Hi All,

I'm curious as to whether anybody has a P38 Trailer Wiring Kit they'd like to let go of. Preferably one with the North American standard for plug-in.

Thanks,

John

 

If you can't find one setting one up yourself is a breeze. I had a 1999 P38 and I just tapped into the factory harness at the tailer plug and wired up a converter. It worked perfectly with the trailer icon on the dash and everything. The universal kits are cheap: Upgraded Taillight Converter by Tow Ready with 4 Pole End Tow Ready Custom Fit Vehicle Wiring,Wiring 119130 and the process is simple: Towing with a Range Rover

 

Do I just take that universal unit and tap it into the proper ports of the wiring harness in the trunk? I've been looking at the Atlantic British kit, which is fairly plug and play. This seems to be along the same lines, but it doesn't appear to plug directly into the trailer plug that's in the trunk.

Does this require me to remove the plug to expose the wires? It's not a big deal if that's the case, I'll just have to look into what wires are what.

 

You need to connect the universal kit directly to the wires. The Towing with a Range Rover link has the wire colors and functions spelled out in it. The AB kit plugs right in, but doing it yourself saves you about $90.

 

Hey O4Duxlr I used the universal 5 wire to 4 wire kit from U-haul. I think it cost me around $39-00. One problem I found is that all trailers use the tow ball connection as a ground(0 volt= neg feed) if you don't use use the trailer often the connection of the ball becomes a high resistance connection due to corrosion(rust) and then the trailer lights are very dim or don't work at all. Had this happen last week when I wanted to use my trailer to fetch mulch for the garden.
I found a place on the trailer and drilled a 5mm=0.19" hole connected a lug and wire to the bolt through the hole and did the same to my Series 88 and used a spade connector male and female to mate the two wires. This is just a temp solution untill I get the 7 pin plug system I bought in South Africa connected up. Also spray the plugs with WD40 before you connect them helps against the road crud collection in the plugs

 

Ground through the ball? Only if the ground wire has broken or was never installed. On 5 and 4 wire plugs, that's the white wire. The only difference between the 4 and 5 wire plugs is that the 5 wire setup includes a feed from the reverse lights to lock out the surge brakes when backing up. As for treating the plugs, I use wiring grease. The plug on my F-250 gets dunked in salt water all the time and still works great so I know it's effective. Trailer Wiring & Electrical - Installation Guide | Hitch Info, Dielectric Grease for Electrical Connectors, 2 oz. LubriMatic Accessories and Parts 11755

 

Ground, negative feed, what ever you want to call is fed through the tow ball hitch on my trailer. The brake lights and the turn signals use the same light,globe, lamp what ever you want to call it and the other connection of the turn/brake lamp,light is connected to the frame of the trailer. So after connecting the wire from my Series truck body to the trailer frame I had lights that worked. I used the same U-Haul kit on my VWJetta TDI and had the same problem of a bad negative feed. Just putting the info out there. WD 40 works just as well in keeping corrosion down

 

The ground or negative feed on the harness on the trailer needs to be connected to the trailer frame as well. All of the lights will be grounded directly to the trailer frame. At the tongue of the trailer, where the wiring for connection to the vehicle is, the white wire coming off of the connector needs to be wired to the frame to complete the connection.

As for the WD-40, I imagine it does work I just prefer the grease because it doesn't get washed off so I only need to apply it maybe once a year.