Factory Trailor breaks

rednck7736 · Mar 10, 2010

I have a 95 F-150 4x4 with trailor breaks.I was wondering was this a factory option.The plug on the rear has the Ford logo on it,made into cover of the plug.Looking at the wiring it looks like it is run in the same loom as the factory tail light wires and same goes for the controler wires under the dash.
Know I know my E4OD trany is comuter controled.If u hit the control button while you are driving with no trail on the truck it unlocks the convertor and the RPM's go up.I yanked the bed a while back to put a fuel pump in it and busted a tail light.I though no big deal.Well when I went to drive it the light on the control was lighted up like I had the break mashed tho the floor and the converter would not lock up.This also caused the abs light to come on and stay on.I thought I a pinched wire.But all I had was a blown brake light and a busted break light.I am not understanding why they would hook it to the tranny for.To me that seems like a problem waiting to happen if teh controler goes crazy one day.It works fine now that the lights were replaced.Does anyone know if this was a factory option and why it would run to the tranny?

travlnman55 · Dec 14, 2010

Is it possible that when you pulled the bed and broke the tail light you caused a short in the brake light circut? Were the brake lights staying on?This would cause the transmission control computer to think you are applying the brakes, which signals the torque converter to unlock. The purpose of the lockup torque converter is to increase fuel mileage. When the torque converter locks up, it is making a solid mechanical conection essentially like a manual transmission. With a manual transmission, when you come to a stop, you have to push in the clutch or the engine will stall. When the tranmission control computer senses power to the brake light circut, it thinks you are stopping and tells the converter lockup to unlock allowing you to come to a smooth stop. I don't know if your trailer brake control is a factory piece or available as a dealer installed option. I have a 1993 F-250 and it does not have a trailer brake control, but my 2005 F-350 has the brake control built into the dash board.