Trailer brake not working

[JEB]

Turning on headlights is one of first things I do. RV camera will only come on if lights are actually turned on, auto does not work.

Right. What did the gray (not orange) pop up show at the gas station when you checked the brake controller setting and saw the gain was at 10? Did the controller indicate that the trailer was still connected? If it did, you may have found a different problem. What was the braking effort setting? Low, medium or high?

Also, remember that the controller is designed to reduce brake output at slower speeds—around 11mph—so they likely would feel spongy at a gas station. From p. 406 of the owner’s manual:

“Note: The trailer brake controller reduces output at vehicle speeds below 11 mph (18 km/h) so that trailer and vehicle braking is not jerky or harsh. This feature is only available when applying the brakes using your vehicle's brake pedal, not the controller.”

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[cghall77]

Right. What did the gray (not orange) pop up show at the gas station when you checked the brake controller setting and saw the gain was at 10? Did the controller indicate that the trailer was still connected? If it did, you may have found a different problem. What was the braking effort setting? Low, medium or high?

Also, remember that the controller is designed to reduce brake output at slower speeds—around 11mph—so they likely would feel spongy at a gas station. From p. 406 of the owner’s manual:

“Note: The trailer brake controller reduces output at vehicle speeds below 11 mph (18 km/h) so that trailer and vehicle braking is not jerky or harsh. This feature is only available when applying the brakes using your vehicle's brake pedal, not the controller.”

I would expect the braking to be working very similar to our superduty. Slam on the brakes at 25km and you can physically see and feel the trailer locking up. I can't get the f150 to lock up the trailer brakes no matter what I have tried. Very strange since I took the same trailer out only a week apart using the f150 and f250.

I have not had any indication of trailer disconnecting when driving. I cleaned the contacts on both truck and trailer end with Lloyd's electrical contact cleaner then add dielectric as I normally do with my vehicles. I do notice on the f150 that the harness adapter actually snaps into place, there is a physical click that last 1/4" unlike the f250. I have also installed the pro trailer wiring and had it hooked up, but have not used yet, may never use it.

 

[Geo]

I am confused, as usual. I thought there was a discussion about to not use dielectric grease. And to use a carbon conducive grease

 

[JEB]

I would expect the braking to be working very similar to our superduty. Slam on the brakes at 25km and you can physically see and feel the trailer locking up. I can't get the f150 to lock up the trailer brakes no matter what I have tried. Very strange since I took the same trailer out only a week apart using the f150 and f250.

I have not had any indication of trailer disconnecting when driving. I cleaned the contacts on both truck and trailer end with Lloyd's electrical contact cleaner then add dielectric as I normally do with my vehicles. I do notice on the f150 that the harness adapter actually snaps into place, there is a physical click that last 1/4" unlike the f250. I have also installed the pro trailer wiring and had it hooked up, but have not used yet, may never use it.

Sounds like you have a different issue than the one we’ve been discussing. You aren’t actually losing the connection entirely between the brake controller and the trailer brakes, which is the condition the OP raised. You just seem to not be getting enough performance.

If you read a few pages up, you’ll see that applying dielectric grease won’t improve your connection. It will make the connection a bit more resistant to corrosion, but you won’t get any more voltage rearward. Dielectric grease is non conductive. You could try a conductive grease, but I wouldn’t. You could create a short between the 7-way pins if you aren’t really careful.

As for getting the brakes to perform better, have you increased the brake effort? I’m not talking about gain. On the new F-150s, not only can you increase the gain, you can also make the brakes come on more aggressively with greater initial voltage by changing the brake effort in the trailer profile. Default is low. Try medium or high and see if that helps. See p.407 of the 2021 owner’s manual.

As for not getting the brakes to lock up, you still might be driving too slowly to overcome the programming which throttles down the brake controller at slower speeds—up to about 18 km/h. Ford recommends calibrating the brake controller by inducing lock up at 30-40 km/h. Try driving faster before attempting to lock the brakes.

 

[cghall77]

Sounds like you have a different issue than the one we’ve been discussing. You aren’t actually losing the connection entirely between the brake controller and the trailer brakes, which is the condition the OP raised. You just seem to not be getting enough performance.

If you read a few pages up, you’ll see that applying dielectric grease won’t improve your connection. It will make the connection a bit more resistant to corrosion, but you won’t get any more voltage rearward. Dielectric grease is non conductive. You could try a conductive grease, but I wouldn’t. You could create a short between the 7-way pins if you aren’t really careful.

As for getting the brakes to perform better, have you increased the brake effort? I’m not talking about gain. On the new F-150s, not only can you increase the gain, you can also make the brakes come on more aggressively with greater initial voltage by changing the brake effort in the trailer profile. Default is low. Try medium or high and see if that helps. See p.407 of the 2021 owner’s manual.

I haven't made it to page 407 yet. ? Thanks for that tip, I will definitely check that out as I have not made any changes, I'm guessing it is set to the default. I agree on the dielectric, I put it on very minimal and wipe it down. A couple times a year I get in there with emery boards and clean up the connectors, but being so new, shouldn't need to do that.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[tderouchie]

I tried the headlights on method and brakes quit within 5mins. It was worth a shot but Ford will really need to work on a solution quickly ?

 

[minirx7]

Just took my truck (3.5L Ecoboost Lariet) and my Jayco 267BHS 2021 on a 4400km road trip over the last two weeks. I noticed over the last several days i have the same exact issue.. NOte this is a brand new truck (picked up July 31st) and brand new RV (picked up August 2021).

IN the beginning of the trip i tested the brake controler and yes the trailer brakes were working throughout most of the trip. I was in a lot of mountain areas wiht a fullly loaded weight of 7,000lbs on a 30 foot trailer, so i needed all teh braking power.

On the last part of the trip, i noticed my braking distances were gertting longer. Didnt think anything of it, until suddenly i was getting a malfunction on my turn signals. I always drive with my parkign lights on btw. I stopped on teh side of the road and noted all of my signals were working perfectly fine. But it was showing on the screen right turn signal fault, check trailer lamp, and the signal sound was flashing rapidly but everything was working proper.

This is when i noticed by trailer brakes had stopped working. I did evertthging, reseated teh 7 pin, restarted the truck, but i could no longer get my trailer brakes to work.

This is very dangerous situation as i had no idea my trailer brakes were not working. I always test it once i hitch, but you would never thinkj it woudl suddenly stop working.

 

[UGADawg96]

This is too widespread....

https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index

 

[tderouchie]

Just took my truck (3.5L Ecoboost Lariet) and my Jayco 267BHS 2021 on a 4400km road trip over the last two weeks. I noticed over the last several days i have the same exact issue.. NOte this is a brand new truck (picked up July 31st) and brand new RV (picked up August 2021).

IN the beginning of the trip i tested the brake controler and yes the trailer brakes were working throughout most of the trip. I was in a lot of mountain areas wiht a fullly loaded weight of 7,000lbs on a 30 foot trailer, so i needed all teh braking power.

On the last part of the trip, i noticed my braking distances were gertting longer. Didnt think anything of it, until suddenly i was getting a malfunction on my turn signals. I always drive with my parkign lights on btw. I stopped on teh side of the road and noted all of my signals were working perfectly fine. But it was showing on the screen right turn signal fault, check trailer lamp, and the signal sound was flashing rapidly but everything was working proper.

This is when i noticed by trailer brakes had stopped working. I did evertthging, reseated teh 7 pin, restarted the truck, but i could no longer get my trailer brakes to work.

This is very dangerous situation as i had no idea my trailer brakes were not working. I always test it once i hitch, but you would never thinkj it woudl suddenly stop working.

It’s sad that it has to happen, but next time it happens, pull over and unplug the truck battery for a couple minutes (10mm wrench). On my last 2 trips I’ve disconnected the battery prior to leaving and I’ve had zero issues the whole trip.

 

[JEB]

I always drive with my parkign lights on btw.

This isn’t doing you any good. Parking lights are not headlights. With only the parking lights on you aren’t getting voltage across the 12v pin on the 7-way. That means no power to the trailer to do things like charge house batteries or run 12v trailer systems like backup cameras or DC fridges. In my case, inadequate 12v power also interferes with proper operation of the trailer brakes.

I know this hasn’t been everyone’s experience, but since towing with my headlights set to on (not auto or any other setting), I continue to have no disconnects.

 

[Antimatter]

I’ve confirmed it. At least for my truck. Turning the headlights off is cutting power to the 12v pin on the 7-way, which in turn is tricking the brake controller into thinking the trailer has been disconnected. Always tow with the headlights set to on, not off or auto, and the problem goes away.

For those who have been losing brake control during a journey, two things might be at work and both relate to using auto headlights. First, if you started out in low light conditions with the headlights on and then things brightened up, that could cause the headlights to go off automatically and the brake controller to disconnect. Second, the truck defaults to auto headlights after each ignition cycle. So, in bright conditions, the headlights won’t be on to begin with when you start the truck, there will be no voltage on the 12v pin and the trailer brake controller will start off disconnected.

The side benefit to making sure you always tow with the headlights on is that, if you are towing a travel trailer, having the 12v pin live will help maintain your house batteries during the journey. It’s only a trickle charge, but it’s better than nothing.

I have some questions about this.

With my setup with our Airstream and it having a rear view camera on the back of the trailer, that camera is only active when the headlights are on. So I can attest that we 100% always have the headlights on when towing.

Are you saying it is more specific than them simply being on? Does it matter when they are turned on in the hook up sequence?

Also if the headlights were set to ON (not auto) as I believe they were when we lost brakes when descending to Denver, how would it happen when the engine had not been turned off. It was literally the same leg of our trip.

Curious if you have some insights as we would like to resolve if possible.
Thank you.

 

[UGADawg96]

I have the furion rear and side cameras on our grand design and they get powered with the parking lights. I don't need the headlights for them to work when towing.

 

[tderouchie]

This isn’t doing you any good. Parking lights are not headlights. With only the parking lights on you aren’t getting voltage across the 12v pin on the 7-way. That means no power to the trailer to do things like charge house batteries or run 12v trailer systems like backup cameras or DC fridges. In my case, inadequate 12v power also interferes with proper operation of the trailer brakes.

I know this hasn’t been everyone’s experience, but since towing with my headlights set to on (not auto or any other setting), I continue to have no disconnects.

I’m happy that this is working for you, despite it not being the way it should work. I wish it worked for us…

 

[91heelncville]

Adding my .02 here. I just got back from a 11,000 mile, 60 day trip with a brand new 2021 F150 (XLT Leadfoot) and brand new 2021 Airstream Globetrotter. Lost trailer brakes for the first time coming down a 15 mile 7% grade off the Continental Divide in Wyoming. White knuckled it until I found a place to pull out, no cell service, couldn't fix it, Ford's electronic manual is frustrating because it isn't indexed for search, so I just put the 150 in manual and rode the engine brake down. Anyway...next day it worked fine. Lots of head scratching occurred.

Fast forward, I ultimately discovered (after visits to Ford dealerships and many conversations with Airstream, during which abundant finger-pointing ensued) that moisture is the culprit IN MY CASE. Sorry, not yelling, just highlighting that I have no idea whether this affects others who are in the same situ. But I am 1000% sure that when it rains, I lose trailer brakes, and about 50% of the time I also get "Trailer Light Module Fault" which disables my trailer brake lights and blinkers. Given the liability involved, I'm not surprised that finger pointing is rampant between Ford and Airstream, but I would like to point out the irony that the initial ad for the new F150 featured it pulling an Airstream. (Please don't point out the disconnect between marketing and reality...I'm aware of this phenomenon).

Damn this post is long, I shouldn't have started drinking so early. One more thing -- I'm getting ready to go out again for a month, maybe 5,000 miles. If I figure out anything more, and live to tell about it, I'll chime in again.

 

[JEB]

I have some questions about this.

With my setup with our Airstream and it having a rear view camera on the back of the trailer, that camera is only active when the headlights are on. So I can attest that we 100% always have the headlights on when towing.

Are you saying it is more specific than them simply being on? Does it matter when they are turned on in the hook up sequence?

Also if the headlights were set to ON (not auto) as I believe they were when we lost brakes when descending to Denver, how would it happen when the engine had not been turned off. It was literally the same leg of our trip.

Curious if you have some insights as we would like to resolve if possible.
Thank you.

I don’t know what to tell you other than I don’t rely on memory, i.e., “I’m sure I [fill in the blank].” I am constantly checking. I don’t move (whether I’m starting my journey or restarting after a fuel up or rest area break) until I’ve interrogated the brake controller directly and verify a connection. I don’t rely on brake “feel.” The specific connection procedure doesn’t seem to matter much in my experience except the step to make sure the brake controller is reporting a connection before moving. Either squeeze the override or push one of the gain buttons and do it before you move.

After I start moving, I constantly check and verify the connection. I look at the backup camera screen (which on Airstreams are tied into the 12v circuit), which I always leave on in transit. I look down at the headlight switch position directly even though the camera should verify that the headlights are in the on position. I push one of the gain buttons on the brake controller to bring up the gray brake controller pop-up. I do all of this repeatedly while driving. Again, I don’t rely on what I thought I did—or felt—when I started moving. I agree it isn’t something we should have to do, but it beats being dead. And I’m not going to just park my rig and complain until Ford fixes it. That will be a long wait.

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