Thor Forums

[TimmyB]

OK, so long story that I'll try to make as short as possible.

Occasionally, I haul four bikes on the back of my car. Two years ago, when I was driving a Subaru Outback, I purchased a cheap set of magnetic towing lights to attach to the bike rack, giving me peace of mind that the bikes weren't blocking the tail lights on my vehicle. The Subie had a 7-pin and a 4-pin connector, and the light set was a 4-pin.

Today, I went to attach the same lights to my Vegas. Knowing that there was only a 7-pin, I purchased an adapter that went from 7 to 4. It also had three LED lights to show you that each circuit was working correctly or not. Plugging in to the Vegas, ... nothing. Not even a blip. The lights on the adapter worked just fine, but the minute you plugged the light set into the adapter, all three lights went solid red and there was NO activity in the actual light set.

I then disconnected the entire assembly and walked over to my son-in-law's Chevy truck and plugged in there. Boom, all the lights started flashing just like they should have. Went to my 2018 Ford Explorer, and...nothing. I tried the four pin directly to the Explorer's four pin; still nothing. Back to the Chevy and works like a charm!

The only four pins that matter are 1, 3, 5, and 6 (Ground, Running Lights, LT, and RT) and all of those tested good on all three vehicles' 7 pin connectors. The only thing is, my light kit only works with the Chevy and not the Ford, despite the apparent lack of any differences in the plug.

I've wasted an entire afternoon and evening on this. Can someone please tell me if this makes any sense to you?

Thanks for any help you can give!