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Trailer Tow FLASH (2014 Journey Crossroad)


sharkbait8574

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  • 2 weeks later...

I see that my car has the connector by the spare tire. I also know it has the oil cooler because it's standard with the 3.6 L.

So I guess I would need to buy the OEM connector and have the car flashed. Any idea what that would cost?

Alternatively, the Curt harness is cheap and I read on another thread that the power wire could be spliced onto the red wire of the connector near the spare tire instead of running it to the engine bay. But is that connector "hot" without being flashed?

Edited by Red G8R
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It's really easy to run the power wire from the curt harness to the battery. I just ran it under the vehicle, zip tying it off in a few locations (under the driver side doors near the frame). Then just pull the wheel well cover and hook it up to the battery post. It's a lot faster to do that then take the vehicle to the dealer to get flashed!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just got my '15 crossroad flashed today. For some reason it took 2 hours to do the harness, partly because the service rep didn't tell the tech that all that he needed to do was a restoration because the sales codes were already installed (poor communication), and they also had an update to my navigation that was covered under warranty. I installed a Class III Curt receiver (#13201) ($123 online)and also OEM wiring harness 68080977AC ($70 online) . The receiver took maybe 45-60 minutes to install, figuring out how to get the rubber gaskets off the exhaust mounts took the longest but once I got them off it took maybe a half hour to install the actual hitch myself. The wiring harness really only took 10 minutes to install. I laid on the floor and reached behind the bumper, disconnected the cap, plugged in the connector popped the attached rivets into the holes and zip tied the rest to the hitch bar for extra security and I was done. At the dealer they tried to charge me $137 for the flash. I asked how it cost so much since the flash should really be done at the factory and said this should be covered under warranty. The guy came back after talking with his manager and I got to leave without paying a thing. I think I made out pretty good overall other than spending 2.5 hours of my morning at the dealership.

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Why does the curt harness have a wire that runs to the battery?

Because LED equipped vehicles don't have enough power going though the wires to the back lights (LED). Curt has two wiring harness, one for and without LED tail lights.

Edited by Red G8R
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Because LED equipped vehicles don't have enough power going though the wires to the back lights (LED). Curt has two wiring harness, one for and without LED tail lights.

I thought that I saw a post on here where someone verified that the wiring is delivering 12v to the tail lamps??

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I thought that I saw a post on here where someone verified that the wiring is delivering 12v to the tail lamps??

I can't confirm that but then why would Curt have two wiring harnesses, one specific for LED cars.

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  • 9 months later...

I purchased my 2011 R/T Journey with LED tail lights from the original owner and it's now out of warranty (140,000 KM) but it has the trailer tow package and had the trailer wiring harness in the bag. I just got a U-haul Class III hitch installed professionally by them and they also installed the factory wiring (in 5 minutes) by clipping it into the bracket, but then they told me the wiring doesn't work when tested.

Luckily I found this post and reading through it I see that I need to get my Journey flashed by the dealer to get the trailer harness activate. My question is how much I should expect to pay & how can I get them to do it for a small charge or no charge. I see there is a possibility that I may be able to send the last 8 digits of my vin to a forum member that works for Dodge and he can possibly add some codes for me before visiting the dealer - will this reduce the cost of the flashing?

Thanks for anyone who can share their experiences so I can try and get this done for a reasonable rate.

PS - when they re-flash will it update any of the other information such as current software to fix the hard shifting when starting form from a stop that is experienced by me?

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Just as I feared the first quote from the local Dodge dealer $110 plus 13% HST tax. Time to start searching around for a dealer that's not going to gauge me - what a sham having to pay to get this activated by a dealer!

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2nd quote from a dealer next city over is 1/2 hour labour so $59 tax in (as long as they don't run into problems and internet is up).

& the Other Unique Dodge Chrylser dealership in Town $84.60 PLUS TAXES!

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  • 1 year later...

@Journeyman425 Had it synced up with no issues but failed when they tested the port coming off the 68080977AC cable. After calling their support folks it seems as though this isn't the correct cable and I should be using 82212721AG which is a 7 pin.

 

Can you confirm that I can't use 68080977AC on a 2016 with LED lights?

 

Thanks

 

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68080977AC supersedes to 68080976AC which is valid from 2011 to 2017 model year applications. I cannot see why a 7 pin wire is the correct application since the vehicle is rated to tow 2500 lb maximum and would not require a 7 way round connector which is used for higher capacity brake systems found on trailers whose weight exceed the vehicle's towing capacity.

 

When you say failed - was there no power at all at the end of the four way plug which attaches to the trailer?

 

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Correct, after syncing he noticed the cable in the seat which I hadn't installed yet so he connected it and plugged in a tester and said it wasn't working. 

 

He then came talk to me and I said I ordered the oem part, which I researched before ordering to make sure it was the correct one. 

 

He then called got thr accessory guys on the phone who told him my PN wasn't for this Journey, when I asked him what model it was he said he didn't know just that his guy at support said it wasn't. 

 

Stated the correct PN was the AG one I posted above, he also has LAY or LYA written next to it which does show up with that PN.

 

Im going to plug it in and test myself tomorrow.

 

I looked up his PN and the first thing I asked him was why would I need a 7 plug for 2400 limit, I didn't get a reply and just a I don't know. 

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So I checked the plug leaving the harness and I have no power. I then pulled the relays apart and checked power going in on both red power wires and I have 11ish volts on both though it seems to bounce around a little. 

 

From the looks of the harness there is a relay for each wire coming out of the plug, I also checked one of the wires and I have continuity from the output of the relay to the plug. Also checked ground and that is good from the plug back to the plug going into the cards plug. 

 

So everything looks good except for the relays that aren't relaying. 

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If anyone has a  68080976AC and could get a picture of the relays that would be great, I'd like to check that they're not wired up incorrectly. I tried another relay I had here wired up the same way and I'm getting the same results. 

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  • 2 months later...

Hello all. I've spent weeks researching getting a hitch installed on my '15 SXT and finally resolved to buying the Curt hitch and wiring harness (package deal on ebay for $182 w/ball). Then I read a couple more threads and started wondering if the factory installed harness by the spare with the 82212721AG attachment would be a better option. I was getting hopeful reading this thread, but no one really said how things turned out. Did either of the folks having issues (ShrtBus & Sharkbait8574) ever get them resolved? Did the factory harness work out better than the Curt harness? I did go to my dealer and was initially told I did not have anything installed (by my VIN), and would need to pay almost $700 to get the wiring installed. I then walked them out to my car and showed them the wire by the spare and suddenly I was told I needed to install the 82212721AG harness and pay $200 to re-flash my system. This definitely made the $40 Curt harness a lot more appealing. So I am wondering...

 

-Are there people out there using the Curt harness and happy with it?

-Has anyone had the factory wiring harness installed successfully (4pin or 7 pin) and happy with it? 

 

Ultimately I am not planning on towing anything bigger than maybe two jet skis, but if the factory 7-pin harness gives me the braking option and say control, I thought why not. Anyway, any feedback and results from the folks on this thread would be great.

Edited by Armando G
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