05 Ford Brake controler error messages - Montana Owners Club

jackw87 · 03-29-2005, 10:26 AM

Has any one with the new brake control had a problem with getting a trailer disconnected message and then a trailer fault message then having no trailer brakes but still having running lights and the gain light flashing on and off this problem is intermittent. Ford blames the trailer and the rv dealer blames the truck so I am getting the run around

richfaa · 03-29-2005, 01:36 PM

I have the TBC system in my 05 350 and I am all green now..The trouble is most likely the trailer..Look at the connector and check for rust or corrosion.You need to have a clean amd well grounded connection TBC to RV. The first time I hooked it up this year I did get a trailer disconnect Msg I cleaned the connector contacts up and all was well. By the way is your 05 350 gas or diesel and how does it pull that 3685FL.

jackw87 · 03-29-2005, 01:48 PM

Rich
I have the Diesel 6.0 and all the rest is the same as yours I took the trailer to the dealer to day and they are checking all of the wireing I hooked to another trailer and had no trailer disconect and then I hookedto mine and went about 3mile and had a trailer disconect and then a traiiler fault then they hooked my trailer to their tow vehicle and went about 20 mile and no brake disconect or any problem at all so iwill take the truck to the ford dealer tommorow and fight with them again the trailer is still at the rv dealer I have plans to go to southern Indiana in 2 weeks I may have to connect a after market controler I have a Prodgy that i used on my other Rv before I got this truck and trailer sure is a lot of $$$ to pull down the road with out any trailer brakes

Montana_3371 · 03-29-2005, 05:00 PM

I have only pulled my 5er about fifty miles but had no problem.

richfaa · 03-30-2005, 04:45 AM

well ok Jack . Hope you get the problem corrected.Keep us posted on the outcome we have not pulled ours very far yet. It has just been our observation that just about all of the problems are the result of trailer wireing or dirty contacts..that is the easy fix. We did not get the diesel because at this time it was of no benefit..When wife retires in less that two years and we travel more I see a diesel in our future.In the meantime we will check out this V10..a dnsee if it does the job

jackw87 · 03-30-2005, 01:54 PM

Well I went to ford today and they said they had to buy a tool to check the brake controller we installed the prodgy that I had on my other truckto the plug in the bed and left the ford controller connected to the reciver plug went and picked up the trailer and the dealer could not find anything wrong with the trailer wiring hooked it to the prodgy controller and pulled it the 75 miles back home with no brake problem so it hasto be in the ford controller

richfaa · 03-30-2005, 02:28 PM

interesting..I checked around on some other forums that I belong to and find no mention of problems with the Ford TBC..However keep us posted as if one can be bad so can another...

Native Tex · 03-31-2005, 01:21 PM

Well team we got the same error a couple of weeks ago. Without knowing, I took it on myself to clean the plug, add some dielectrical grease and the problem went away. I assumed that I just has some corrosion on my 5er plug.

richfaa · 03-31-2005, 03:12 PM

Anything can happen but like NativeTex cleaning the plug contacts and checking for good grounds usually corrects the problem..Before you spend a lot of bucks give that plug a real good cleaning..make sure the contacts are not spread. Use a burnishing tool on the contacts if you have one or real fine sandpaper.

tweir · 04-01-2005, 02:00 AM

I agree---a good cleaning and the use of "electric grease" (dielectric) works wonders. I have a little wire brush that fits into the recepticle that really works well---looks like a "super mini baby bottle brush". Corrosion really raises havoc with plug-ins and it does not take much. Just normal moisture in the air causes a corrosion build-up---especially here on the west coast so near to the salt air of the ocean. Just waiting for the manufacturers to come up with a wireless remote set-up eliminating the plugs-n-pigtails...!

jackw87 · 04-01-2005, 05:04 AM

I am not going to spend a lot of bucks on finding the problem I have only had the truck and trailer less than 2 month they are going to have to come up with a fix it stops fine with the prodgy and no falt messages but i am going to keep after ford there is no excuse for that kind of problem so quickly

richfaa · 04-01-2005, 07:02 AM

I am watching your post with Interest because I have just about the same truck and have had it for only one month.Have only pulled a short distance for a brake check and all was normal..after I cleaned up the plug contacts.

jackw87 · 04-01-2005, 08:08 AM

I pulled for alout 400 miles with no problem that was on 4 differant trips then i went on another trip and it has not worked right i can go about 15 miles and then i start getting trailer disconnected and then trailer fault and i have no brakes on the trailer then it will work for a little while and the show trailer disconnect again tre longer the trip the closer the disconnect gets so like i said i hooked up my prodgy brake controler and have not had any more problems in the last 80 miles that i have towed the trailer

sreigle · 04-09-2005, 05:03 AM

We've towed 2500 to 3000 miles with the TBC with nary a problem. Al, yours does sound like either a connection problem or something in the truck's wiring. Have you followed the wiring to see if there's a loose connection or a crimp somewhere? I know Ford should do this but sometimes it's quicker and easier to just check the simple things yourself, ya know?

Montana_3371 · 04-26-2005, 08:39 AM

Wondering what has happened with the braking problem. I just returned from a 3,000 mile trip with mine (2005 Ford and 2005 Montana) with no problems. This was my first trip except for the 50 miles from the dealer.
Dewey

jackw87 · 05-01-2005, 03:48 PM

the brake problem has been solved I hooked up a prodgy controler to the trailer and went about 100 miles with no controler problems and the as i went on my trip the prodgy started showing Op and when it did i had no brakes I was on my way to indiana from alabama so when I got to indiana where i wa giong to stay for two weeks I pulled the hubs and on the fourth one i found that a clip that held the wire to the magnet had broke and the wire was rubbing the spindle and when i put on the brakes it would short out but not every time so I got a new clip and connected it to the control arm the way it was made to be and i just got back to Alabama to day and made the trip with the ford controler an every thing worked fine and the dealer had told me that theproblem was not in the trailer wiring so that tells me he never pulled the hubs to check any thing had to fix it myself

Paul Severson · 05-12-2005, 04:10 PM

I have been having the same problem. You describe it exactly. I have had the trailer wiring and hubs pulled and inspected by a rv repair shop and the outcome is no problem seen with the brakes.

Took the truck to Ford two times the last time they said that the connector was loose and a clip had broken in the back of it allowing the pigtail to twist and cause the intermittent fault. They suspossedly repaired this and I towed the trailer about 25 miles and started gettingthe same indication. So back to Ford tomorrow. I have asked them to change the wiring harness for the controller. Will let you know if this fixes the problem.

I als have a trip in two weeks and not sure I can goo with the problem as it exists. Thanks for the update on the Prodigy controller. Sure would hate to spend the money as the Ford is factory installed.

Towing witha F350 05 and 2955RL

jackw87 · 05-13-2005, 03:32 AM

Paul
unless you watched the RV dealer pull the hubs I would have them checked by some one I knew or would do it my self the RV dealer told me they had checked my RV also but when I checked it my self I found that they had only checked voltage when it was setting still or not at all because what I found would not have been missed if they would have checked

sreigle · 05-13-2005, 04:48 AM

Paul, I think Al is saying his problem was in the trailer's wiring, not the truck's, unless I'm misreading it. We also had a broken wire in the brakes of our first Montana. Ours was outside the hub, rather than inside like Al's.

Let us know if changing the harness fixes yours.

Charlie · 05-13-2005, 02:40 PM

The first big trip out with a new unit did not go smoothly. No brakes on this monster is not fun. Thanks to some of the comments made in this thread made me realize quickly what kind of problem I had. The symptoms described here made me think why my brake controller was showing a flashing "OL". It started off intermitant and eventually staying in overload. I checked the trailer brake wire with an OHM meter and it showed resistance. Made a call to Sherrard's RV in Colbert, Ok. and took the Monty in. They could not believe there was a problem with a six week old trailer brake system. The retaining clip on the door side rear wheel was improperly installed and came loose and the wire was caught under the acutator. Took them about two hours to find the problem and I was on my way.

Otherwise the trip to Oklahoma was great except the failure of the switching valve on the propane tanks. This worked properly on walk-thru
but I had to replace it.

Have not had a chance to read up on the last month's post but will try to get caught up in the next few days.

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