Fuses keep blowing, towing harness question.

First, my backlit illumination on my dashboard went out, then I lost turn signals, then I lost brake lights/running lights (in the back) all on one trip to the store. Everything else (4-ways and reverse lights) in the back works. Once I got home, I found All of those fuses blown. Insert head scratch here.. Replaced the fuses, checked the bulbs and housings, checked the lines, and everything seems good. My problem is with the trailer wiring harness. I have a 2001 manual Tacoma with a 2.7. I will never use this truck to tow anything..... Can I simply remove the stupid trailer harness???? I can see where the wires plug into the rear light housings, can I just remove the whole thing and end my problem? I keep blowing fuses because of that towing harness.

 

Usually you can. Same thing happened in my old ranger,just unplugged it and all was ok .

 

I’m concerned about gunk and dirt getting into the plug-ins if I remove the wires coming from the trailer hook-ups at the tail lights. I don’t want to complicate my problem.. Am I just being paranoid?? I’ll try to post some pictures.. I can also see (under the bed, on the drivers’ side) that the ground (coming from the trailer harness, connected to the frame) doesn’t look so good. I thought about just disconnecting it, sanding it down, and reconnecting it,, but if the short stems from my tow harness,,, why not just remove the entire thing? Thoughts?

 

How are they connected to the stock taillight harness? Those blue inline taps?

 

If so, just unsnap and remove those, then apply several coats of liquid wire insulation, or just use good quality electrical like 3M 33.

 

Here's what I got. In the first picture, I have the driver side rear brake light assemblage. Can I just pull those lines from the tow package to the lighting assembly (brown and yellow wires)?? If I could do that, I would do it to the passenger side to (green & red) and just eliminate the entire thing. I'm trying to upload a pic of the culprit,,, but I'm a mountain man and have shyte internet access.

 

oops, That came out backward. The first pic is under the bed (the pick of the problem), the one I want to eliminate!!!! The second is of the (driver side) rear light housing.

 

I guess what I'm saying is, I just want to eliminate the entire trailer assembly BS... Because that "little box (which is part of the towing harness)" is causing a short... Should I just pull the whole the whole thing out and Tape any exposed wires???

 

That is aftermarket trailer wiring. You can just unplug and remove it. There should be no open wires once removed. It plugs into both taillights, just unplug the jumper harness and remove.

 

Oh boy.... I'm gonna try that.. I'll keep ya posted on what happens. Thanks a lot Brokebrute!

 

No problem. I replaced mine on my truck pretty straight forward. I do pull a trailer with mine.