7pin trailer harness issue

[Vito21ST]

Hopefully someone has some insight into this. On my ‘21 explorer st with tow package the center pin, which is the reverse lights pin on a trailer is getting no power. I have checked all the fuses in the fuse box for all of the trailer lights. I even checked for continuity on each of the fuses and that is also good. I get the correct voltage with the brake lights, turn signals, and constant 12 V but I get no power at that center pin. I also am not getting any continuity on that center pin so I’m not sure where I would check at this point to see if it’s even correctly connected. And everything I have looked for to find the problem shows a purple to that center pin. Mine is a smaller gray wire. I even read somewhere that it needed to be actually connected to the trailer to get the voltage but I even tried that and also put it in tow mode. Maybe that would do something. Unfortunately, I’m at a loss.

 

[BrooseDaMoose]

Yes, the center pin should be a purple wire. Not sure why you have a gray wire as there shouldn't even be a gray wire but that may be your issue. Did you by a harness that connects to the vehicle or are they just the wires coming from the connector itself? You may need to wire it direct to the factory harness at one of the taillights.

 

[Vito21ST]

Yea that’s why I was so confused. No purple wire. I even started taking everything apart to trace it back as there was no continuity. When I got under the steering wheel I gave up and just like you said my brain finally was like just wire it to a reverse light. So after 2 days of tracing and scratching my head I did just that and it works perfectly. Thanks for the reply I probably should have posted that I took care of it.

 

[BrooseDaMoose]

Glad you got it resolved!

 

[Vito21ST]

Yea me too! Lololol

 

[Caster]

Maybe a dumb question and I know you found another way already, but, you did have the ignition on and the vehicle in reverse (with the reverse lights on at the vehicle) when checking for the reverse light power at the harness right?

 

[Vito21ST]

Oh yea, I made sure I had it in reverse. I even tried putting it in tow mode hoping maybe that was it. I did see a video that talked about a connector under the dash for trailer brakes and thought maybe that was the problem but my little 6x10 doesn’t need trailer brakes so didn’t pursue that. And everything on the st was factory.