I keep everything soaked down good with WD40. Thats what WD40 was designed for, water displacement... The die-electric grease helps. Also use the shrink type solder-less crimp on terminals. Or put shrink sleeving over regular crimps but be sure the shrink sleeve has the glue in it, dont use plain shrink tube as moisture will wick in there. Never use a scotch-lock under a vehicle. You want to seal all contaminants out of all those connections. When you remove a ground to clean it, hit it with clear ignition sealer to seal the nice clean connection. I always chase all newly cleaned connections with either ignition sealer of battery terminal protectant depending on where it is.

 

Just bought a Ford f150 Platinum which now has under 3000 miles, pulled an RV three times, but when started on our fourth trip the message "trailer disconnected" appeared. We had no lights, no trailer brakes, no sway control and none of the other things that are used to pull an RV. This is something that should "never" happen with a new are any truck with a price tag of $64K. Needless to say we had to cancel our vacation which cost us lots of money and anticipated time. I am certain, after reading several posts, this is a truck problem and not an RV problem, but would appreciate it if someone could tell me exactly what the problem is so I can be ready for the BS the dealer is going to give me.

 

You aren't going to know exactly what the problem is until somebody looks at it...

 

^^^ is right.
Had this been an older truck I would tell you to look for
green fuzz in the plug on both sides of the bumper.
Might still be worth a quick look.




Sean


6.0L Tech Folder

 

My 11, 250 did this the first time I hooked up with the new 7 pin. I was using a 4 pin w/o brakes. I had the brakes installed on trailer. First time I plugged it in on the RV lot after the brake install the truck didn't see the trailer. I had the truck running when I plugged it in. I turned the truck off, unplugged then plugged it back in, then started the truck. It then recognised the trailer and all was ok. Been fine for the last year.

 

Welcome to the forum, tenring. As some of the other folks suggested, the best next step is to make an appointment for diagnosis at your dealership. Additionally, I'll escalate this to your regional customer service manager (CSM) so they can assist. Since you're a new member, you may not have access to PMs yet. If that's the case, send an email to custserv@ford.com with your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, current mileage, and servicing dealership. This email address isn't monitored, so put my name ("Crystal") in the subject line and post here once you've sent it. That's how I'll know to go and look for your message.

Crystal

 

My pins were pushed in so the truck wouldn't registers trailer.
You would think Ford would have checked it before sale but no🤔

 

I had the same error....there was a y-cable the adapted the main 7-way to an additional 7-way in the bed....the green cable was chaffed and broken. put a crip connect sleeve on it and it worked fine.

 

I just got a 2016 Expedition with integrated brake controller, and used it on a road trip with a car trailer equipped with electric brakes this past weekend. After about 10 minutes on the road I got a Trailer Not Connected message, so we stopped and made sure it was plugged in and all lights were working. Everything was fine and all lights and brakes were working. Kept getting the trailer not connected message and also started getting a trailer brake gain setting level message like it was resetting it self over and over.

Stopped for some electrical contact cleaner and also tweaked the trailer side of the connector for a tighter fit and hit the road again. Didn't see the message for about 15 minutes and thought that it was fixed, then that stupid Trailer Not Connected message and chime came on again. Next stop we pulled the trailer side of the 7 pin connector apart to make sure there weren't any broken wires or loose connections. Everything was fine except the white wire had a few strands making contact with center pole. That didn't fix the problem either.

Finally I went back into the trailer set-up menu and started looking at the trailer settings and switched it from the default setting of electric, surge or no brakes to electric over hydraulic and that stopped the trailer not connected message. Well almost...every time I would turn off the engine it would have to be reset to Electric over hydraulic brakes.

Yesterday with trailer hooked up I got out the Ford manual and decided to get this nonsense figured out before making the next road trip. After deleting all the other trailer names I had accidentally created by pushing the wrong button "add a new trailer" and the only thing remaining was "default trailer", I was able to set brakes to electric over hydraulic without losing the setting with each ignition cycle. Stopped and started the truck several times and check the brake setting and it was staying as electric over hydraulic and so long as that was done, I was not getting the trailer not connected message.

So i'm thinking problem solved, but on the way to work this morning to drop off the trailer that stupid disconnect message showed up again, only this time the trailer options menu would not allow me to access the portion where the brake type is selected. After stopping and trying again, I was able to get into the brake settings and saw it was back on the default setting and throwing the trailer disconnect message over and over, until I changed brakes to electric over hydraulic.

By the way I've had this trailer for over 10 years and have used it without issue on several trucks and SUVs without any issues. Most recent vehicle was a 2014 Expedition with integrated brake controller. It also does not have electric over hydraulic brakes.

If anyone here can tell me what the problem is or how to correct it, I would appreciate it.

Thanks, David

PS: Just went and tried pulling the trailer with a 2015 F-150 and got the same results.

 

I'm going with faulty brake controller on this one.

Steve

 

Steve,

I was thinking the same thing until we went out to the parking lot and hitched the trailer to another guy's 2015 F150 and got the same messages and were able to stop the messages by switching the brake setting to electric over hydraulic. Another guy I know with a 2015 F150 had the same problem and he said it was caused by a wiring problem at one of the brake magnets. Trying to get more info on that to determine if there is a way to test the wiring.

David

 

David, first of all, stop putting the controller on hyraulics, if you have electrics.

Then, if the trailer gives the same message on two different trucks, trouble shoot the trailer. You have a break in the brake wiring, it is usually after the J-Box, but start at the J-box and trace the blue lead and the ground, particularly where it feeds through the trailer axle. See if when you activate the controller manually you have power to the blue in the J-box and trace it along. The most common place for a fault is at the seven pin connection where the truck and trailer interface.

Steve

 

Steve,

I just discovered the same problem exist with another truck about an hour ago, so now I'm going to focus on the trailer brake wiring.

Thanks for the info. I'll post my findings.

David

 

Tested the trailer brakes today and found that one of the 4 wheels had no braking ability. Took that one apart and found one of the wires to the magnet broken just outside the backing plate.

Glad it happened when it did, because I also discovered the brake shoes are completely worn out on that wheel, so I'll be replacing all of them.

Thanks again for the input.

David

 

Wiring was repaired for trailer brakes and new brakes were also installed on all 4 wheels. Road tested trailer this morning with 2016 Expedition and with trailer control settings in the default position for (electric, surge or no brakes), the trailer brakes are now functioning correctly and the messages saying "trailer not connected" are no longer appearing.

Thanks for the information.

David