Taillight issues

[Farmhawk]

Good evening all, I have a perplexing issue going on with my taillights. I am currently taveling from Montana to Arizona for a little sunshine. This morning when we were leaving camp we conducted the normal lights check and found the lights in the rear would not come on. The amber lights in the front of the rig are on but not the red ones in the back. The turnsignals, brake and hazards all work. The diagnosis to me would be a break or disconnected wire some where. I have checked all of the connections that are visible underneath. Anyone have any thoughts on this. The trailer is a 2016 Solitude 369. Thank you in advance.

[BabyBober]

Look in the junction box where the 7pin cable connects. It is roughly a 4x4 cover plate held on my 2 screws. You, may have a loose wire in there as the leads for the lights are all tied together with wire nuts.

Jim

[Cate&Rob]

The trailer “running lights” are all on the same circuit. The amber ones on the front upper and lower corners, the amber ones half way back, the red ones on the upper and lower rear corners, the three at the center rear upper and the tail light elements that don’t flash. If any of these are working, you have power to the trailer system. The wiring links from one fixture to the next. If the connections described by BabyBober look good, you may have to work your way back to the lights that are working and where these connect to the ones that are not.

Rob

[Farmhawk]

Everything looks good under the pin box. The amber lights in front work and also the amber lights mid way, so there is power to there. The rear side lights the top c;earamce lights in the rear and taillights are dark. I may have to wait until I get down south to work on them since the turn signal and brake lights work. Travel after day break.

[Cate&Rob]

You are probably going to have to drop the rear coroplast to trace these wires . . . agreed that this will be a lot easier to do once you reach Arizona.

Rob

[traveldawg]

...the rear side lights the top c;earamce lights in the rear and taillights are dark....

I think a call to customer service is in order so you can talk to someone who knows how the wiring is run to those lights. Since both the tail lights AND the top clearance lights don't work it seems there is a wire past the midpoint of the trailer that has failed. I'm not sure how power gets to those top clearance lights but am sure (at least on my RV) the bottom ones (tail) get fed from the bottom. Somehow there has to be a path to the roof and it might just be easier to ask GD than guess.

[Cate&Rob]

From "poking around" under my Reflection, it would appear that the running light (and brake/turn signal light) wiring comes down the left side of the trailer inside the underbelly. The running light wiring goes to the mid point side light and then re-joins the brake/turn signal wires going to the back. It looks like the wiring to the upper rear running lights goes up the back wall from the underbelly. I admit that I don't know where the mid point light on the right side is wired from . . . might be cross trailer from the left side within the underbelly.

I would start at the last light that works . . . the mid point side light on the left side.

Nothing wrong with asking GDRV customer service . . . I would be interested to learn their response, since every Grand Design product is wired a little differently.

Rob

[Farmhawk]

The tailight issue has been resolved. But first the issue escalated to taking out the stop lights and signals, we were dead in the water in Cedar City, UT. This morning I took the rig to Color Country Diesel Repair in Cedar City , UT. The technician got everything on the truck back in order, repairing blown fuses and some repair to the plugins but he didn't know anything about the trailer issues. He got the left signal and brake light working. He recommended that we take it to Nielson RV in St George, UT. They got us right in and after verifying the trouble was in the trailer set off to repair it. The tech initially thought mice had gotten in to the underbelly. Well he found the issue. During manufacture Grand Design had pinched the wires on the right side of the coach between the frame and flooring causing the dead short. Problem solved thanks to the good folks at Nielson RV a Grand Design dealer.

[Cate&Rob]

Farmhawk . . . thanks for the update! Good to hear that the problem is solved and you are back on the road. Since this was obviously a problem created when the trailer was built, you might want to submit your repair invoices and a detailed explanation, to Grand Design. They have been known to cover things like this.

Rob

[Farmhawk]

Just a follow up with my lighting issues I had back in January. I had contacted Grand Design about the issue of it being a latent defect in the construction of the coach. Well, low and behold Grand Design agreed with me and reimbursed me for all of my repair expenses.