Service Trailer Brake System message
On my lunch break today, I drove my truck to the store, which is 5 minutes away. While driving the "service trailer brake system " message chimed and came up on the dash. It did this several times. I ...
Forum Discussion
Agree with all of the above, but FWIW, on my 2009 Silverado my experience was:
- Water gets into the connector for whatever reason and causes the service message
- After drying, it goes away.
- Service message is also triggered if the equipment gets dirt, debris etc along with the water
- However, after a while, the factory controller has just had enough and dies. It can be replaced / fixed but you may want to look into whether your controller can (even if repaired) adequately deal with whatever "modern" trailers you'll be pulling.
- I can't recall too many specifics, but my factory controller (from my 2009 model built in 2008) even when "repaired" wouldn't work with the electric over hydraulic brakes on my new 2018 boat trailer...it was roughly the same cost to get a new P3 installed as it was to get the fix done to the factory controller...so went with new. My 2009 is now my "work" truck and it still shows the "service trailer connector" message, but it's meaningless since the new controller is what's connected to the outlet.
- Water gets into the connector for whatever reason and causes the service message
- After drying, it goes away.
- Service message is also triggered if the equipment gets dirt, debris etc along with the water
- However, after a while, the factory controller has just had enough and dies. It can be replaced / fixed but you may want to look into whether your controller can (even if repaired) adequately deal with whatever "modern" trailers you'll be pulling.
- I can't recall too many specifics, but my factory controller (from my 2009 model built in 2008) even when "repaired" wouldn't work with the electric over hydraulic brakes on my new 2018 boat trailer...it was roughly the same cost to get a new P3 installed as it was to get the fix done to the factory controller...so went with new. My 2009 is now my "work" truck and it still shows the "service trailer connector" message, but it's meaningless since the new controller is what's connected to the outlet.
