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Installed oem hitch and harness and battery died days later.

4K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  CUinaRidge 
#1 · (Edited)
2008 9000miles on it.
Installed a OEM hitch and harness kit over the weekend. Reset the navi and radio codes when done cause I followed the instructions and unhooked the negative battery terminal during the install. Everything seemed to work fine went out today (Thursday 5 days later) and the battery was dead as can be.

I was going to try and jump it off the battery charger Jump start but the horn started to honk repeatedly just hooking up the cables. I removed the negative again and will charge the battery.

But what the hell is causing it to discharge?

I will be removing the 5 trailer wire harness fuses and checking the fuse to ground for a short but beyond that I have no idea what else to check.

I mean this was all plug and play not a big deal how could it be messed up?

For the record I went to school for electronics and repair machines for a living. Installing a hitch and harness should have been childs play.

Help the wife is pissed, she loves her Honda and thinks I messed it up.
 
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#2 ·
Did you tighten the cables properly. Sounds like you left the negative cable a little loose. When you went to apply the charger, you forced the cable to make contact again, causing current back into the system. Put the negative cable back on....make sure both negative and positive cables are tight and recharge the battery.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Cable was tight originally. I charged the battery with a 10amp charger for a few hours and then tried to reconnect the battery and the horn sounds as soon as the battery is connected. I will finish charging the battery when I can be near by or get the truck in the garage so the charger will not be missing on the morning.

I pulled all the fuses for the trailer wire harness all 5 of them. The number 8 fuses when measured, with a ohm meter, from the non hot side to ground is the only one that is no OL (over limit). So some where in that circuit there is something that is using electricity. I dd not pay much attention to the actual measurement on the meter. That curcuit is only a 7.5 amp fuse. This weekend I will unplug the trailer wire at the rear connector and remeasure the curcuit and see if I can narrow down the area of the problem.

But why the hell is the horn stuck on with the battery connected? Is this some kind of security deal that needs to be reset? What the hell? I miss my old 84 chevy that thing just worked and did not have a computer for every thing under the sun.
 
#4 ·
I'm confused. Your specs say you have a 2008 RTX. That comes standard with a hitch and harness. So I'm guessing you don't really have an RTX. ???
 
#8 ·
Good catch.

While it seems possible that he may have done something to cause the issue (since the issue began shortly after the install), it also could just be coincidence that he may have a failing battery.
 
#9 ·
RTL RTX, they all have a hitch now I think. I'm new to this just bought the truck about a month ago. It had about 8000 miles on it when purchased.

I think there is a short some where in the trailer wires because when I measure the 4 wire plug at the rear the center positive shows some contnuity and the other two to ground are open like they should be.

But with out a schematic or another ridgeline to test against I'm not sure.
 
#14 ·
RTL RTX, they all have a hitch now I think.
snip
That is true for 2009 and on. But for 2008 and back, only the RTX came with hitch and harness factory installed.

Sorry, can't help with the wiring questions.
 
#11 ·
If you're asking for help, you should provide the correct facts about your vehicle. They did not all come with a hitch and harness in 2008.

It could be a short in the wiring, a stuck or missing relay, just about anything. If it were my truck I would uninstall the whole wiring package and reinstall it.
 
#12 ·
Well I went to the honda site to see what model I have and the RTX is not even listed anymore. Just the RTL, RTS and the RT.

My wifes Ridgeline has Navi, sunroof, no stock hitch, leather heated seats, XM, and is a 2008. I got the OEM harness hopeing that I would not have these problems and even got out the Torque wrench while installing the darn thing.

I'm hoping its just the last little pigtail in the back but we shall see when I have more time to work on it. I'm at work now so I'm not anywhere near the truck. Lucky for me she still has a month and a half left on her Trailblazer lease so she did not need the ridgeline to get to work.
 
#15 ·
You named the color correctly for your year RL.
 
#16 ·
I got a feeling the battery is toast. I pulled it out to charge it in the garage tonight, cause its raining cats and dogs. It did not spark at all, not even a little sizzle, when I connected it to the charger. But I'll trickle charge it over night and mess with it in the morning. We shall see.
 
#17 ·
Fixed!

So today, with a fully charged battery, I connected the battery with a amp meter inline. All the trailer harness fuses still removed. I had a 2.5 amp draw on the battery. With a 50 amp/hour battery that would kill the battery in about 20 hours. So I started pulling other fuses and the 40 amp large fuse was what droped me to zero amp draw(really 13 milliamp). So I got out the owners manual and while reading it I notice a I had a lot of light in the truck. GRRRRRRRRR.

My wonderful and lovely wife was helpful enough to turn on the dome light while I was under the dash looking for the darn plugs with the blue tape and never turned the dome light back off.

So for future reference the dome light draws 2.5amps and will kill your battery in about 20 hours. Oh and with nothing "ON" the truck draws about 13 milliamp amps. Which would completely kill the battery in like 3846 hours if my math is correct and your battery is a 50amp/hour battery.

Thanks for all the help fellas.
 
#19 ·
Glad it was a simple fix!
 
#20 ·
2008 9000miles on it.
Installed a OEM hitch and harness ....
Help the wife is pissed, she loves her Honda and thinks I messed it up.
Lucky for me she still has a month and a half left on her Trailblazer lease so she did not need the ridgeline to get to work.
Fixed!

My wonderful and lovely wife was helpful enough to turn on the dome light while I was under the dash looking for the darn plugs with the blue tape and never turned the dome light back off.

Thanks for all the help fellas.
Welcome to the ROC HR

I Think you solved this one on your own...
Honey what did you do?? :eek:
 
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