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2012 Journey - Factory Wiring found by spare tire - how to use?


AaronC

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Hi -- So we bought our 2012 used a few months ago and I my hitch is coming tomorrow. I have been researching how to properly wire mine up... i looked on Etrailer and found a nice wiring assembly but then found some other

info on here, etc that some DJ's have a towing prep package already there near the spare tire. So i got under there last night to see if mine had this there, low and behold I found that wiring right under there... so i think this is good news for me.

So a few questions:

1. What do i need to buy to be able to use this factory installed wiring harness? The trailer i pull around is a standard 4 pin connection.

2. How do i disconnect this assembly from the frame under there to be able to use... I played with it for a second but didnt want to pull on it to hard and break something.

3. Do i have to take to dealer to get this flashed to use this wiring assembly, and if so it sounds like I may have to pay for this... I have seen different conversations saying some paid and others said they didnt have to?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me

- Aaron

..

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1. Does the wiring harness have the connector on it? If not, you need to get the other end to plug in to your 4 pin connector.

2. It's probably tie wrapped or taped. Just get a close look to see how it is attached.

3. Once you get it out, connect it to see if it works, if not then a dealer visit is in order.

Thats all I got. :lol:

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So i tried to pull this harness off the bracket it is on but didnt have any luck and i sure didnt want to break it off. Below is what i am seeing under the bumper, next to the spare tire, this is the wiring harness for towing, correct? I am still not sure what i should be hooking up to or connecting to this to get it to work, does anyone know?

Thanks again - Aaron

post-8574-0-03918400-1396524891_thumb.jp

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It doesn't look like someone already installed the trailer wiring harness. Mine was just tossed in the back when I got mine new from the dealership. I ended up installing it (took about 10 minutes) and then hooked up the trailer. That was when i found out that the vehicle needed to be flashed for it to work. I ended up getting it done for free since I convinced the dealership they should have done it in the first place.

Bottom line, if you don't see a 4 pin connector back there already, you don't have the trailer wiring harness installed. Luckily it is a plug and play system and very easy to install. Good luck!

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Thank you very much Darkpaw & oleaver.. I was leaning towards just buying the harness from etrailer b/c i wasnt sure if that was a real wiring harness but now after reading what you wrote I will definitely be doing so... appreciate your time to post on here about that. Thank you.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Here is the connector that I found, I think it looks about the same.

Does anyone have the pinout or where to get the mating connector?

It does not look like this is used with the factory wiring kits that I've seen so far.

I hate the idea that it's not live and that the vehicle has to be flashed before it can be used. Would not be as bad if they included the connector.

Dodge%20Journey%202014%20Connector%20sto

Dodge%20Journey%202014%20Connector%20unp

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It doesn't look like someone already installed the trailer wiring harness. Mine was just tossed in the back when I got mine new from the dealership. I ended up installing it (took about 10 minutes) and then hooked up the trailer. That was when i found out that the vehicle needed to be flashed for it to work. I ended up getting it done for free since I convinced the dealership they should have done it in the first place. Bottom line, if you don't see a 4 pin connector back there already, you don't have the trailer wiring harness installed. Luckily it is a plug and play system and very easy to install. Good luck!

So what was included in the tow package? The only one I've found on the Mopar site was a full harness that required drilling holes in the jack box and wiring to the taillights plus two circuits to the battery. Lets assume that the connector contains Right & Left Turn/Brake lights, Tail Lights, Backup Lights and Brakes and that you get ground from the frame or no brakes and it has ground. Does it connect directly to the plug or does it wire to a controller then the plug? How much can it drive?

The Factory harness from Mopar looks like it contains drivers for the lights, aux power and a brake controller all connecting to a 7 pin connector so nothing else is required.

Need more information.

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  • 3 weeks later...

It doesn't look like someone already installed the trailer wiring harness. Mine was just tossed in the back when I got mine new from the dealership. I ended up installing it (took about 10 minutes) and then hooked up the trailer. That was when i found out that the vehicle needed to be flashed for it to work. I ended up getting it done for free since I convinced the dealership they should have done it in the first place.

Bottom line, if you don't see a 4 pin connector back there already, you don't have the trailer wiring harness installed. Luckily it is a plug and play system and very easy to install. Good luck!

Do you have the part number off the box? It should be about a 8 digits plus two letters at the end.

Thanks

Edited by Timon
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The part number for the wiring harness "kit" (includes the plug 'n play harness and the instructions in a bag) is P68080976AC and inside the bag is a part number attached directly to the harness (use this if you want just the harness and not the whole kit) P68080977AC. This kit will attach to the plug in the rear and give you the 4 pin connector. The "P" just indicates the following is a part number and you should be able to look up the kit by the number and two letters following them.

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I live in the middle of no where do we pay more then most. It was $120 Cdn. I'm not sure if the flash price yet as I have to chat with the sales team about the detailed scratching my fender on inspection and tried to hide it.

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Got the part in today. It will plug right into that plug by the tire. On instructions it is part A

EDIT: Hard to see the instructions but the number on the bottum left of the page is PN: 68060978AA

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Edited by Skinner
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Could you take 4 close up photos of the wire area on the 3 relays and the connector to the Journey. Don't need the trailer connector since it's visible in one of your photos. I'll match that up with what I have already figure out. If the photos are clear enough I can likely make a schematic from them. I'd also like a picture of the relay brand and part number if they are marked.

Traced out the wiring on the connector. The part is made by Delphi and is in their standard catalog so depending on who carries them they should not be too hard to find. The mating part is 12103974 which is the part you see the connector plugged into. All you need to turn the dummy connector into a live one is the pins and wire seals. The pin I think is 12045773 0.80-0.50 Tin Brass Tin plus the wire seals. If you interested look at the Delphi Catalog starting around page 2.12.

There are two row of pins with 3 on the top and 2 on the bottom. If you have the connector facing you, wires away from you, the pins are as follows.

Red (12V), White w/Orange Stripe (One of the relay drivers), Black w/Yellow Stripe (Ground)

White w/Green Stripe (One of the relay drivers), White w/Gray Stripe (One of the relay drivers)

The power is available even with the vehicle has not been flashed. I don't know which output drives Lt Turn/Stop, Rt Turn/Stop and Taillights until it's flashed.

One of the things I don't like about the factory connections is that it looks like they use 18GA wire. That seems a bit light to me mainly for the ground. If you were going to use this cable plus a 7 pin connector it would be easy to beef up the ground and get additional power from the battery for the Aux Power, Backup Lights if used and Brakes.

Edited by Timon
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The part number was taken from a kit in a Journey with the tow package. It should work with any Journey that has the matching connector in the rear just behind the bumper. We don't know if it's on all Journeys or just the V6 ones.

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