I've hitched up my trailer for the first time since we got the car in January. We had a little trouble with the dealer getting it coded, but I've got a few concerns today.

First of all, does the NS rear foglight work? There is a bulb, it works (by substitution), but not illuminated with the OS one.

When the trailer is plugged in, the one car foglight goes out, and the trailer fog light comes on - fine.

The dash display shows a bulb failure when the trailer is plugged in, but all the trailer lights work ok. There seems to be no indication in the car that the trailer indicators are working - a legal requirement?

Reverse shows a trailer image, the car reverse lights work as the trailer doesn't have reversing lights and there is no warning reverse warning noise.

It's not a "normal" trailer, it's a four wheel heavyweight job with hydraulic crane and electric winch and work light , but I've used a 7/16 pin converter as none of this stuff works off the car system.

Doesn't sound right - should I just ignore these symptoms as the trailer lights work just fine?

I've hitched up my trailer for the first time since we got the car in January. We had a little trouble with the dealer getting it coded, but I've got a few concerns today.

First of all, does the NS rear foglight work? There is a bulb, it works (by substitution), but not illuminated with the OS one.

I THINK THE YETI ONLY HAS ONE REAR FOG LIGHT.

When the trailer is plugged in, the one car foglight goes out, and the trailer fog light comes on - fine.

CORRECT

The dash display shows a bulb failure when the trailer is plugged in, but all the trailer lights work ok. There seems to be no indication in the car that the trailer indicators are working - a legal requirement?

THE BULB FAILURE DEVICE PROVIDES THE INDICATION IF THE TRAILER INDICATORS AREN'T WORKING. IT IS LEGAL.

WHAT BULB IS IT SAYING IS OUT?

Reverse shows a trailer image, the car reverse lights work as the trailer doesn't have reversing lights and there is no warning reverse warning noise.

CORRECT. PLUGGING IN DISABLES THE SENSORS.

It's not a "normal" trailer, it's a four wheel heavyweight job with hydraulic crane and electric winch and work light , but I've used a 7/16 pin converter as none of this stuff works off the car system.

16 PIN?

Doesn't sound right - should I just ignore these symptoms as the trailer lights work just fine?

ONE CONCERN. WHAT IS THE PLATED MAX WEIGHT OF THE TRAILER?

Ooops, 7/13 adapter

Close and pedantic reading of the handbook indicates the OS rear foglight only is illuminated - strange, but hey ho.

I've forgotten now as the bulb failure message came on and surprised me , and it won't show again. I've had all the bulbs out of the holders, cleaned the contacts, silicon greased them as well, but still showing a bulb failure.

Don't ask about the plated weight of the trailer, it's come off at the moment, but it's well within the MAW. It's only used for light general duties now, a leaving present when I finished work - which is why it was kitted out with all that stuff.

Thanks Graham, looks like Black Pidgeon did their stuff then. Just got to sort out the mysterious bulb failure indication.

Jerry,

No problem.

Be careful about running a trailer without a MAM shown. Plod and VOSA will look at the MAM of each axle/stub axle and will add them together if there isn't one, and if that adds up to more than 2000kg with the Yeti, bye-bye trailer, and expect points and big bill!!

Excuse my presumption - but isn't a 110 4x4 limited to 1800kg braked?

I thought all the diesel 4x4's had been re-rated to 2000kg.

Best to check on the label at the bottom of the drivers side B post

You are more likely to be right than I am! I was only quoting from the latest brochure.

Excuse my presumption - but isn't a 110 4x4 limited to 1800kg braked?

Correct, just checked my 110 4x4.

Trailer has ULW of 350Kg.

Jerry,

ULW is no longer the important weight on a trailer, it is now the MAM that is the important one.

It appears that if the MAM of the trailer exceeds the max allowed by the vehicle (for you 1800kg) then you are braking the Law. Certainly North Wales and Devon & Somerset Police were busy checking this on caravans at the beginning of last summer, and NWP had a few prosecutions from it.

Thanks Graham, I'm well aware of the law (after 38 years of tanker and associated fleet running), but I'll take your advice and rivet the plate back on in case I ever see PLOD on the roads round these parts

Edited 7 April, 201214 yr by Yety

One of the first few times I plugged my trailer in it also gave a bulb out warning... I checked and everything was fine. I unplugged the trailer from the 7/13 converter and plugged it back. Voila: no error message. So it is just a gremlin of some sort it seems. Peculiarly the car saves this error as it does all the others! I know this since the next day I went to Martin to have some VCDS coding done and he said there was a trailer error message on the system!

Tread lightly when discussing rear fog-lights... not as contentious as discussing front fog lights on a forum but nearly there ... In my view there is good reason to have only one fog lamp. A: you can't confuse one bright red light with that of the two brake lights and B: when you do brake the brake light on the opposite side from the single fog lamp is still visible as an additional light that comes on warning drivers of your slowing down (the brake light under or near the fog light is ten to one not visible through the fog-light glare). So having two fogs mean cars behind you will only see your top LED brake lights go on... Not enough in my book.