Tower wiring plug - anyone recognise this?
Discussion
Hi all,
Having finally got around to having a towbar fitted to my Jeep Commander, I now need to sort the wiring out. The good news is that that car already seems to have a wiring loom in place - there is a multiplug under the rear bumper that tees into the loom for a rear light cluster, and the internal boot trim panels that would have to be removed to fit the piggyback ECU all show signs of having been removed in the past.
The bad news is that I cannot find any such multiplug-to-socket mini-looms for sale anywhere. Everything is either the full blown wiring kit for a dedicated scratch install, or a generic kit meant for tapping into individual light cluster wires. The garage who fitted my tower agree with me that the plug is for towing, but also are stumped as to where to get the final bit that plugs into it.
Can anyone please help with a suggestion as to what this final bit of cable might be called, or where to get it from? Unfortunately I can't get the time away from work to take the car to a full-on towing specialist, but I need to get the install finished for use in 12 days time.
Thanks in advance!
This is the offending plug:
Having finally got around to having a towbar fitted to my Jeep Commander, I now need to sort the wiring out. The good news is that that car already seems to have a wiring loom in place - there is a multiplug under the rear bumper that tees into the loom for a rear light cluster, and the internal boot trim panels that would have to be removed to fit the piggyback ECU all show signs of having been removed in the past.
The bad news is that I cannot find any such multiplug-to-socket mini-looms for sale anywhere. Everything is either the full blown wiring kit for a dedicated scratch install, or a generic kit meant for tapping into individual light cluster wires. The garage who fitted my tower agree with me that the plug is for towing, but also are stumped as to where to get the final bit that plugs into it.
Can anyone please help with a suggestion as to what this final bit of cable might be called, or where to get it from? Unfortunately I can't get the time away from work to take the car to a full-on towing specialist, but I need to get the install finished for use in 12 days time.
Thanks in advance!
This is the offending plug:
That looks like the OEM wiring harness that goes there and is just parked and blanked off. The mating connector would have to be an OEM part, something like TE Connectivity etc. You might be able to get the harness from Jeep or you can try ebay or a breakers yard. Otherwise, get the schematics out, snip the connector off as mentioned and use a generic plug.
I believe these do 'plug & play', but the price is strong so your 'test & snip' looks to be the best bet, esp as the Jones ones say that no vehicle coding is involved.
https://www.pfjones.co.uk/towbar-wiring-kits/jeep-...
https://www.pfjones.co.uk/towbar-wiring-kits/jeep-...
Thanks paintman, I believe that this terminated end is something similar to those Jones kits but Jones have told me they cannot supply the final bit separately, typically.....
I suspect the car has had a towbar in the past which has been removed and unplugged.
Now I just need to get hold of a multimeter...
I suspect the car has had a towbar in the past which has been removed and unplugged.
Now I just need to get hold of a multimeter...
You need to check that any control unit/units needed are fitted, if there has been a towbar fitted in the past then obviously there is a possibility that the control unit is still in there somewhere
As for the plug.....Unless you can find the correct plug or socket for that blanked off plug or socket it is unusable. What you need to do is untape that plug or sockets wiring loom a little so that you can see the cable colours and work out what goes where
Now you have 2 options
1) Find or create a grommeted hole into the boot space and get the wiring into the boot space behind a panel, if the wiring doesnt reach you could untape most of that loom and having traced the wires pull them back into the boot space and shorten or extend them so that they all reach your chosen point for connecting them to a newly run towbar socket cable
2) Forget all about the plug or socket hanging down, run a new towbar socket cable into the bootspace the same as thee aboves option and connect it up to the correct cables that go to that plug or socket thats hanging down
The original plug or socket that's hanging down is unusable without the correct mating plug or socket because salt water will very quickly destroy any wiring joints that you make in that area
Don't use a pin or prodder of any description on any wiring under the vehicle when testing, if you prod the cable sleeving salt water will soon get in and destroy that cable
As for the plug.....Unless you can find the correct plug or socket for that blanked off plug or socket it is unusable. What you need to do is untape that plug or sockets wiring loom a little so that you can see the cable colours and work out what goes where
Now you have 2 options
1) Find or create a grommeted hole into the boot space and get the wiring into the boot space behind a panel, if the wiring doesnt reach you could untape most of that loom and having traced the wires pull them back into the boot space and shorten or extend them so that they all reach your chosen point for connecting them to a newly run towbar socket cable
2) Forget all about the plug or socket hanging down, run a new towbar socket cable into the bootspace the same as thee aboves option and connect it up to the correct cables that go to that plug or socket thats hanging down
The original plug or socket that's hanging down is unusable without the correct mating plug or socket because salt water will very quickly destroy any wiring joints that you make in that area
Don't use a pin or prodder of any description on any wiring under the vehicle when testing, if you prod the cable sleeving salt water will soon get in and destroy that cable
ChemicalChaos said:
I can see your concern penelope, but I was going to use a waterproof junction box as seen on truck trailers - having the wiring there I really don't want to be ripping out bits of boot trim to re run it in a dry area.
There are numerous junction boxes on the market, please post a link to the boxI was thinking of this sort of thing:
Havi g studied the plug more closely, its wired for 13 pins. However. None of the wire colours match the standard towing socket wiring diagrams onine...
And as you can see, the wiring goes back to the loom for the rear lights (left to plug, up and down to left and right lights)
However, I'm now a bit confused. Having studies the woring diagrams on Pf Jones more carefully, it seems that their "dedicated" wiring kit actually picks up from this plug, runs back to a piggyback Ecu, and then back again to the socket. WTF? I don't see why it isn't a simple straight plug and play into the wiring already there? Surely if the car has this towing harness fitted as standard then what is the piggyback box doing? And fingers crossed that wiring directly to the plug will work, even I lose some sort of peripheral functionality such as parking sensor deactivation?
Havi g studied the plug more closely, its wired for 13 pins. However. None of the wire colours match the standard towing socket wiring diagrams onine...
And as you can see, the wiring goes back to the loom for the rear lights (left to plug, up and down to left and right lights)
However, I'm now a bit confused. Having studies the woring diagrams on Pf Jones more carefully, it seems that their "dedicated" wiring kit actually picks up from this plug, runs back to a piggyback Ecu, and then back again to the socket. WTF? I don't see why it isn't a simple straight plug and play into the wiring already there? Surely if the car has this towing harness fitted as standard then what is the piggyback box doing? And fingers crossed that wiring directly to the plug will work, even I lose some sort of peripheral functionality such as parking sensor deactivation?
I did mention in my first post that you need to check if all control units needed are fitted
The control unit will very likely operate an audible warning as mentioned above by ilovejapcrap
The control unit will also very likely bypass the vehicle bulb failure circuit and may even add a triler bulb failure circuit
Those trailer boxes aren't very good as they do allow water in, you will need to use a box that has proper seals at the cable entry points, there should be boxes that have something that turns in a thread and crimps a seal to the cable
The control unit will very likely operate an audible warning as mentioned above by ilovejapcrap
The control unit will also very likely bypass the vehicle bulb failure circuit and may even add a triler bulb failure circuit
Those trailer boxes aren't very good as they do allow water in, you will need to use a box that has proper seals at the cable entry points, there should be boxes that have something that turns in a thread and crimps a seal to the cable
The trailer control module will do stuff like bypass the reverse sensors and tell other control modules a trailer is attached when plugged in and adjust things accordingly (like lock out air suspension, it does that on a Range Rover, no idea what your Jeep has). If LED lights are used on the vehicle it may also prevent issues when a trailer is also used and as mentioned by others, manage any light failure circuity.
The fact it has a separate trailer control module means it does something, it might only be minor what it does or it might do stuff that's more important.
As the trailer control module plugs into that connector then it does suggest from the photo you don't have one fitted unless it's been cut off and to be honest I can't see why anyone would do that.
The additional loom runs backwards in order to put the control module inside the wing or boot out of the elements. The output then runs back to the trailer socket.
I think you need the whole wiring kit including the control module.
The PF Jones kit will be identical to the factory kit just OEM. I used a PF Jones kit when adding a towbar to my Range Rover, it was all just OEM Westfalia and worked perfectly.
If you don't want the extra expense of the control module then you need a factory wiring diagram or some testing and go from there as you might be better off wiring into the light cluster rather than that harness. It depends on what controls that harness or how the rear lights are wired. If the rear lights are CANBUS controlled or similar (unlikely by the amount of wiring in that connector) it might be a bit more difficult to wire in directly (and why it has a trailer control module).
The fact it has a separate trailer control module means it does something, it might only be minor what it does or it might do stuff that's more important.
As the trailer control module plugs into that connector then it does suggest from the photo you don't have one fitted unless it's been cut off and to be honest I can't see why anyone would do that.
The additional loom runs backwards in order to put the control module inside the wing or boot out of the elements. The output then runs back to the trailer socket.
I think you need the whole wiring kit including the control module.
The PF Jones kit will be identical to the factory kit just OEM. I used a PF Jones kit when adding a towbar to my Range Rover, it was all just OEM Westfalia and worked perfectly.
If you don't want the extra expense of the control module then you need a factory wiring diagram or some testing and go from there as you might be better off wiring into the light cluster rather than that harness. It depends on what controls that harness or how the rear lights are wired. If the rear lights are CANBUS controlled or similar (unlikely by the amount of wiring in that connector) it might be a bit more difficult to wire in directly (and why it has a trailer control module).
ChemicalChaos said:
Having studies the wiring diagrams on Pf Jones more carefully, it seems that their "dedicated" wiring kit actually picks up from this plug, runs back to a piggyback Ecu, and then back again to the socket. WTF? I don't see why it isn't a simple straight plug and play into the wiring already there? Surely if the car has this towing harness fitted as standard then what is the piggyback box doing? And fingers crossed that wiring directly to the plug will work, even I lose some sort of peripheral functionality such as parking sensor deactivation?
Problem with modern cars is that as their electronics have got more & more complicated it's harder to do something without upsetting the various systems that on an older car would be cheap & simple .If you work out which wire does what & cut & connect to a trailer socket it might work without issue or you might get all sorts of things going on.
I'd suggest you speak with PF Jones for the answer to what's in the kit & it would also be an idea to ask on a Jeep specific forum as you are more likely to find someone who's done it - but as you have a deadline best start with Jones.
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