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Hi there! I'm a new owner of a '01 RX300 and need to install a wiring harness for a small trailer. I have read many threads on here and have figured out that I am not driving a tow packaged vehicle, which explains why the receiver plug under the car wasn't hot. I pulled apart the spare tire area to find the terminus of the 4 wires that comprise the trailer light bundle, but haven't managed to figure out where they join up to the wires that feed the car's lights. I see two white plugs under the driver side edge of the compartment. The first is mostly white/black wires with a capped plug that seems to mate all the wires together. This matches with the white plug on the trailer wiring. The others, red, red/white, and red/black, disappear into a channel, and it doesn't look like they all surface at the other white wiring block that is next to the spare tire area. Another poster described it as U shaped with pins in a ::..:: configuration. See attached giant image for reference. It makes sense to me that there is an aftermarket adapter that would mate the right pins to a splice harness. I guess it's time for my real question, is there an elegant solution to this problem?
OK, this is a bit of a can of worms! First of all, can you confirm that you don't have the towing prep package? If so equipped, you will have a black box on the left side of the spare well right behind the rear seat (these fry frequently and have been modified throughout the lifecycle of the RX). If not, you can't simply connnect wires from the lights to this connector. The lighting of the RX is pretty complex - behind the rear trim panel (above the left suspension strut) is the infamous "Brake Light Failure Sensor Module". This is ties into the lighting harnes and, if fried, is a very expensive fix!
Honestly, for this car, I'd take it to U-Haul (or an e-trailer franchise) and see if they can figure it out.
Hi Keith. thanks for the pointers. Here is a picture of the area, and I see no black box. Is this the control module 08921-48070 I've seen mentioned a handful of times? I see the Kendall dealership has those available.
As far as the brake sensor module goes, I assumed the intermittent dash light indicated I had an issue there....
09-06-18, 06:46 PM
Best solution for trailer lights?
