Mopar factory trailer brake controller - my impressions and review

[Aberk]

Right now I am so happy I went with Redarc....

You still have the same issue. Redarc just did a better job of masking it from what I gather.

The issue is with the wiring as it sits in the truck that runs to the trailer brake connector at the back of the truck, the trailer brake lights will not activate if you press the manual button. This is an issue with the truck, not just the mopar brake controller.

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[ShadowsPapa]

First, thanks a bunch for going through all that hassle. What a PITA.

I'm a little confused though. What harness are we talking about exactly? Is it the cable that physically connects the controller to the trailer brake harness? Is that the one that needs to be updated?

There is a harness shown in the instructions packaged as part of part number 8221 5652 AB that shows another harness. It is NOT YET available and they predict February 2021
What you do when you install THAT harness (besides taking apart the whole right side of the truck, that is) is to remove one of the wires that goes from the controller box to the truck's plug that the controller box harness plugs into. There are 4 wires from controller box to the plug on the JT's wiring harness plug for brake controllers. One of those is removed and replaced with a wire from this new harness. That feeds out through the firewall, connects to battery as I recall, then is routed behind the right front wheel fender liner, and there's part that goes behind the right kick panel, under the door threshold plastic trim, and connects into the trailer wiring at the rear. You cut some wires and you solder some wires, and you plug some wires with pins into a connector.
It's a process that I'd bet takes about 2 hours because it involves from cabin, out, then back to toward the rear of the truck.

So you modify the one that we have which connects the "box" to the truck's harness at the left kick panel area (it measures about 3' which is crazy long) and add this OTHER second unavailable harness in.
You remove the existing 3' harness that came with the controller and change it, merging the new one into it and them across and back to the trailer wiring along the right side.
I'll have to study it more.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You still have the same issue. Redarc just did a better job of masking it from what I gather.

The issue is with the wiring as it sits in the truck that runs to the trailer brake connector at the back of the truck, the trailer brake lights will not activate if you press the manual button. This is an issue with the truck, not just the mopar brake controller.

It's an issue with many trucks.
If you use a Redarc like I had, with the Ram harness, there's a diode that prevents feedback into the JT brake light system. (as shown in my error code printout)
HOWEVER, that's even a bandaid - and won't make it CA legal.
CA requires that when you push that button, the trailer brake LIGHTS come on when the trailer brakes are activated no matter the method of activation.
Redarc themselves told me they aren't compliant without another device to do that.

Any controller that uses a diode in that line is not CA compliant UNLESS you add something like the Redarc device,
or the Curt device back at the trailer plug - and that costs about $99 last I saw.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The tech told me that the issue I see is a warranty issue.
So I may assume that means they will fix it by giving me the harness - better yet - putting it in!

 

[Aberk]

The tech told me that the issue I see is a warranty issue.
So I may assume that means they will fix it by giving me the harness - better yet - putting it in!

I would really hope so. If that is something you can get done as warranty work, I would get it too.

 

[Harold0819]

The tech told me that the issue I see is a warranty issue.
So I may assume that means they will fix it by giving me the harness - better yet - putting it in!

Did you have the dealership do the original install? Or did you install it yourself? I like hearing that the issue could/would be a warranty issue.

 

[atoy74]

So what's the verdict aside from the manual triggering of the trailer brakes. Does the brake controller work in normal operation? I can live with the errors till feb but I do need a working trailer brake controller.

Edit - To clarify, I can live with the errors because I shouldn't need to manually trigger the brakes often. If there's another scenario that causes the dash to Christmas tree...that's a different story.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

So what's the verdict aside from the manual triggering of the trailer brakes. Does the brake controller work in normal operation? I can live with the errors till feb but I do need a working trailer brake controller.

Edit - To clarify, I can live with the errors because I shouldn't need to manually trigger the brakes often. If there's another scenario that causes the dash to Christmas tree...that's a different story.

I have not connected and DRIVEN this - so I'd hate to assume, but if I had to, I'd say anything that caused the controller to output on the brake light circuit would do this. MAYBE MAYBE if I can squeeze in some time tomorrow I could take my trailer out. (it's a pain to put back without the front receiver on my truck) I could test that.
The only way to know for certain is to literally hook to a trailer, and see what happens.
Luckily, all it does is set codes -no damage I or the tech are aware of. It does disable that stuff like the dash shows. But a shut down and restart clears the cluster.
I shouldn't have even taken off today to check into this but it was driving me bonkers and I'll just explain to customers I had some truck warranty issues.

Did you have the dealership do the original install? Or did you install it yourself? I like hearing that the issue could/would be a warranty issue.

I installed it myself - but then the dealership spent all but 3 hours on it and told me they saw it as a warranty issue since the controller was made and sold for these trucks and it simply had issues that were proven to be supplier/company and not install related.
The service manager originally told me "$50-75 to diagnose and flash if needed" but that was before they found out - it wasn't ready for prime time, there was no flash for these, and it was a controller/truck problem.

Since the guy called Jeep proper, I think he said he even contacted the star team, I'll look at his other notes, he was able to prove beyond a doubt what it was.
For a shop to spend even a straight 2 hours, amazing. I told them they'd get 11 stars on the next survey.

 

[BlackDog]

@ShadowsPapa Thank you for digging into this! I thought I saw somewhere that this had the same harness connector as Tekonsha, even speculating that was the manufacturer. From what you've seen, if we have a Tekonsha harness with the diode, could that be swapped in for what comes in the kit to *mask* the problem (and probably not be CA compliant)?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

OK, I looked further at those instructions and what the tech wrote on my ticket.

FOR ANYONE HAVING A DEALER DO THIS - if you see this same thing, instruct them to start a STAR CASE. Refer to my case 101801693 as so far no one else has taken it this far. Guess I'm the first to actually see the dealer about it.

Anyway, I dug into the instructions, what the instructions are showing with that other harness that you can't get, still in development - that REPLACES the harness that goes from the controller BOX under the dash to the trailer brake connector at the wiring harness for the truck.
In other words, they get around it by powering this from under the hood, not the main harness inside, then routing the new harness to the trailer brake power wire going back on the right side.
Their solution - totally bypass the truck's native connector at the left kickpanel and install a new wiring harness and that is shown to connect to the battery under the hood and has its own inline fuse.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

@ShadowsPapa Thank you for digging into this! I thought I saw somewhere that this had the same harness connector as Tekonsha, even speculating that was the manufacturer. From what you've seen, if we have a Tekonsha harness with the diode, could that be swapped in for what comes in the kit to *mask* the problem (and probably not be CA compliant)?

Yes, I think - was his name Jeff? I'm pi$$ poor with names, anyway, I think he showed the connectors as likely being the same.

 

[atoy74]

@ShadowsPapa Thank you for digging into this! I thought I saw somewhere that this had the same harness connector as Tekonsha, even speculating that was the manufacturer. From what you've seen, if we have a Tekonsha harness with the diode, could that be swapped in for what comes in the kit to *mask* the problem (and probably not be CA compliant)?

I would love for the solution to be this simple. Is this the correct part? Tekonsha 3073-P

 

[jwilson2899]

@ShadowsPapa Thank you for digging into this! I thought I saw somewhere that this had the same harness connector as Tekonsha, even speculating that was the manufacturer. From what you've seen, if we have a Tekonsha harness with the diode, could that be swapped in for what comes in the kit to *mask* the problem (and probably not be CA compliant)?

Yes, I think - was his name Jeff? I'm pi$$ poor with names, anyway, I think he showed the connectors as likely being the same.

Yes Jeff is my name, how dare you forget it

@BlackDog that is my working theory and what I am trying to see if it will work. I have the harness in order, should be here Wednesday.When I get to my plan is to reverify the diode, and then verify the pins match between them. If so, then I’ll install that harness and see if everything behaves.

 

[jwilson2899]

I would love for the solution to be this simple. Is this the correct part? Tekonsha 3073-P

That is the one.As long as mine arrives on time Wednesday, I’ll see if I can verify it as a fix and report back.

 

[jwilson2899]

I spent over half a day getting the definitive answer on this from FCA/JEEP.
Kudos and a huge thanks out to the folks at Dewey Dodge/Jeep/Ram in Ankeny, Iowa.
Their tech spent about THREE HOURS on this and called numerous people including those in PARTS DEVELOPMENT. He went to the top of the food chain. He used my JT to experiment on and use as an example.

There is no fix yet. Not from Jeep.
And in answer to the back and forth "there's a flash" and "no there's not" - there is not.
That according to the guy who worked with all this. This is a plug and play controller.
The shop agreed the instructions are garbage, confusing and WRONG.

Jeep KNOWS about this and has known.
That harness pictured in the instructions is the FIX.
Toss that reference to ADH. Ignore that part if you have a Gladiator. He confirmed there is no ADH for Gladiator.
If you have a JT and have this controller, you need that harness to avoid errors and the tech believes to comply with CA laws regarding trailer brake lights when you hit trailer brakes ONLY.

It's not based on whether or not you have the towing package or wiring to the back or anything at all.
That harness doesn't add trailer wiring - it taps into EXISTING wiring that's already there on all JTs.
The need for that harness is strictly based on CODES the controller throws, to prevent those errors and to add trailer brake lights when you manually apply the trailer brakes.

So that means if you have problems, you need that harness. (at least to make it right - use at your own risk otherwise.)

What happened is that Jeep released the controller part number 8221 5652 AA
They realized they had a problem - errors were being reported, so they released a revision 8221 5652 AB which is what I have.
The ONLY difference is the instructions - they added the reference to that other harness.
What that harness does is not what we thought!

That harness referenced in the documents disconnects the brake light wire from the controller to the truck and routes it to the back and ties into the existing trailer brake wiring and adds electronics to prevent feedback.
They had to do this to FIX the issue we see and according to the tech, likely to make it California compliant - that's at least what the tech said after looking at the lame pictures in the instructions. He said that harness we need removes a wire at the controller and re-routes it back, BYPASSING the trucks brake light circuits.
His clue was in these codes - and his answer was in telling Jeep parts development people what codes he was seeing (see his printout below)
These errors were what led him to the solution.

Basically, FCA/Jeep's answer to this is - if it throws codes you need this harness.
It will be available February of 2021.

There is no other fix unless you want to put a diode in the harness like some did early with other controllers, or when we installed the Redarc Ram harness for their controller which had a diode in it.

This is not a flash issue as there's no flash for this.
That is from the dealership - and the tech who talked to the parts development people.
This is a "oops, we were not ready, we figured adding to the instructions would take care of it" but "oops, we don't have a harness yet".

This below is what happens when you push that button - I was correct in that it's FEEDBACK into the brake light circuit - look at the code "stop lamp control general electrical failure" Yup, that would do it. It throws those codes. Stop lamp control - uh, yea, the controller is feeding power into the brake light system and causing it to have a migraine.

Thanks so much for running it to ground. Based on that, those are indeed piss poor instructions.

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