Installing the trailer wiring harness in your Vue

[priest6479]

Trailer Wiring and You!

OK All - So yesterday I recently installed the wire harness for my 04 Vue Redline.
Now i'm pretty good with electronics, so this was super easy for me.

So I'll walk you through the steps I took.

NOTE! If your not expirienced at this kind of thing, my advice to you.. Take your time! relax and just use a little common sense...You can do this!

1. You need to obtain a wire convertor - this converts the 5 wires your Saturn has, into 4 wires
(which is pretty much standard on most trailers).

I bought this kit at my local Advance Auto parts ...Made by Hopkins Towing Solutions
Hoppy Taillight Converter Kit: Universal - part Number: 46155

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductD...rtnumber=46155



This costs around 29$ but it includes EVERYTHING to get the job done....And done correctly.



2. Saturn (GM) was nice enough to leave a little bundle of cable all wrapped up near the car's jack
FYI. The jack is located in a removable access hatch in the rear of the vehicle, on the Drivers Side.

Start by popping off the access hatch and removing the storage tub on the left hand side - you will need a torque bit.
Don't panic if you don't have one, just find a flat head screwdriver wide enough to fit- These screws come out easy enough.



Once you have the tub out you will see the wires all bundled.
I removed the nut that holds down what looks like a plug.
I also undid one of the wire clips so I could have enough slack to play with the wires.



Now that you have some room to play, carefully cut back the electrical tape and expose the wires
TECH TIP! The green wire is completly loose - it is not attached to anything, so don't start panicing, thinking you ripped a wire out of someplace

3. OK now that you are looking at your wires, you should have a good idea of what to do from here.



You need to start connecting your wires to the Hoppy adapter

NOTE: Most of the wire colors match..

The vue's wire colors....
RIGHT TURN = green
LEFT TURN = yellow
TAIL LIGHTS = brown
GROUND = black
BRAKES = blue

The Adapter's colors...
RIGHT TURN = green
LEFT TURN = yellow
TAIL LIGHTS = brown
GROUND = white
BRAKES = red

Just an FYI, the Vue owners manual has the wire color information in it (page 4-62)

TECH TIP! The kit only provides 4 wire-tap splices, when connecting the green wires together,Twist them together and solder, or get a butt splice.
TECH TIP! You will need to shorten the white and green wires on the Hoppy's adapter. (You will see what I mean)
TECH TIP! If you don't know howto use wire-tap splices , refer to the little instruction manual the Hoppy's kit comes with.




4. Now at this point, you should be feeling pretty good about yourself.
All of your wires crimped and connected...Now let's see how good you are!

Grab that nice little volt tester they give you in the package.
Now take the Alligator clip and attach it to the the ground wire on the adapter - Hint: the ground wire is the only wire exposed.



If you have a helper with you, Have them turn the vehicle on so you can start testing.
Turn on the right turn signal, and touch the volt tester to the right turn signal wire on the Hoppy's adapter
to see if the testers LED starts blinking, and then the left turn signal, and the brakes and so on and so on.....


5. Now if all of your connections feel solid, and your wire testing prooves that all of the connections work, you should be home free!
Please resist the temptation to rip off your shirt and scream " I AM THE SMARTEST MAN ALIVE"
Now it's time to start cleaning up your mess - from here on out, it is all your preference, I just posted exactly what I did.

Plug in the cable to the adapter - this is the cable that will connect to your trailer.
I wrapped up all my wires in electrical tape and put on a section of that black plastic wire wrap (I had some laying around)
I also took the Hoppy's adapter and used a spare piece of velcro to stick this next to the car jack.
Now you can leave it dangling, you can zip tie it to something - anything like that would be fine.



I left the trailer wire just bunched up next to the car jack wrapped with a velcro strap, so when I need it,
I can run the wire out the back of the hatch and plug it into the trailer
This also leaves the plug clean and corrosion free (because it stays out the elements)
Not too worry, the hatch can close freely over the wire and it wont cut/crimp the wire.

From here you can start cleaning up, be sure to bolt (that thing that looks like a plug) down and put the wire clip back onto the wire bundle
Then insert the storage tub and tighten the screws down.

from here on in you should be good to go!

If you have your trailer around and some time to kill, hook up your trailer and check to see that everything is working properly!

And that should just about it, let me know if you find this helpful.

Good Luck all
Dave

[mellissam]

Awesome job! Great how to!

[srcauto rlvue]

thats a great how with pics but don't use the the wire taps soder all yur joints it neater and you have less of a chance of wire breakage .as wire taps cut through the wire sheath and do break wires as it does the splice.

[djb383]

Use Posi-Lock connectors, they can't be beat.

http://www.posi-lock.com/

[kodak_jack]

To be honest with you, I thought this was going to be about finding the connector buried under the truck and just unplugging the connection to one of the sides and plugging in a new wiring harness as a tee in the line. I had a 98 Sonoma and it was that easy and only about $15 at Pep Boys.

[priest6479]

Thank you for all the compliments and suggestions. I am going to have to find some of those posi-locks, they sound pretty good/easy.

For the most part I solder all my connections, but 9 out of 10 people I know, could'nt solder if you had a gun to their heads, the wire taps come with the kit and are easy enough for any amature.

But I agree, there are better ways to connect 2 wires together.

I just hope this helps someone - there will be plenty more write-ups to follow.

~Dave