help with wiring

[jacksprat]

g'day people , i hope u can help me , i just fitted a towbar to my 08 LT , but i am a bit jumpy about wiring up the tow plug ,what are the pitfalls ,ive been told i might do damage to the computer , can i do it myself or should i get an autoelec to do it for me . the fish are biting and i need to get my tinny in the water , thanks ,jack

[Russ]

I would agree with what you've said about the pitfalls of DIY, unless you are absolutely sure what you're connecting and where to, I would definitely recommend the Auto electrician option, I just fitted some lights to my 2011 Focus and had them wired up by an Auto Electrician, it's just not worth the risk or the expensive repair bill if you fry the PCM (Focus ECU) :(

[Franco Cozzo]

Plus usually you get the ******* tax when you attempt to do a job yourself, screw it up and go to an auto electrician with your tail between your legs to admit defeat, then they have to fix it.

[jacksprat]

thanx champions for ur quick reply and advice, i did wire up a towbar plug for my daughters vs comm. but i think this job should go to the pros. cheers jack

[Russ]

Originally Posted by jacksprat

thanx champions for ur quick reply and advice, i did wire up a towbar plug for my daughters vs comm. but i think this job should go to the pros. cheers jack

It's only a Commodore anyway so it doesn't matter mate

Cheers

[Nic302ef]

im not sure what an LT is? but either way alot of the time you can buy a pig tail/splicer plug that will adapt straight from the standard plugs at the rear of the vehicle, either a major automotive supplier and some times dealers will sell the kit/plug.

Good point though and as mentioned it may pay off to take it to a auto lec, as alot of new cars no longer and just a simple lighting circut, some are module controled and monitored circut and if tapered with will log all sorts of faults.

[Neale]

I'm pretty sure the LV has a plug that you just connect (thats pretty simple)

But the LS (& I think LT) has a wiring loom that you have to splice the wires. I did mine a little while ago with no dramas (& I had no idea about auto electrics).

You just have to match the coloured wires & ues a plastic clip thats provided in the kit to splice wires. The hardest bit was finding what colour wire did what but I have it written down somewhere if you need it.

as long as you disconnect the battery when playing with the electrics. The worst thing that could happen when you wire up the towbar is that you hook the wrong wire up & your blinker turns on when you hit the brakes (but you can always fix that).

If it is too hard you can always take it to a sparky

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Neale

ues a plastic clip thats provided in the kit to splice wires

You know how much **** they cause us? When you get a wiring issue, 9/10 those scotch locks are the cause of the problem, if you're going to do something to splice into wires, please strip back the wire and solder the other one onto it.

We find most of the time they end up cutting through the wire, or the pin corrodes, they don't hold up very well to heat. vibration and movement unfortunately.

240V electricians have some fascination with them for some reason.



Death to them.

Originally Posted by Neale

The worst thing that could happen when you wire up the towbar is that you hook the wrong wire up & your blinker turns on when you hit the brakes (but you can always fix that).

We had this exact problem some in on a VT Commodore, he put the brake wire in with the right indicator wire and it was back feeding through the car, so when you brake it turns on the indicators on the right side of the car haha.

[Ratmick]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

240V electricians have some fascination with them for some reason.

Death to them.

Is that an 'earth' lead coming off a splice to an active?

I hope someone doesn't believe the cable wiring colours down the track, that's just dodgy...

Mick

[Russ]

I think that might be a green and white wire spliced in with the brown, if you look closely the earth is green and yellow a couple of wires above

[Franco Cozzo]

Thats just a stock image of a scotch lock, they're the bastard child of Satan and Harold Scruby and seem to live on trailers for some reason.

The best one is seeing 240V wire used for automotive purposes, it just doesn't bend and the insulation goes all stiff and breaks, particularily trailers.

Or my old man twisting wires together and taping them up, he's pretty good at creating problems.

I'm an apprentice auto elec, on a car if its black, its negative, if its brown on an european car its negative, any other colour is generally positive except on trailers because for some reason they decided that white is the new black and they use it for earth, also any accessories branded for some sort of trailer use have their earth as white as well.

[jacksprat]

cheers guys ,thaks for ur interest and ur input , will let know how i go , jack.