HELP: ABS VSC fault when towing a trailer

[Jester Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jester]

Hey guys

As stated in the title I'm having an intermittent fault when towing a trailer behind my 08 Prado.

The Abs and VSC and slip indicator lights all come on randomly, if I turn off the car and start again they go away for a while. Disconnect the trailer and no problems at all.

Could my electronic brake system have anything to do with this?

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers
Jester

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

It could do, the brake light circuit is wired into the skid control ECU,

If you have a wiring fault in the tralier or the trailer plug it might be feeding back
into the ECU.

Try taking the trailer for a run on a quite road with the plug out, if you don't get the issue
then the problem is going to be in the trailer wiring.

Leigh

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Was also told to make sure when connecting the wire from the controller which triggers the brake lights on the trailer to do so by picking up the trigger from the brake wire at the actual brake light at the rear. Don't pick it up from the switch above the brake pedal as it can cause issues. I was advised of this when I bought my controller......Might have some thing to do with it may be not. Also pretty sure I read about this on here as well......Cheers Steve

[Jester Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jester]

Hey guys

Well i towed a different trailer today and the problem did not occur so I'm thinking the issue might be in the trailer itself……

fingers crossed

Cheers
Jesse

[mcfisherclan Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcfisherclan]

We had a similar problem with our caravan. Feed back from a short in the van made the indicators on our car come on when we braked. Just Change out the lights for led and all should be good. Also check the plug for corrosion.

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Hope that's all it is Jesse, nice easy fix and cheap as well....Let us know how you go....Cheers Steve

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

We had a similar problem with our caravan. Feed back from a short in the van made the indicators on our car come on when we braked. Just Change out the lights for led and all should be good. Also check the plug for corrosion.

A short in van so we swapped out the lights for Leds?

The problem was the short, you only need to replace with leds if you wish to have Leds.

I suggest Jester checks the trailer plug wiring carefully and if everything looks ok then
checks the rest of the trailer wiring, there is obviously a problem with the wiring or
possibly a fault in one of the globes if twin filament bulbs are used.

Leigh

[sskippa61 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close sskippa61]

hi,
ive had this same problem,abs and vsc lights coming on when plugging in trailer
lights were coming on and off in no real order
auto lecky told me; i needed to use led lights as the bulbs were drawing to much power and tripping flashers blowing fuses etc, bullshit.
the lazy sod at toyota who installed the trailer lights simply did a pathetic job of earthing (white). simply put a lug on wire and bolted it to the easiest spot he could find, didnt bare back the paint or anything = high resistance in wiring = problems. you will find the trailer light connection just near the jack in boot. there is a flasher unit and there should be a 4mm white wire,(earth) which will be terminated with a lug and bolted on there abouts. undo this bolt, remove the paint, re-do connection.this low resistant connection should solve the problem. it will be a wise move to paint this connection after to stop corrosion