I have a 2005 superduty powerstroke, it has the oem brake controller.
I purchased a new flatbed equipment trailer, dual axel, electric brakes, break-away kit, when i connect the plug to the truck everything seems to work great except the controller will not let me adjust the output setting.
im stuck at ten. I'm ruining my new tires and becoming a danger to the public because im babying the brakes as i slow down so I dont lock up the trailer brakes. any advice or recommendations would be helpful. Im almost ready to pull out the controller and replace it.

 

Have you tried the obvious. Hook up to another trailer and see if you can adjust the gain?

 

Unfortunatly I only have one trailer, I was hoping there was another way to diagnose the problem. Short of going to a trailer sales lot and connecting to one of their trailers, I wouldnt be able to try that.

 

If you can't do that, the obvious thing left is to do voltage/continuity checks on the truck alone and trailer alone. Look up at the first post here where you will find all kinds of electrical plug pin-out diagrams. You know, up top where it says "READ ME FIRST" !!! LOL

Sounds to me like the trailer plug is wired wrong and you are putting a steady 12v signal to the brakes.

 

More informations on problem. when the truck brakes are applied the trailer brakes seem to correspond with the pressure being applied. I want to clarify that the trailer brakes aren't just going into a dead stop. the controller seems to be working, I just cannot change the output level.

thanks for the input so far... I'm going to go home and look for my multi-meter

 

You might try something like this. A little spendy but it would be a nice diagnostic tool.

Tekonsha 7-Way Trailer Emulator Blade Style Connector Tekonsha Tools 6562

 

You can also jack up one wheel on the trailer and see if the wheel is locked just by hooking up your trailer pigtail.

 

can you adjust the gain with no trailer connected?

 

I've verified that the wheels are not locked up at any point until I push the brakes, and no I can not adjust the brake controller without the trailer being connected, it is stuck at level 10 no matter what I do. If I move the manual brake button without pressing the brakes I get normal operation. "the more I move it the harder it applies the brakes, till the point of stoping my truck" to the best of my knowledge everything works as designed except having the opting to lower the gain on the controller.

 

search the Superduty forum... I remember somebody else having this problem, too.

your brake controller module might be fried.

 

I have heard of this happening before. It was a failed controller module for that gentleman. If the number displayed on the front of the unit is not changing (stuck at 10), it cannot be anything with the trailer, and it really only leaves the controller itself as the suspect.

Could be as simple as the "-" button not working, if you wanted to try to troubleshoot the module itself. But realistically you are probably going to need a new module. PartsguyEd has them for about $300.

Edit, Texasrebel beat me to the above info.

But I do have this to add - you can do a rudimentary test of the module buttons by unhooking your trailer, and then start the truck. The controller module will be blank when no trailer is connected. Then push the "-" button. The controller will flash a trailer icon at you and say no trailer connected on the message screen. That would tell you that the button itself is making contact. The behavior is the same if you hit the "+" button. Won't fix it for you, but might give you some insight.

 

BPOUNDS... I took your advice and just tested the functionality of the button itself, the + button lit up the controller and the dash said "check trailer" the - button did nothing.
I pulled the unit out and noticed the plastic front of the controller was slightly separated from the metal casing. I carefully forced it back together and the problem was fixed.
I'm going to have to blame the last guy who had my dash apart... the installer doing my navigation system and alarm.
thanks to all for the input, it saved me a small fortune at the Ford dealer for diagnostics.

 

Great! Glad that worked out.

 

Glad you found the problem!

 

Nice find !!