Troubleshooting Smoking Trailer Wire

Updated 05/24/2022 | Published 05/21/2022

Question:

I was testing the lights on my boat trailer and when I first plugged it in it has started to smoke a bit so I unplugged it . When I plugged it in again it had worked fine, I use a 7pin to 4pin adaptor and the adapter has the tester lights on it and all the lights going to the 7pin on the truck work , I first plugged in the adapter into the truck and it worked fine , but when I had plugged the trailer wiring into the adapter it started to smoke I was not sure if I need to rewire the trailer or visit the Toyota dealership FYI the trailer has been sitting in a barn for a year or 2

asked by: Ali

Expert Reply:

Since you didn't have an issue until the trailer was plugged in I doubt it is an issue with your Toyota. I also do not know what the extent of the smoke was. I would say start by checking the connection on your trailer. Especially if it was just a little smoke on the connection. Some kind of dirt or debris may have caused this. If the smoke was really bad then I would just go ahead and add a new connection and wiring.

The other thing you could do is inspect the wiring and your ground connections. There may be damage/corrosion to the wiring or connections depending on the conditions of the barn since the trailer sat in there for a couple years. If you need to run a new 4-way you can use the # A35W42B.

expert reply by: Robin H