(New guy) - 2013 Tahoe LT - Tekonsha P3??

[BooBoo]

UPDATE FOR POSTERITY! Success! I was clearly making much ado about nothing. I found the wiring taped way up under the dash and pretty easily found the two wires under the hood. I used the eTrailer.com installation video for the 2011 model because the 2015 video works with the Plug 'n Play connector, and that wasn't available for my 2013.

I found a perfect flat mounting spot for the controller near the bottom of the dash more or less in line with the gas pedal. It worked so perfectly for this that I have to assume that they made that area specifically for mounting something like this.

I hooked up our camper and did the setup as the booklet showed, which was EASILY accomplished and at least for me, worked great with the default settings noted in the booklet. We took it for a 120 mile test drive on a loop that included flat highway, secondary roads and steep uphill & downhill sections.

As posted in the comments, wiring according to the video instructions leaves you with an ALWAYS ON connection to the controller. If the camper is NOT connected, the Tahoe will shut off accessories and whatever after a set time. If the camper IS connected however, I verified that it does NOT shut down the connection and the camper stays up and running.

Lastly, I am not good with electrical stuff, so watched the installation video a number of times and also read the booklet to be sure that I had the wiring connections right. I made this chart for myself to eliminate any potential senior moments:

I hope that this helps someone!

++++++++++++++

Hi, I have been driving a 2004 Tacoma for 17 years, until very recently. In celebration of retirement, I JUST bought a 2013 Tahoe LT 5.3 in very good shape with very low miles. SO MANY buttons, but I'm trying to figure it all out!

Our 44th anniversary is coming up in July and a seaside camping trip is planned. The problem is that I am stumped on the towing setup and I'm hoping that someone might be able to help. By the time the camper and Tahoe are packed with us and all our crap, we'll probably be at 4000 pounds, and I wouldn't want to go with only the Tahoe brakes to stop us.

: It has the factory 7-pin connector & hitch

: The dealer said that it does NOT have integrated brakes, so I ASSUME he's right, but don't know for sure because I don't know how to check for that.

: On the wiring junction box diagonally up from the brake pedal, I see an unlock symbol on the plastic cover with two arrows < > but it doesn't come off easily and I'm afraid to break something. I am hoping to see in there a spot second from the left, where I might plug in a wiring adapter for the brake controller.

: I DO NOT see taped up loose wires, (as mentioned on eTrailer), so I'm assuming / hoping that means there IS a spot for a wiring adapter plug in there, if I could just get the cover off to see.

: I've grown even older trying to find the GM wiring adapter for my 2013 that fits the Tekonsha P3 and would let me use that controller in the Tahoe.

Any and all help would be most welcome!!

 

[wsteele]

Hi, I have been driving a 2004 Tacoma for 17 years, until very recently. In celebration of retirement, I JUST bought a 2013 Tahoe LT 5.3 in very good shape with very low miles. SO MANY buttons, but I'm trying to figure it all out!

Our 44th anniversary is coming up in July and a seaside camping trip is planned. The problem is that I am stumped on the towing setup and I'm hoping that someone might be able to help. By the time the camper and Tahoe are packed with us and all our crap, we'll probably be at 4000 pounds, and I wouldn't want to go with only the Tahoe brakes to stop us.

: It has the factory 7-pin connector & hitch

: The dealer said that it does NOT have integrated brakes, so I ASSUME he's right, but don't know for sure because I don't know how to check for that.

: On the wiring junction box diagonally up from the brake pedal, I see an unlock symbol on the plastic cover with two arrows < > but it doesn't come off easily and I'm afraid to break something. I am hoping to see in there a spot second from the left, where I might plug in a wiring adapter for the brake controller.

: I DO NOT see taped up loose wires, (as mentioned on eTrailer), so I'm assuming / hoping that means there IS a spot for a wiring adapter plug in there, if I could just get the cover off to see.

: I've grown even older trying to find the GM wiring adapter for my 2013 that fits the Tekonsha P3 and would let me use that controller in the Tahoe.

Any and all help would be most welcome!!

Welcome from Idaho. I have that very brake controller on my 2007 Yukon (I personally think 2013 is the very best year for these trucks, you did good).

I can go out and look, I installed mine just after buying the truck new, so don’t remember exactly the procedure. I do know it was very simple and straightforward. The wiring was all there near the parking brake and a single power wire had to be hooked up at the fuse box under the hood on the drivers side.

If you get stumped, just post up and I will go confirm where everything is.

 

[OR VietVet]

Welcome to the forum from Oregon. "YOGI" would be a great name for the rig, "BOOBOO".

 

[BooBoo]

Thank you for a word of confidence! The immediate challenge is to get the COVER off that junction box under the dash so that I can see if there is a space for a wiring adapter.
Do you HAVE that cover on your vehicle? If so, what is the trick to removing it?

Thanks!

 

[BooBoo]

Welcome to the forum from Oregon. "YOGI" would be a great name for the rig, "BOOBOO".

Laughing! Yes!

 

[wsteele]

Thank you for a word of confidence! The immediate challenge is to get the COVER off that junction box under the dash so that I can see if there is a space for a wiring adapter.
Do you HAVE that cover on your vehicle? If so, what is the trick to removing it?

Thanks!

I will go out and climb down into the footwell and check. It has been a long time (like 14 years), but I think mine was just a bundle of wires taped up there with the plug on the end. But I do remember a box like you describe somewhere along my travels up under the dash.

 

[wsteele]

Thank you for a word of confidence! The immediate challenge is to get the COVER off that junction box under the dash so that I can see if there is a space for a wiring adapter.
Do you HAVE that cover on your vehicle? If so, what is the trick to removing it?

Thanks!

OK, the black box with the unlocked lock symbol is where my wire bundle comes out and is butt spliced to the harness that goes to my Tekonsha. I assume the brake control wires were bundled up inside it before I installed my controller. It looks like I had to do 4 butt splices from the Tekonsha cable to the truck harness. I colors are different between the controller and the truck harness, so if your instructions don't call that out, I can take a picture for you so you get the right colors connected on both sides.

I can't remember how that cover on the footwell wall under the dash comes off, but I think if you pull around where that unlock symbol is, it may pop off. I think it is there to guide you on how to remove the cover and access the harness inside.

 

[BooBoo]

Thank you! I did give it a tentative pull at the edges that the arrows point to, but when it didn't come with moderate force, I called it quits.
This is good news, because I can't find the bundle that even the owner manual talks about, never mind the eTrailer video.
I have more hope for this now than I did!!

Thanks again.

 

[wsteele]

Thank you! I did give it a tentative pull at the edges that the arrows point to, but when it didn't come with moderate force, I called it quits.
This is good news, because I can't find the bundle that even the owner manual talks about, never mind the eTrailer video.
I have more hope for this now than I did!!

Thanks again.

Just popped that black cover off. You just put your finger on the top sides and pry them sideways. If you do both top sides the cover will just swing down and be released.

Here is a picture of the back side of the cover. The two top wings get spread and they will release.

 

[BooBoo]

Just popped that black cover off. You just put your finger on the top sides and pry them sideways. If you do both top sides the cover will just swing down and be released.

Here is a picture of the back side of the cover. The two top wings get spread and they will release.

Thanks again! I'll take another crack at this in the morning.

 

[wsteele]

Bad news. The wiring harness you need likely isn’t curled up behind that black cover. At least, it doesn’t come from the connector/circuit breaker panel underneath. The harness you need is a four wire harness that breaks out of a larger bundle running just underneath the dash panels. It should have a label hanging from it with a bar code and some nomenclature of what each color wire does (at least mine does). Those 4 wires will be butt spliced to the four wires coming from your P3.

If your truck has the pre-wired towing package, those 4 wires should be right there. I misread the wiring bundles and thought mine came from that box, sorry for the confusion.

 

[gooffeyguy]

That black box is the upfitter distribution box and the brake controller wires DON'T come from there.

My cover looks the same, but has a hole in the center where a 2" long christmas tree style body panel pin goes and secures it in place

 

[BooBoo]

Thank you again! I've been out there this morning being more thorough in my investigation and will post the final results before too long to (hopefully) save another 2013 owner some trouble.

 

[wsteele]

Thank you again! I've been out there this morning being more thorough in my investigation and will post the final results before too long to (hopefully) save another 2013 owner some trouble.

Good luck.

It is too bad as on later models, that panel the cover shields has a socket for the trailer brake controller wiring and Tekonsha actually sells a harness that goes right from the P3 to that panel. Good luck finding the 4 wire bundle under there.

 

[gooffeyguy]

Yeah, my 2001 has a socket down in that area that the brake controller wire harness plugs into. The 07-14 model years don't.

The brake controller wiring on my 2012 was way up under the dash and took me a while to find. It is a lot easier if you remove the knee bolster panel that runs horizontally under the steering wheel. It's 2 bolts/screws along the bottom and the top just has clips and pops off

 

[BooBoo]

Mystery solved! Actually, this was probably more a matter of me being challenged by unchallenging things, but I thought that I would post a couple pictures in the hope of saving another 2013 owner some hassles. (It seems like 2013 is the difficult year for some reason, I could find the plug-in harness for the P3 for years earlier and later.)

FIRST, the wiring junction box cover doesn't need to come off. Which is good, because that body pin retainer is in there so strongly that I just didn't want to risk increased force to remove it and possibly damage the wiring block that it's protecting.

I found the trailer wire bundle WAY up in the wiring and completely taped up. The label shown in the picture wasn't easily visible, but I realized that it was the giveaway on what might be in there.

The installation video at eTrailer covers this, (the 2011 video shows the separate wires - the later model video uses the adapter plug),
but I thought that for myself and others it might be helpful to "be sure" of what is what.

I used my wife's small scissors to remove the tape. She wasn't home and probably won't read this.

As noted, the red wire on the FENDER side is controller power and goes to the SILVER post.

The red wire sort of under the brake reservoir is apparently ground, as the video says to attach it to the BLACK post.

POST NUTS:

I don't have existing nuts on those posts, so will need to get some. According to eTrailer, they are:

M6 x 1.0
&
M8 x 1.25

I hope that this helps somebody. Thanks to everybody who helped ME!!

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Thank you for posting your results.

 

[gooffeyguy]

Mystery solved! Actually, this was probably more a matter of me being challenged by unchallenging things, but I thought that I would post a couple pictures in the hope of saving another 2013 owner some hassles. (It seems like 2013 is the difficult year for some reason, I could find the plug-in harness for the P3 for years earlier and later.)

FIRST, the wiring junction box cover doesn't need to come off. Which is good, because that body pin retainer is in there so strongly that I just didn't want to risk increased force to remove it and possibly damage the wiring block that it's protecting.

I found the trailer wire bundle WAY up in the wiring and completely taped up. The label shown in the picture wasn't easily visible, but I realized that it was the giveaway on what might be in there.

View attachment 305111

The installation video at eTrailer covers this, (the 2011 video shows the separate wires - the later model video uses the adapter plug),
but I thought that for myself and others it might be helpful to "be sure" of what is what.

I used my wife's small scissors to remove the tape. She wasn't home and probably won't read this.

As noted, the red wire on the FENDER side is controller power and goes to the SILVER post.

The red wire sort of under the brake reservoir is apparently ground, as the video says to attach it to the BLACK post.

POST NUTS:

I don't have existing nuts on those posts, so will need to get some. According to eTrailer, they are:

M6 x 1.0
&
M8 x 1.25

View attachment 305112

I hope that this helps somebody. Thanks to everybody who helped ME!!

My wires were way up there and hard to find also.

Both posts on the front of the power distribution box are hot (+) and one goes to the 12v power in the 7 pin trailer connector plug on the receiver hitch. Some trailers will use that to charge batteries or power lights/electrical equipment.

 

[BooBoo]

My wires were way up there and hard to find also.

Both posts on the front of the power distribution box are hot (+) and one goes to the 12v power in the 7 pin trailer connector plug on the receiver hitch. Some trailers will use that to charge batteries or power lights/electrical equipment.

Ah, thank you for clarifying!

 

[Fless]

If the 12v aux powering is always hot (which it is on my NBS) then be careful about leaving the trailer connected electrically while making longer stops for things like lunch, etc. It can drain your battery if you're powering something that takes a lot of current, like a fridge. And be sure to plug it back in before you take off again; I got in the habit of checking a few trailer lights after each long stop.