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2018 Toyota Tundra vs LED lights

Discussion in 'Towing & Hauling' started by Wayne1, Nov 4, 2018.

  1. Nov 4, 2018 at 6:06 PM
    #1
    Wayne1

    Wayne1 [OP] New Member

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    I have a 2018 Toyota Tundra that when I try to tow my 2010 Airstream I get a trailer disconnected alarm. Toyota factory representative came and spent half a day looking at my truck and trailer and discovered that there brand new 44,000 dollar truck can't tow a camper with LED lights.
     
    Prostar 190 likes this.
  2. Nov 4, 2018 at 6:08 PM
    #2
    GiddyUp

    GiddyUp New Member

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    Wonder what's different between a camper with LEDs and a boat trailer with all LEDs? I have not had that issue when towing the boat. (2018 CM)
     
    NickyF25 likes this.
  3. Nov 4, 2018 at 6:13 PM
    #3
    Wayne1

    Wayne1 [OP] New Member

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    I don't know. They have tried every way possible to shift the problem to my camper. This has been going on for 4 months now. This is there latest.
     
  4. Nov 5, 2018 at 5:11 AM
    #4
    Prostar 190

    Prostar 190 SSEM #9 I would rather be water skiing

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    Welcome from Ohio!
     
  5. Nov 5, 2018 at 5:12 AM
    #5
    Jim LE 1301

    Jim LE 1301 Camaro Lover, SSEM # 11,TTC#179

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    Welcome from NY.

    My car trailer had LED lights, no issues.
     
  6. Nov 5, 2018 at 2:18 PM
    #6
    TundraRunner481

    TundraRunner481 Kinda New Kinda Not

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    The difference in resistance between the two types of light bulbs. There was a member on here that was having the same issue, and wired in a resistor to the lighting circuit. Then the trailer disconnected warnings went away. Something to do with how the trailer brake controller ECU reads that the trailer is back there.
     
    831Tun likes this.
  7. Nov 5, 2018 at 3:01 PM
    #7
    sbxx312

    sbxx312 New Member

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    So what did the rep say? What's next?
     
  8. Nov 5, 2018 at 3:17 PM
    #8
    Rakso

    Rakso Tundra + Tacoma=Winner

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    Exactly what I was gonna say. It's the same issue some vehicles have when you install LED headlights or even HIDs. ECU looks for an specific resistance which LEDs dont have, hence the resistor.
     
  9. Nov 5, 2018 at 3:19 PM
    #9
    Rakso

    Rakso Tundra + Tacoma=Winner

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    Have you done research about it?
    Are you returning the truck?
    Have you inquired with the trailers manufacturer?
     
  10. Nov 5, 2018 at 5:19 PM
    #10
    Wayne1

    Wayne1 [OP] New Member

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    I'm going to have the resisters installed and see what happens.
     
    GiddyUp likes this.
  11. Nov 5, 2018 at 6:22 PM
    #11
    sbxx312

    sbxx312 New Member

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    Is Toyota doing it?
     
  12. Nov 9, 2018 at 5:11 AM
    #12
    Wayne1

    Wayne1 [OP] New Member

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    No. I'm going to have Airstream dealership do it since the resistors will be on the camper so that way I will know that it was done correctly.
     
  13. Nov 9, 2018 at 5:38 AM
    #13
    NorthWoodsTundra

    NorthWoodsTundra Hehehe, you said 'member'...hehehe

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    Although the ‘18 Tundras do seem to be be very sensitive to trailer electronics, I’m calling BS on the LED lights. Have you had the Airstream dealer check the trailer brakes wiring?

    My story...

    I was having a disconnect problem as well pulling my ‘18 Jayco Jayflight. It started after picking the brand new trailer up from the dealership when I noticed that the trailer brakes just weren’t grabbing as hard as I thought they should. Even at max gain on the factory controler they were doing nothing more than a slight drag. Previous to getting the Jayco, I had pulled a #10k rated tandem axle utility trailer (with LED’s) and the controller worked flawlessly with the gain set at 4.

    After a call to the RV dealer it was decided that the self-adjusting trailer brakes were probably not broke in yet, so I was advised to take it out and, from aproximately 50mph, perform 20 brake applications with the trailer brakes only. This would heat them up and get them a chance to adjust and seat properly. Towards the end of this they were getting pretty hot (but not smoking) and as they cooled between sets, they were definitely grabbing harder.

    But, after the final brake application, I got the dreaded disconnect warning. After much screwing around with it, the truck went to the Toyota dealership and the Jayco went back to the RV dealer. Toyota spent about 10 minutes with it hooked up and although they saw the faults in the history, they could find no problems with the truck. A week after dropping the trailer off the RV dealer was finally able to get to it. They found that the factory failed to properly shield the left front e-brake magnet wire and it was shorting to ground. It was decided that it had worn through during the 20 brake applications.

    Since that was fixed everything has been working great, LED’s and all.
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2018

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