Brake issues

[flips805]

Greetings,

 

Hoping someone has had similar brake issues and can help me trouble shoot.

 

I apologize for the book below :)

 

TT: 2016 heartland north trail 33bkss

TV: 2015 Nissan NV3500 tow packag

Brake controller: tekonsha prodigy P2

 

Whats happening: while driving the brake controller cuts out and gives me an S.H error message. Sometimes the error comes on when I turn but goes away when I'm pulling straight and the brakes function just fine. Sometimes, the P2 doesn't read anything at all but stays at 0.0.

 

When parked and pressing on the brakes, sometimes I get readings on the P2 right away and sometimes there's a 3-5 sec delay prior to getting a reading that the brakes are being applied.

 

Sometimes when I press on the brakes there's a clicking sound coming from underneath the steering column.

 

I drove the TT 200 miles from the dealer to home with no issues. The next day I made adjustments to my pro pride hitch and took it for a test drive. Did well for the first 10 miles of back roads. I took a right turn and was about to enter the freeway when I noticed the P2 giving me the S.H signal. luckily I was able to get out of the freeway and limped home with no brakes. I did stop to check the set up and it's possible that my brake harness was riding low and was bouncing on the ground during turns

[Chris_CommercialManager]

Maybe you have already, but If I were you, I would start by next investigating the brake controller.  Have you checked it out?  I would suspect it to be faulty and or wired improperly based on your symptoms.

 

Do your brake lights work on the van?  If so to me the brake controller is even more highly suspect. 

 

The clicking sound?  First guess would be an auto resetting breaker associated with the controller wiring/ installation.

 

Who did the installation?  Double check the work and be 100% sure the problem isn't there.

 

If your 100% positive the wiring is correct (which should be simple enough to tell) I would then suspect the unit itself.

 

Hope that helps   :)

[ASD Dad]

Check all your connections as well.  Did you you use a Tekonsha harness or wire to the factory pigtail?  If you wired, check all your solders joints or crimps.  Its fairly easy to get a cold solder joint or a bad crimp.  Driving down the road the vibrations can cause contact loss.

 

If you used a Tekonsha plug and play harness check that all the connectors are firmly seated in their plugs.  You shouldnt really need contact cleaner for a brand new vehicle and TT but doesnt hurt.

[flips805]

Thanks for the replies. I used the wiring harness that came with the TV and wired it to the P2 harness. The set up/connections was actually used with my other TV (Nissan Titan) for ~5 years. There was only one time about a year ago where the clicking sound occurred non stop and drained my batteries. I replaced the battery and the issue seemed to correct itself and it never happened again.

 

I took that same harness and brake controller and attached it to the harness in the NV when I bought it. The NV also came with its own harness so during troubleshooting I swapped out the harness and the issue remained. Because of this I'm pretty certain that the wiring is correct.

 

Chris, is there a way to check if the controller is faulty short of buying another or connecting to another trailer?

 

Thanks!

[vanguy]

If I'm not mistaken all Prodigy's have a lifetime warranty.

Have you contacted Tekonsha? They can go over some troubleshooting measures over the phone with you to help determine if there is a problem with the controller. If the controller is the problem they will tell you to simply take it to the closest dealer for a new one. It's that simple.

If the controller is not the problem they can offer other troubleshooting advice. I've found them to be very helpful.

I had one of the original Prodigys & after 5-6 years started giving me problems. They swapped it out for a new one.

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

Another thought -- I had some weird stuff happening with mine when we first got our camper. No tripped breakers or anything shorted, but I got intermittent lights and brake operation driving the camper home from the dealer. It ended up being the pins where not seated correctly in the Nissan harness side of the actual trailer receptacle at the hitch (back side of plug).  simply pulling it out, seeing the  pin out of position and re-seating it / reconnecting the harness solved it.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Heavy Metal Doctor

[Chris_CommercialManager]

I would tell you what vanguy said.  Call the tech line for the product, that would be my next step.  

 

You can check the Nissan harness side like heavy metal suggested however with the clicking under the dash I'd speculate it would not be that.  Better to eliminate everything though.

[RICK]

My NV with the prodigy controller also clicks under the dash when i apply the brakes even with no trailer attached.  i assume it's a relay or solenoid that's powering up. almost like the gear shift safety interlock that prevents shifting if the brake is not applied. 

 

 

Rick. 

[flips805]

Thanks everyone. I started troubleshooting again last night and pulled the biggest rookie mistake. I wired a new longer harness to the travel trailer to get rid of the need for an extension. First wiring job ever and it was easy peasy....until I went to plug it into the van. I quickly found out that I bought and affixed the male 7 pin connector onto the trailer instead of the female connector

[flips805]

Update: Rewired a new harness and I was still getting erratic readings from the P2 (goes from C to NC to 0.0 to -.-)

 

Went ahead and bought a new P2 cause I'm impatient and everything looks good. I didn't get a chance to pull the trailer to see if the S.H error message comes on but I'm hopeful that I found the culprit as being the old P2. I can actually hear the brakes actuate when I press the pedal now :)

 

I called Tekonsha and I will need to send them the old one to get a new one. Can't just go to a dealer close by :( Oh well, at least I'll have one for both my Titan and NV.