Trailer Wiring Harness Installation - 2012 Cadillac SRX

Installation of a Trailer Wiring Harness on a 2012 Cadillac SRX

Today on our 2012 Cadillac SRX, were going to install the Tow-Ready 4-Pole Wiring Harness part number 119176KIT. Then were gonna remove the plastic pushpin fastener that holds on the plastic cover for the mounting of the tail light. Then we can gently pry and pull the plastic cover away and set it aside. As you can see, you will now expose the 2 screw fasteners that hold the tail light assembly in place. Well go ahead and remove those next. Now we need to gently pry and pull the tail light assembly away from the body of the vehicle.

As you can see now, with it off of the vehicle, there are several plastic attachments that hold it in place. Be careful not to break these as you remove it. Now, before I actually remove the tail light assembly, Im gonna wanna use a test light to back probe the wire connections to locate which will be our running light, our blinker and brake signals. Now using a piece of wire, we can simply back probe each connector until we find the turn signal. With our wire back panning the yellow wire and activating our test light, we know that this will be our blinking circuit.

Next well turn the blinker off and step on the brakes. Put on the brake. So our yellow wire, the top plug is gonna be for our brake signal and the purple wire will be for our running lights. Before we can make our connection, well need to first peel back the cover or tape thats protecting the wires. Now we can go ahead and take the new Tow-Ready connector and start making our connections using the quick connectors.

Quick connector will work like this. Youll feed the manufacturers wire to the inside of the quick connector, this is for our turn signal so its the yellow wire with our black tracer and then well match up with the yellow wire on our Tow-Ready converter box. Well go ahead and slide it in, and then we can crimp down the center section which will pierce the wires to make the connection. Put the cover on and repeat the same process to make the brake and tail light connections. Now we have those 3 wire connections made, we can go ahead and take our white wire with the ring terminal which is gonna be our ground wire for our converter box.

Were gonna attach it directly to the body of the vehicle. To do this, well use a self-tapping screw. Our converter box has two more wires that will need to be connected, the first being the red wire. This is going to be the power wire that will be fed from the battery of the vehicle. To make this connection, were gonna take a piece of a black wire provided with our install kit, go ahead and insert and crimp it down inside the butt connector. Now, to feed our wire to the front, were gonna go down between the bumper cover and the sheet metal of the vehicle. This will allow us to get up underneath the vehicle and route it towards the battery. Now to make it a little easier, Im gonna go ahead and disconnect the 3 connection points so I can set my tail light aside. Each one has a locking tab that need to be pressed as you remove it. Now were gonna take our 4-pole and feed it down between sheet metal and the body of the vehicle. Heres a tight squeeze but it will go. Now before I go ahead and mount my converter box, Im gonna take some black electro tape and tape up each one of the connections that Ive made. The converter box will be mounted here behind the tail light. we will need to keep it low and out of the way. Its a good idea to also make sure that the area or surface is flat and clean as possible. The converter box, well have two-way adhesive on it, so well have to peel back the cover and mount it into place. Now with our converter box mounted, we need to go ahead and route the green wire over to the passenger side. To do this, were gonna route in between the bumper cover and the body of the vehicle. It will be necessary to pull the weather stripping loose along the bottom. On the passenger side, well need to repeat the same process of identifying which wires are power wire or the right side turn signal. Now with all the connections made, well go ahead and reinstall the tail light assembly and weather stripping. Alright, now with everything reinstalled up top, were gonna go ahead and get underneath the vehicle and start routing our wires. As we route our wires, well just use some black zip ties to secure them. As you route your wires, you need to be careful to avoid excessive heat such as exhaust or moving components such as steering and suspension. Now that weve got our pole wire fed in the engine compartment, well go ahead and pull our power wire through. With our power wire pulled up in the engine compartment, well go ahead and use our zip tie to secure it. Now before we route our wire over to the positive battery terminal, well go ahead and see how it would look as well need to have a fuse holder in line with our power wire. Our fuse holder comes as part of our install kit, well simply go ahead and cut it in half, strip back both ends then well add a butt connector on one side and a ring terminal to the other. Ill go ahead and cut the excess from the power wire, strip it back and add it to our butt connector. You can also cut off the excess zip tie to help clean up your install look. Now with the positive battery terminal tightened back down, we can go ahead and add the fuse to the fuse holder. And that will complete our install of our Tow-Ready 4-Pole Kit part number 119176KIT on our 2012 Cadillac SRX. .