Trailer brake error message on Tundra- Tekonsha P3

I have a 2018 Tundra and just had a shop hard wire in a Tekonsha P3 and there was no error message when I left but I was playing with the manual brake lever on the P3 and now have a message that says “trailer brake error”. Do you know how to get rid of this message? Did I get the message just because I was playing with the manual lever? Do other people have the Tekonsha P3 on a 2018 or later Tundra? Any problems or does it work good and without error messages? I attached a photo. Thanks!

 

Was there a trailer attached to the truck when you were adjusting the lever? If not, that may be the reason. Disconnect negative battery terminal for a few minutes and see if it resets

 

No there was not a trailer attached when I was messing with it. I’ll try disconnecting battery to see if that works. Thanks!

 

This did not work. Does anyone here have a Tekonsha P3 on a 2018+Tundra?

 

So what became of the original IBC controller? Is it stuffed back in the dash behind the P3?

 

IBC was taken out and P3 was hard wired in its place.

 

The 2018+ IBC controller harness has a connector on the passenger side upper dash that has all the wires that go to the trailer receptacles, and to the ECU for annoying messages.

I don't know where your installers made their connections, but I don't think you can simply unplug the wires at the IBC and the truck "forgets" that it had an IBC. Every time you turn the switch to ON, that harness connection on the passenger side reminds the ECU that the truck had an IBC, and you'll get irrelevant messages.

You might try disconnecting the ground cable terminal at the battery, then unplugging that connector (it is empty when the truck has no IBC). Then reconnect the battery ground cable. That should stop the fake messages, but you may have to relocate the +12V (black) and brake output (blue) wires to the trailer side of that connector to get P3 output to the bumper receptacles.

 

This thread (link below) will provide more background, and show you where to find the harness connector. It's for a 2018 4.6L installation, so the IBC harness connector is empty (no tow package on 4.6L):

https://www.tundras.com/threads/2018-tundra-with-4-6-engine-trailer-brake-install.25884/

If you need additional information, type "Tekonsha P3" in the search window. That will provide you plenty of reading, with some threads exactly identical to your problem.

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/201...ccessfully-installed-a-p3.38084/#post-2214815

 

Ok thanks for the help! He hard wired it in but not sure where or how he did it.

 

Thank you!

 

The aftermarket controller is back feeding signal into factory brake wire, make sure brake wire from aftermarket controller only goes to trailer plug and is disconnected from Trailer Brake ECU located under passenger dash behind the glove box.

when you hit your breaks, the aftermarket will send a signal down the brake wire to see if the trailer is attached which will fault OEM IBC if connected to Brake ECU.

 

Did you get this resolved? I'm having the same problem, going to dealer for the third time. This started on about 4/15/2021, I see that others have had similar issues.

 

I took to my friend who is a mechanic and all he has to do was plug in the factory brake controller and the error went away and Tekonsha P3 was working when I tested it last weekend.

 

Interesting

 

@619Iron