Toyota Corolla towbar wiring harness - which plug where???

• 

  Euphemistic on 06/02/2016 - 21:08

  +1

  Can you find a wiring diagram for that model? Or a service manual? A corolla forum might be able to point you in the direction of one. I've usually found a service manual for the car I've got online within a few hours (over a day or two). 91 Corolla, 2003 forester, 2010 pathfinder, 2007 Captiva were all available online and had good wiring diagrams.

  2nd option might be to buy a Gregory's manual if they still make them.

• 

  Findo on 06/02/2016 - 22:42

  +2

  wtf since when did Corollas have enough power to tow stuff?!

• 

  [Deactivated] on 06/02/2016 - 22:48

  -2

  OMG towing with a Corolla? Could you pick a car less suitable?

  • 

    Euphemistic on 07/02/2016 - 08:17

    I suspect the OP won't be towing a 20ft caravan, but why wouldn't a corolla tow a box trailer around a bit, or then again it's probably for a bike rack. Pretty sure I've seen a mower dude locally towing a box trailer with a Mazda 2.

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 07/02/2016 - 08:25

      -3

      A Corolla would struggle to tow a pair of shoes. My girlfriend has the last model before the CVT gearbox. It struggles to drive up hills with one person in it. Terrible car.

      • 

        Euphemistic on 07/02/2016 - 08:38

        +1

        I had a 91 Corolla, and while it wasn't going to tow a ski boat, it would probably tow a box trailer with a fridge in it, not much more though!

        It all depends what you are going to tow. Plenty of little cars will tow a 12ft tinny with a little outboard and two fishing rods, they only weigh a couple of hundred kgs. Like I said, have seen a guy in a Mazda 2 towing a trialer with a whipper snipper and two mowers in it.

• 

  Daniel Plainview on 07/02/2016 - 10:31

  +1

  :-/

  Firstly to @Euphemistic who posted back constructive suggestions and responses thank you.

  Now thats out of the way I should state that I knew others couldn't possibly help but post up off-topic nonsense - and sorry but applying your 'expert' critique upon what a car can and can't do is nonsense when you don't know the key specifics. We're talking about very rare use of a small trailer for a a few hundred kg of oversized items eg plant, building materials etc.

  So please how about instead of saying "It's crap, can't tow anything etc" which isn't at all helpful IF you feel you know more than the OP could ever say,"What are you wanting to tow?" or similar - THEN if I had told you I thought the Corolla could tow the NASA Space Shuttle launch pad etc you could retort as you so pleased. :-)

  I also recently bought a towbar mounted bike rack and would like to use that every now and then but will likely have to connect an extra high mounted brake light on it (as the bike's somewhat obscure the standard one/s) - so it's ALL about the specifics and to be frank thats got nothing to do with the simple question being asked and nor is it really pertinent to anyone.

  Suffice to say as gutless as the ZZE122R Corolla is (and it's actually not the motor's fault but rather the poor auto gearbox ratios) it's MORE than suitable for the very benign tasks I envisage incorporating the towbar's functionality into. :-)

  None of the above is meant in a nasty or aggressive manner

  @Euphemistic, I actually do have some 'service manual' type documents in PDF - and interestingly enough one of those is a 'wiring manual' having said that it's ~250+ pages and I think might more confuse things than help. That aside the issue is not so much solely which wiring is which on the Corolla….but rather how to discern which wiring is which on the Towbar's wiring harness connections.

  Like I said I suspect it's Green for right and Yellow for Left - seems the pattern most makers use but will dig a lil more. Alas I couldn't find ANY info on fitting factory wiring harnesses (which I believe this one is as it has a Toyota part code) - plenty of 3rd party harness stuff but thats for later models that need a converter box as they've got ECU's etc in the car (which I don't think this one has or needs). :-)

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 07/02/2016 - 17:56

    -4

    Seriously though dude, buy a new car.

  • 

    Euphemistic on 07/02/2016 - 21:28

    Be a bit careful with the 'standard' wiring thing. In installing a couple of reverse cameras in different cars I've found that the colour of the wire at the light can be different to the colour at the switch in the front. The wiring diagram can help sort out where the colours change.

    Looking over the wiring diagrams may help in locating where the wiring loom is placed around the car, ie wires go down the left side and across the back to the right, or right to left or middle and splits etc. there is often a picture in the service manuals depicting where all the wiring harness junctions are and give pin descriptions for the plugs

    The other option is to get a test lamp, or voltmeter.and do it the hard way by testing what wire does what function. You'll probably need another person to help, or a stick to jam the brakes on to keep the lights on.

    • 

      Daniel Plainview on 08/02/2016 - 06:48

      Thanks mate, thats good advice and as such I appreciate it.

      Thankfully it appears that on this occasion anyway the research was correct - I took the liberty of posting up this same thread over at WP and had two guys come back and confirm that Yellow is left turn signal, (so the connectors with that in them is definitely to go into the LHS rear indicator plug. And Green is RHS.

      The blue wire that wasn't connected was the 'Electric Brakes' one - and as such not necessary for this car & my needs.

      Much thanks, Nick