No power to Trailer Brake Controller anymore. Need help

[stewie]

Hi all - it's been a long while since ive been here, but i figured this may be a good place to ask...


I installed a Reese Towpower in my 2012 sierra 1500 back in 2018. worked perfect. Fast forward to this year... the 7 prong Pollack plug in my trailer came lose while towing and i could not figure out why nothing was working when i wired it back up. i finally got everything but the trailer brake functioning. i had to go to the trailer dealer i purchased mine from and ask to see how the MFG wired the plug up. Ok, cool i got it. went home and changed up my wiring.

Now my trailer brake controller under my dash has NO power. I checked all trailer related fuses under the hood, reset the harness, checked the wires and prayed. I cannot figure out why I have no juice going to the TBC. I wonder if me having a misaligned or wrongly connected wire initially caused an issue somewhere?

Any insights will be helpful.

[stlaser]

Hi Stewie, how’s the family doing?

I know nothing about pollack gm vehicles….. Ken’s in charge of those I think and his gf H! 

[stewie]

I need ken in here with the quickness! ive been pulling my hair with this issue.

Fam is ok.

[KensAuto]

If the controller doesn't have power trace it out. Black wire has battery power always. White wire is ground. Red wire has power when stepping on brakes only.
If you used a gm harness that plugs in under the dash, it will get power from a large fuse.. like 40a. I think it's called "stud #2" or auxiliary iirc

[stewie]

If the controller doesn't have power trace it out. Black wire has battery power always. White wire is ground. Red wire has power when stepping on brakes only.
If you used a gm harness that plugs in under the dash, it will get power from a large fuse.. like 40a. I think it's called "stud #2" or auxiliary iirc

thanks - ill check this out shortly and get back to you.

[stewie]

If the controller doesn't have power trace it out. Black wire has battery power always. White wire is ground. Red wire has power when stepping on brakes only.
If you used a gm harness that plugs in under the dash, it will get power from a large fuse.. like 40a. I think it's called "stud #2" or auxiliary iirc

would this fuse be under the hood or dash?

[KensAuto]

Yeah... this is an 09 chevy I'm working on. If your controller is hooked up the way I normally see them done it will be one of the 2 stud fuses.
Should be similar to this . He doesn't have a controller. (notice#68 missing...#63 is trailer charging I think)

[KensAuto]

If the controller doesn't have power trace it out. Black wire has battery power always. White wire is ground. Red wire has power when stepping on brakes only.
If you used a gm harness that plugs in under the dash, it will get power from a large fuse.. like 40a. I think it's called "stud #2" or auxiliary iirc

would this fuse be under the hood or dash?

Under hood

[stewie]

it was #68. Im getting a new fuse tomorrow to replace and will report back.
thanks so much for the help!

[Flyin6]

^^^ See what just happened here^^^

This is good

Welcome back Stewie, now I'll probably have to ban ya for a short time for being AWOL.

Just grin and bear it...

OK, that was long enough. Stay away again and I'll ban ya longer ;-))

[stewie]

^^^ See what just happened here^^^

This is good

Welcome back Stewie, now I'll probably have to ban ya for a short time for being AWOL.

Just grin and bear it...

OK, that was long enough. Stay away again and I'll ban ya longer ;-))

My excuse is good. trust me :)

[Flyin6]

^^^ See what just happened here^^^

This is good

Welcome back Stewie, now I'll probably have to ban ya for a short time for being AWOL.

Just grin and bear it...

OK, that was long enough. Stay away again and I'll ban ya longer ;-))

My excuse is good. trust me :)

Need some guys praying for you?

[stewie]

^^^ See what just happened here^^^

This is good

Welcome back Stewie, now I'll probably have to ban ya for a short time for being AWOL.

Just grin and bear it...

OK, that was long enough. Stay away again and I'll ban ya longer ;-))

My excuse is good. trust me :)

Need some guys praying for you?

That always helps. Thanks.

[stewie]

If the controller doesn't have power trace it out. Black wire has battery power always. White wire is ground. Red wire has power when stepping on brakes only.
If you used a gm harness that plugs in under the dash, it will get power from a large fuse.. like 40a. I think it's called "stud #2" or auxiliary iirc

would this fuse be under the hood or dash?

Under hood

Ken - so i just reseated the fuse and my TBC controller has power now. It shows connected to trailer, etc... but now its always got power. Its been months since it worked last so i forgot if this was the case? IIRC, it would power on with ignition...

should i change out the fuse anyway to be on the safe side?

EDIT. it was powered off after a while.

[KensAuto]

[Farmer Jon]

I'm a little late to the party but I'm going to throw this out there anyway. I had the same problem on my 07 classic. No power to the brake controller. Turns out the 3rd brake light was burned out. It had been burned out for a while. I thought it was anyway. The fuse was blown. Moral of the story is the brake controller gets it's power from the 3 rd brake light.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[stewie]

Changed out the fuse and its works as it should. Thanks for all the help on this. I NEVER would have even looked at #68 had it not been for the responses to this thread.
My sierra and its brakes thank everyone.