Trailer light hookup

[BackCountry]

Anyone know of a good central location to attach a trail light hookup, or a factory spot in the wiring harness for hooking up a trailer light pigtail?

[BackCountry]

The rear fuse panel on the vehicle has 4 different trailer light fuses in place, but I can find no connection for a hookup. All my trucks always come with a quick connect place in the wiring harness and the connector. I have looked and can find nothing like this in the rear of the XC90. I suppose I can splice into each light wire if necessary. Does anyone have an electrical diagram with the color codes of the rear light wires?

[robtr8]

I bought the wiring kit from eTrailer. Works great.

[dmd]

The rear fuse panel on the vehicle has 4 different trailer light fuses in place, but I can find no connection for a hookup. All my trucks always come with a quick connect place in the wiring harness and the connector. I have looked and can find nothing like this in the rear of the XC90. I suppose I can splice into each light wire if necessary. Does anyone have an electrical diagram with the color codes of the rear light wires?

To start.. the XC90 is NOT a truck, it is a car. Cars are not usually used for
towing so they dont include anything to make hooking up the lights easy..

I would recommend not splicing the wires, you never know what will happen. All
of the wires are monitored by the computer for burnt out lights, and it may
not like your splices and set codes and turn on warning lights. Also your
warranty may suffer too.

For most models you will need to get a wire harness, and for some you
will need a an extra module.

[BackCountry]

To start.. the XC90 is NOT a truck, it is a car. Cars are not usually used for
towing so they dont include anything to make hooking up the lights easy..

I would recommend not splicing the wires, you never know what will happen. All
of the wires are monitored by the computer for burnt out lights, and it may
not like your splices and set codes and turn on warning lights. Also your
warranty may suffer too.

For most models you will need to get a wire harness, and for some you
will need a an extra module.

I know it is not a "Truck" although it is listed as a truck by Volvo. I have a large diesel truck for most towing purposes. The wife's Volvo will make a good rafting shuttle vehicle for light trailer towing and seats 7 adults comfortably. Mostly the 2" receiver will be used for her to haul mountain bikes.

So far all the trailer light hookups I have found come with an extra module, but you still need to splice into the light wires. The vehicle only has a power train warranty on it. I always do all the work on all our machines anyway. The nearest Volvo dealer is 5 hours away. I wouldn't want a dealer trained mechanic working on one of my vehicles anyway. With the vehicle having a V8 engine with enough torque to tow, I am surprised there is not an wiring harness hookup on the vehicle. The fuse panel in the back has specific fuses labeled trailer lights, that's what made me wonder.

If you do not recommend splicing, what do you recommend?

[BackCountry]

I bought the wiring kit from eTrailer. Works great.

Robtr8, Thanks for the info. That is exactly what I am looking for. Plug and go, no splicing needed.

[dmd]

I know it is not a "Truck" although it is listed as a truck by Volvo. I have a large diesel truck for most towing purposes. The wife's Volvo will make a good rafting shuttle vehicle for light trailer towing and seats 7 adults comfortably. Mostly the 2" receiver will be used for her to haul mountain bikes.

So far all the trailer light hookups I have found come with an extra module, but you still need to splice into the light wires. The vehicle only has a power train warranty on it. I always do all the work on all our machines anyway. The nearest Volvo dealer is 5 hours away. I wouldn't want a dealer trained mechanic working on one of my vehicles anyway. With the vehicle having a V8 engine with enough torque to tow, I am surprised there is not an wiring harness hookup on the vehicle. The fuse panel in the back has specific fuses labeled trailer lights, that's what made me wonder.

If you do not recommend splicing, what do you recommend?


Get the wire harness from Volvo or aftermarket that plugs in by
the fuse panel, you may have to get the module also for the lights
to actually work.

[holcomb19]

Need someone to help with a "how to" question! We have a 2002 GMC Savana Conversion Van that does not have a towing package in it. We need information on how to hook up the "independent" stop/signal lights of our van to the "common" stop/signal light system of our trailer.

We read somewhere that we need a "converter" or something special to hook this up and protect the sensitive electronics of our van. Our trailer has a seven prong plug set-up.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

[BackCountry]

Need someone to help with a "how to" question! We have a 2002 GMC Savana Conversion Van that does not have a towing package in it. We need information on how to hook up the "independent" stop/signal lights of our van to the "common" stop/signal light system of our trailer.

We read somewhere that we need a "converter" or something special to hook this up and protect the sensitive electronics of our van. Our trailer has a seven prong plug set-up.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

I found a plug in system from www.etrailer.com that connected between the light connections at each tail light with factory wire harness connectors, no splicing. This converted the independent stop/signal lights to a common trailer stop/signal light. The kit was supplied with a 4 prong flat connector. I also purchased a 4 prong to 7 prong connector and attached that to the rear of the vehicle so that I can use my 7 prong plugs on my trailers and all the adapters that I have for my truck in my wife's XC 90. etrailer had all the parts and wiring harness to make the hookups for under $80 including shipping. Their wiring harnesses are vehicle specific and easy to install without having to splice anything.

[robtr8]

The Drawtite Modulite that comes in the eTrailer harness is limited in the number of lights it can handle. It worked fine for my small boat trailer but I had to replace it with a Modulite HD unit to power all of the running lights on my new Thule Cargo Pro trailer.

[BackCountry]

The Drawtite Modulite that comes in the eTrailer harness is limited in the number of lights it can handle. It worked fine for my small boat trailer but I had to replace it with a Modulite HD unit to power all of the running lights on my new Thule Cargo Pro trailer.

The HD Modulite unite is another $69 or so as I recall. I figure for the needs with that vehicle I would stay with the regular unit and if needed add the $69 HD unit later. Most heavy hauling is done with my PowerStroke.

[JimJa1943]

Back Country,

Your experience with the XC's wiring harness mirrors my own. I installed a Hidden Hitch and the factory wiring and module. Couple of things to consider:

The Hidden Hitch did not have a mount for the connector. I bought one at U-Haul for $4.

Given the state of current vehicles and the lengths engineers have gone to inform us of things we should check ourselves, AND the fact wiring in the XC is both copper AND fiber optic, splicing or adding non-designed things may have unintended consequences. They may not too, but I wasn't willing to take the chance.

Be advised if you install the OEM harness, the connector pins are "hot." Normally, on an American vehicle they are "dead" until activated (turn signals/parking lights/etc.). Volvo's are not. If you check with a volt meter and wonder what is going on...don't.

The hitch is a quick install - 45 minutes or less. The wiring harness, well, not so much. Later vehicles need the module. It's suppose to deactivate the back-up beeper (if equip'ed) and change shift points when towing. As for the latter, well, there's no difference that I can determine, so... FYI.

The wiring harness is not "plug and play." Check here for install instructions:

http://vccs.volvocars.se/accessories/ii/default.aspx

There are a number of places to purchase a harness, here's one (and no, I don't have anything to do with them):

http://vparts.dealerfit.com/store/volvo-xc90-accessories-cat126_139.php

OR

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=AccessoryCatalog&catalogid=4793&siteid=213784&categoryID=92862

Good luck....

[dmd]

The plug is usually "hot" because of daytime running lights.

[JimJa1943]

My DRLs are deactivated and the plug is still hot. And even with DRL on, the tail lights are not.

The amount of voltage is not 12 on the various pins. In some cases it was 2-3 volts. The voltage among the different pins was not equal and I can't remember the numbers since it was last year when the hitch was installed. At the time of install I did not have a trailer to hook up so used my voltmeter and was surprised to find the voltage where none was expected.

[robtr8]

The Modulite HD buzzes all the time. I assumed it was because of the daytime headlamps, maybe not huh?

[BackCountry]

The Modulite HD buzzes all the time. I assumed it was because of the daytime headlamps, maybe not huh?

That is good to know. I won't install it unless I need to haul one of my larger trailers cross country with the Volvo. Stick to the Power Stroke for long distance hauling and the kids will have to suffer with the bench back seat.