Prodigy P2 Troubleshooting Advise

[Penhall]

Good afternoon and happy labour day.

I have a Prodigy p2 that has some issues I'm trying to troubleshoot.

To start from the beginning, I had an original prodigy controller in my '03 Superduty that started to to *intermittently* show a oL and SH messages when hooked to my '06 Keystone Cougar 276 5th wheel. I took the truck and RV down to my local dealer (Fraserway RV) and they diagnosed as 'the controller was bad.' This was about 2 years ago. So basically, I went out and purchased a new Prodigy p2 and simply replaced the original unit and it appears to have worked fine until recently. Now. it appears that the same problem has reappeared and I'm getting the intermittent oL and SH messages again and more frequently than before. Just returned from a 1500 mile trip through Alaska and didn't have brakes for much of the trip.

I've crawled under the 5th wheel and inspected the wiring that's exposed from the underbelly cover to the hubs and in/out of the axels and can find zero signs of any wear. I've cleaned the connector and truck and trailer at both ends contact cleaner to no avail. I have not opened the hubs to inspect the magnets but when the bearings were repacked last fall, they were said to be fine.

Is there any other advise you can give me on this on what to check to get it fixed? I hate to think this is a second dead controller.

Thanks
George

[chuck&gail]

Can you get to the splices? Normally the trouble you are having is the wires INSIDE the axle are bad. IMHO try running new wires OUTSIDE the axle.

[Penhall]

Splices look good, might have to rerun the wires but I'm going to take the controller to a test-bench anyway first to eliminate that. Normally, with axel wear I'd think that the wear point would be at entrance/exit when the gromits go but they look fine.

At least its the end of the season so lots of time to putter around.

Thanks

[Halibutman214]

Check out this link. It's a great place for Prodigy Troubleshooting.
http://www.etrailer.com/question-17749.html

The codes may be one in the same problem. I wouldn't rule out the wiring in the truck. The fact that all you did was replace the controller and it worked for two years has me thinking that a wire on the truck side of things might be rubbing on something. Not sure if you would get the codes however.

[Penhall]

I did get some advice back from Tekonsha which I will follow up on, they suggest that if I don't get the errors when disconnected, then the wiring on the trailer is where they'd start:

With both the Prodigy and Prodigy P2 the diagnostic systems have detected a direct short to ground on the brake output wire. This can occur either on the tow vehicle or on the trailer.

The codes that are displayed coincide with each other, basically if you get a SH displayed you will have the OL while the brakes are activated. Being these codes are intermittent, this is not indicative of a faulty brake control but can be difficult to diagnose.

If these codes are ever displayed without the trailer, the issue is in the tow vehicle.

If these are only displayed with the trailer then I would focus on the trailer wiring. Typically we find that the wiring has rubbed through. If you see no issue on the exposed wiring, I would suggest double checking the brake magnet wires in the drums. Be sure to pay close attention to the wiring where it passes through the backing plates, passes past the activation arm pivots and any wire that has come loose from the activation arm as these should be attached and can rub through on the backing plate. In some cases I have seen the wires that runs in the axle tube wear through the case and cause a SH as these wires have no hold down points.

[happytrails]

I just dealt with several issues on my camper and finally found that all four hubs had wires in them that we're rubbing through the insulation. What led me to this is the same as where you are now, intermittent braking and controller showing weird and opposite readings. I also had brakes that would engage too much and not at all. It just depended on how the wires were rubbing or not. I even had one set that had rubbed all the way through causing an open condition in that brake. I took all my hubs off and since my TT is fairly new I wrote to AL-KO and they sent me four new magnets. I had to install some tywraps instead of their shoddy metal clip which did nothing in my opinion. The problem has been solved for over 1000 miles now.

Check your hubs and have some grease on hand to re-grease the bearings. And please find the manual on your axels and buy the right grease and pack them the right way. Mine are ez-lube so it wasn't too bad. Grease is very important to your bearings.


By the way, you mentioned that when your bearings were replaced that they said the wires were fine. It is possible that they caused the issue when they reassembled them, but not on purpose. These wires are unfortunately installed right by the hub which spins and spins and loves to rub off insulation. You should definitely recheck those hubs. If it has been less than a year since that work was done call the place and see if they will assist for a reduced or no cost if they caused the problem. That's asking a lot I know but sometimes even today, good customer service is out there. I didn't expect AL-KO to send me new magnets for free but they did.

Hope this helps!!!

[Penhall]

Thanks!

First step is going to yank the through axel wiring and replace with a heavier gauge external routing. If that doesn't solve the problem, then off the hubs come.

*electrical gremlins are the bane of my existence!

[Penhall]

Just a quick 'thank you' reply to everyone... culprit was worn wiring within the axle, with the moisture accumulation, it would short out. (weep holes maybe)

Anyway, ran new wiring external to axle and all appears to be good now (took a 30 mile test tow).

[happytrails]

Very Nice! Glad you found it.