel, a trip to the the car wash, a clean interior, a swept out trailer (of course he didn't do that either) would have been nice. AND most important of all. If ya need to borrow "it" more than once in your life. BUY YOUR OWN!

Bob C. · 12-16-2006, 07:10 PM

This is why only one other person can use my car trailer.
Just about every trailer wiring problem /lost ramp / bent wheel/ broken frame problem I hear allways starts with "I had just got my trailer back from a friend"....

Stroked & Stoked · 12-22-2006, 09:15 PM

I co-own a 20' enclosed trailer with friends. I was using it moving materials to a cabin I was finishing and managed to wreck both axles. (don't ask - it's a long story)

I was all set to file an insurance claim but learned that the co-owners had it on their personal policy rather than a stand alone policy. I didn't wanat to screw up their rates so I ate the repair costs and they changed the insurance setup.

Bob C. · 12-23-2006, 08:26 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I co-own a 20' enclosed trailer with friends. I was using it moving materials to a cabin I was finishing and managed to wreck both axles. (don't ask - it's a long story)

I was all set to file an insurance claim but learned that the co-owners had it on their personal policy rather than a stand alone policy. I didn't wanat to screw up their rates so I ate the repair costs and they changed the insurance setup.

[/ QUOTE ]

You,sir, have my respect for owning up to & taking responsibility for your actions. That quality is getting hard to find nowadays.

j_apetersen · 12-31-2006, 09:51 AM

My question would be why you no find the problem with the plug when you plugged it in?

Phil G. · 01-01-2007, 10:51 AM

One more lesson here. Do a circle check when you hook up to a trailer.....right [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/vulnerable.gif[/img]

Roger45 · 01-02-2007, 11:24 AM

[ QUOTE ]
My question would be why you no find the problem with the plug when you plugged it in?

[/ QUOTE ]
I was in a hurry to get to the vet's office. I had noted that one side of the male end had a slightly ground down part, only effecting one hole. I figured it was to small of a problem to worry about as the plug seated well in the female end. Boy was I wrong. Didn't have anyone to do a quick light check for me, so just took off. Wrong!

cdacaraudio · 01-02-2007, 12:06 PM

i run a small little business to help out my friends and family, a lot of them have trailers and have businesses of there own and when they need a bigger truck or when there own truck is in the shop i haul for them. i my self do not own a trailer yet as i am just starting out and do not haul full time. i get called time and time again to do stuff for people based on the fact that people like the way i treat them and there property. i have even been told i take better care of there stuff then they do. people just don't understand the importance of little things like making sure all the lights work and making sure wiring don't get damaged. i have had to turn down business in the past do to the shape of the persons trailer. the guy wanted me to haul 14k which was a trailer and a old tractor, i said no problem as long as the trailer has brakes. when i backed up to the trailer and went to plug it in the wiring looked like a goat had been nipping at it and best of all the trailer brakes where not even wired to a plug and when i plugged the 4 poll plug for the lights in not to my surprise the lights didn't even work. i unplugged and drove off he didn't see a problem, said he has always used the trailer that way.

I am hoping to get the business up and running so i can get the truck lettered seeing as a am starting to get going more i want to make sure every thing is legit and make sure if some thing does happen all is covered. also geting ready to get my cdl.

Take the time to check things, i even have a check list i use before i go anywhere. if lending something out make sure when it comes back that u check it over so next time you go to use it you don't have any surprises, because even though they broke it you still should have check it