Troubleshooting Trailer Brakes Pulsating with Turn Signal and Brakes Activated on Pontiac Montana

Published 02/21/2018

Question:

Hi Chris thank you for replying to my question from before on my 2007 Pontiac Montana. The controller I have on my vechile was off a 1999Venture van so is it possible its just the wrong controller for the application? I thought I might have read that the newer controllers have away of picking up the pullstion signal and removes it so that only the power from the brake light side of the circuit works. Does this make sense.

asked by: Doug B

Expert Reply:

It sounds like you might have tapped into the wrong wire beneath the brake pedal in your Pontiac Montana SV6. The red wire from the brake controller needs to be spliced into the cold side of the brake light switch on the vehicle, which is a wire that only receives power when the brake pedal is depressed, and none when any other function is activated. The wire you currently have the red wire connected to may be a shared turn signal/brake circuit, which is why the brakes are pulsating with the turn signals activated on the vehicle.

I recommend simply using a circuit tester like # PTW2993 to ensure you have found the correct wire.

If this is not the issue, the other possible cause is that the turn signal circuit is shorting out to the brake output circuit for some reason. Check the trailer wiring from the connector back to the brake assemblies for any cut, exposed or damaged portions, simply fixing as needed.

If you are unable to resolve the issue, please let me know and I will be happy to look into this further.

expert reply by: Chris R

Doug

2/21/2018

Chris R.

2/21/2018

Trailer brake controllers are not vehicle specific, so as long as everything is wired correctly, there is no reason you cannot use the same controller on your Pontiac Montana that was previously used on your 1999 Chevy Venture. With that being said, if everything on the controller is wired correctly on your Pontiac, it is still possible that the brake controller is picking up on some of the current from the vehicle's turn signals. In these cases, installing a pulse preventer like the Draw-Tite # 5501 should fix the issue. What this will do is essentially filter out the fluctuations created by blinkers so that only the constant signal of having the brake pedal applied will activate the brake controller.