Integrated trailer brake control woes

Howdy.

Just purchased 23' camper and trailer brake controls are not engaging brakes. I can go from a gain range of 0-10 and no difference. The little squeeze output won't work either. The truck indicates a trailer is attached, no errors. I did pull the trailer safety chain and the trailer brakes were fully engaged, and saw warning on dash read out as expected.

Set on electric manual. I've used the controller with smaller trailers and it worked fine. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I searched but saw more intermittent or extreme issues, not just not working at all.

 

A long shot, when I first got my aluminum open car trailer, the tundra wouldn't brake it at all worth a darn, but pulling the pin in the trailer disconnect would lock the brakes. I thought maybe the brakes needed adjustment, and when I went in through the access point to get to the adjuster, my tool came out with globs of grease. The trailer had ez lube style hubs and they must have gotten overloaded with grease and leaked past the rear seal. New brakes all around, and braking performance is excellent now.

2nd issue, I hooked up my trailer after a weekend away, and did a squeeze test on the IBC as I was rolling away, no trailer brakes. Removed the trailer connecter, blew on it, maybe some moisture came out, reseated it, and braking performance was restored.

2 possible things to check? Mine is a 2020 and I had heard about the possible IBC issues as well, but in my case it was brake shoes and drum coated in grease and the a bad connection.

Good luck!

 

Had IBC woes today when picking up my first camper. Towed plenty of smaller trailers without brakes and they were fine as there was nothing for the IBC to do.

Parked the IBC mostly worked but would give me "trailer disconnected" every few minutes then reconnect. On the way home from the dealership it was pretty much nonfunctional the entire time (which was fun on I93 and I495). Would pop up with trailer connected then immediately with trailer disconnected. Going to clean all the connectors and then lube them with dielectric grease before I take it to the dealership to see if something is up with the IBC. Truck is a 2018 1794 with tow package and luckily the trailer was empty so around 3500lbs. Just camped in the right lane doing 55 the entire way and it seemed to be fine but needs to be addressed. Hopefully just a bad connection!

 

My 2018 had issues with IBC, there was a refresh that was needed. Had something to do with led lights on the trailer.

 

Good to know as this trailer has all LED lights everywhere. Was it a firmware thing that the dealership was able to easily fix?

 

There was a TSB for a software update / flash for the trailer brake controller. Most people with the issue complained that the trailer would show disconnected only intermittently. I took mine to my dealer and it took them about 1/2 hour to hook it up and update it.

 

What did they charge?

 

Mine was free.

It might not apply to you. If not then there is a 7 pin trailer connector testing device and a lot of camper stores and repair places have them. If that tests out Ok then it is something wrong with your trailer wiring.

TSB 0036-19

https://www.tundras.com/threads/trailer-disconnect-tsb-solved.44324/

 

Had mine done today at Autofair Toyota of Tewksbury and they charged a $199 "diagnostic fee" to reprogram the trailer control computer using that TSB (truck is a 2018 so out of factory warranty). So far seems to fix the issue. Hooked up the trailer 7pin connector and had the wife watch the dash while I wiggled every connector violently (I also have a 7pin extension cable as I have my spare tire on the back of the truck and need to use an extended hitch receiver).

Left the truck idling for about 30 minutes hooked up while I enjoyed a cold beer and it didn't disconnect again while parked like it was before every 30-40 seconds. Kinda pissed that I had to pay $199 to resolve a known issue with a piece of factory hardware but oh well ... if this fixes the issue I'm happy.

First camping trip scheduled for next weekend right on the ocean in Salisbury, MA.

 

I would write or call Toyota and see about getting reimbursed as I don't remember paying anything for mine but my truck is under ext. warranty.

 

I may give it a shot since it really is their problem and created an unsafe driving condition due to a fault of theirs and not mine.

 

Just submitted a request to Toyota. It's dumb that we have to pay for a known safety issue if we happen to be out of warranty coverage. They did do the turn signal recall ... well they checked it off on the paper at least as I did it myself a year ago

 

Just wanted to add that the firmware update for my IBC worked perfectly. Towed about 90 miles this weekend and it was rock solid.

 

Any word on them reimbursing you? Just curious.

 

Nope no word back from them yet.