Can't Find Brake Control Connector 2014

Thank you for the photo!!

2014, found the connector behind the mass group wires in the photo. It had a loop taped in the wires and when removed/broken extended the connector 4 inches. I had to pull the wires through the tape with a pair of long-noses.

Thanks again; could not find it without the photo

Certainly could not get my hand in there.

 

finding that damned thing was incredibly frustrating!

 

did the,,,find the brake controller connector excercise today, it took 3 trips under the dash and three band aids to stop the bleeding , but i found it, not to bad considering i had a complete knee replacement 2 months ago

 

Mine was behind the fuse box.
Couldn't see it from underneath
Had to take off the lower dashboard.

 

I recently bought a 2014 DC TRD Off Road with the tow package. I pull a 23 foot travel trailer and use a Prodigy trailer brake controller. After looking for quite some time and not locating the connector, I decided to see if I could get the local dealership to find it. The service tech. spent 10 minutes looking and could not find it. He did some research and ended up reading from this line of TW posts, but still could not find it. He took it back and had a mechanic look and he could not find it. After removing two panels and the foot rest, they finally found it. They pulled it out so it is now accessible with everything put back together. I will give them credit for not trying to charge me and admitting that this makes no sense.

 

Thanks to all the brave souls who adventures before me. Between the "behind the foam wrap" and "follow the thick blue wire" I was able to find it with only minimal skin lost.

 

ha, i had to do my taco and my gf 4 runner, her 4runner had the plug exactly where it was supposed to be, no hunting for it. guess where the 4 runners are made? the made in japan jokes arent so funny anymore. especially after a dozen bandaids and med tape from the taco strip search

 

Yep, painful...

 

Thanks for the posts. Would suggest needle nose, light gloves and strong flashlight. Can be well buried behind wires, but it is there!

 

Going to try finding it tonight. Hope all goes well for I don't have a lot of time to dig around. Does Toyota ever take note of these threads/issues and make changes and send helpful replies?! Would go far in developing life long, loyal buyers.

 

I was looking for this tonight too. I found it thanks to one of the first pics on Page 1. It's way up there though. I assume there's more slack attached and it can come down some, but I'm afraid to just pull on it; don't want to pull a wire out or mess something else up. I'll take another look tomorrow night I guess.

 

I found it PA452. But I almost gave up and was about to throw things. I calmed down and gave it one last try (after an hour already). I had to find it blind, just feeling for what would feel like a larger plug. It was way up high and to the left towards the door jam. Never could see it. Just had to feel for it. And yes, I ripped up my hand. As others mentioned, I found two other smaller plugs.

But then my other issue was that I did not realize that the factory supplied harness only had one plug-in. The other end was loose wires. I'm picking up my camper today so don't have time to get a different harness so I had to rig it so as to not damage the controler's terminals. Used lots of electric tape. Fingers Crossed.

But...the plug is there. But I don't think its in the same place on everyone's truck. Same general spot but then it's a scavenger hunt. Very frustrating when all the Youtube videos show how easy it is to find on other makes and models. Good luck.

 

I got back into it tonight. Managed to get it worked loose a little from the rest of the wires, then pulled down on the wires lightly from behind the plug. Didn't take much effort and it pulled loose of the tape. Gave me another 3" or so maybe, which got it to a much more convenient location. Found a perfect spot above the brake and e-brake pedals to mount the ground wire.

My ultimate intent is to pull a landscape trailer with a subcompact tractor with backhoe. Total weight with trailer (depending on the trailer) I'm expecting to be 4000-4500#. That's way more than I've ever towed with my Tacoma, so to start I'm hoping to go to a trailer place and see if I can find one who will hook up a trailer for a test pull and maybe even better load something of comparable weight on a trailer and let me give it a try. I already know a place nearby that will let me pull a trailer before buying; I'm hoping they will be willing to load up a used tractor too, but we'll see.

For now I'm thinking I'm just going to velcro mount the controller on the left side near or on the small compartment on the lower left side. Anyone see any potential flaws in this? If I decide to buy the trailer and move forward with this, I'll consider mounting somewhere else, but I think I'd like to be able to disconnect it and put it away when not in use.

 

Hey thanks everyone. was about to give up myself.
Could see end of mine up high pointed toward fuse box.
Made a plastic hook from wife's old hanging plant basket.
From what I read here once found just needed as little light steady pressure and that work. Now can even see the heavier gauge blue wire.
Thanks to all at Tacoma World.
Finish hooking up tomorrow and picking up our tent trailer this weekend.

 

After two hours and more of frustration and more trips under the dash of my 2015 DCSB, I came back to the inter webs and TW and thankfully found this thread. Brake plug was way the heck up behind the foam wrapped plug. TW FTW!

 

Well, I'll throw my $.02 into the discussion. Adding a Tenosha P3 now to my tow package equipped 2015. I removed the dead petal and kicker panel and could see the white trailer wiring connector, but couldn't put two fingers on it as it was tucked up high behind a harness and taped to it. So I dropped the lower dash panel (pull out on the triangular shaped tray and remove two bolts, one on each side of lower dash, then tug on each side to pull it free from the snap connectors) and was able to use a knife to cut the tape and pull the harness to the rear of the truck to access it. I haven't plugged it in yet, but it looks pretty doable now.

Quick question for you guys. Stay with me here. I tow a boat with surge brakes and will be towing a travel trailer with electronic brakes, thus the controller install. On the boat trailer, the brakes are hydraulic and activate when the trailer hitch is pushed into the truck hitch, such as slowing down or reversing. Since reversing can also activate the brakes, a reverse lockout solenoid is installed on the trailer in order to cancel the braking action. On my other vehicle that I used for a few years to tow, I had to wire up my reverse lights into the trailer wiring harness on the vehicle to send this signal. No problem. My understanding is the Tacoma already has this wired up (using the center pin if memory serves), and the one time I towed the boat with the Tacoma the brakes seemed to work fine and when in reverse the brakes appeared to not activate as they should.

So here is my question...will the new controller designed for electronic brakes of the travel trailer interfere with the reverse lockout solenoid of the boat trailer? Ie will the center pin on the wiring harness still provide a signal in reverse when using the controller? I am planning on installing a switch for the power lead to the controller to turn it off in case it conflicts, to reduce any potential parasitic draw and remove another light in my face at night.

Dropping the lower dash was very quick. Certainly a lot easier then trying to access the trailer plug through the kick panel.

Thanks all,

 

I think I found the answer to my question. The surge brakes uses the reverse lights pin as the input to the trailer brake module and relies only on this pin to function. The electronic brakes uses a separate pin in the 7-pin outlet and relies on that pin to signal braking. So the two functions are separate. I don't see the two conflicting. We'll see for sure soon enough.

 

This thread is very old but I still want to pay homage to this post. I was losing my mind and couldn’t find the damn plug. Your post gave me hope and helped me find the plug. It was waaaaayyyy up behind the fuse box. The foam was the key to locating. I am so mad at Toyota! There is no reason that plug should be that high and hidden. Thank you for your post!

 

I have never installed a brake controller in my Tacoma because I never had the need since I have my other truck for hauling but I got curious and went hunting. Ended up having to take off the lower dash as I couldn’t find the dang hookup. Sure enough it was stashed way up there! This thread helped! Would be fun if any of the original people were still active here.

 

I am less active on TW than I used to be, but received notice of your post. I sold my 2014 to my son and bought a 2021 DCSB I was much happier with my SC 2014 with Wilwood front brakes. Had my 2021 tuned and it is better, but still not as good as I would like.