2003 Vogue TD6 Check trailer light

Just had an annoying little niggle keep coming up on the dash when I start and turn off the car. It comes up 'Check Trailer Light'.

before anyone says 'check the light on your trailer' , I haven't got one on there. I do however, have the tow bar electrics fitted, but to my knowledge, nothing's ever been plugged in there.

Any ideas where/what I should be checking? Is it gonna be a corroded or dry connection somewhere?

Any ideas welcomed

try checking the trailer hookup plug underneath the rear bumper next to the towbar. it could be full of water or all corroded up

2.0_hippo said:

try checking the trailer hookup plug underneath the rear bumper next to the towbar. it could be full of water or all corroded up

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That did cross my mind, I'll see if I can hook it to bits at the weekend

It seems to be worse than just an annoying message. It seems to be dragging the battery down as well. It was quite sluggish to turn over this morning, and I had to get a jump start this afternoon before driving home.
Is it possible there's a short in the towbar socket wiring that would mimic the effect of a bulb being permanently on, thus draining the battery?
Haven't had a chance to pull the socket apart yet, but is it likely the fault is there or lying elsewhere?

Not got round to looking at this yet, but all the rear parking sensors have just packed up. Could this be related to the towbar thingy?

Any/all comments suggestions more than welcome

suspension now seems to think it's in 'trailer mode' so won't rise & fall as it should. right hand indicator has also started randomly flashing fast/slow.

come on all you electronics gurus out there, someone out there must be able to point me in the right direction.

is there anything common link between these 3 apparently separate parts of the car. dodgy earth somewhere?

Sounds like its all being caused by your trailer wiring. As they are all linked together. It could also be the trailer hookup ecu broken causing all these faults.
Where are you located ?

try unplugging the trailer ECU / Power cable and see if your problems go away

Had a quick look this afternoon. Didn't have much time, but pulled the right hand panel off in the boot to have a quick look for the towbar ecu, and found the wheel brace had been shoved into the recess next to all the electronics (never been in there myself so it must have been there when I bought the car), and was leaning against some relays and wiring. Not sure of its real home but I'm assuming it's not here!!
Since removing it, the 'check trailer light' warning has not come back on and the EAS has come out of 'trailer mode'. Surely it's not gonna be that easy???
I'll have a proper look tomorrow and make sure the wheel brace has not been rubbing and wearing through wiring which might have been causing a short.

might have solved your problem then buddy

wheel brace might have dislodged something ?

yeah i'm thinking that. had a good look with a torch this morning and can't see any chafed wires or obvious damage. Checked all the parking sensors and they seem to be working normally now, EAS still behaving itself and warning message still not appearing, so it's looking promising.
Wheel brace now stored in its proper place under the boot floor.

Two days without a peep, so I'm quietly confident that's that. Thanks for your interest Hippo.

Moral of the story is "put things away properly when you're done with 'em!"

bigdel said:

Two days without a peep, so I'm quietly confident that's that. Thanks for your interest Hippo.

Moral of the story is "put things away properly when you're done with 'em!"

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intrested as i have a trailer hookup too ! just incase i have the same problems in the future lol