trailer wiring
 

Has anyone wired trailer lights to their Mazda 3?

"Do not ever tow anything with your Mazda 3".

Quoted directly from the owner's manual referring to towing. Actually, that's the entire chapter.

I'd rather ask a friend or rent a car/truck instead of towing it with my Mazda ;peace;

towing is a big debate issue. the US manual clearly states not to tow anything, however towing is allowed with the 3 in other countries. So the question is is it possible to tow? Of course. Is it possible to try and tow too much? Yup.

If you're towing something small (say less than 1,500 pounds) then you'll probably be fine. Multiple people on the forums routinely tow a motorcycle on a trailer, or a pair of waverunners, etc. without any problems. Of course being that they explicitly say not to tow in the manual your dealer would be justified in voiding your powertrain warranty should you ever go in for a problem.

OK, finally got around to wiring my 3 hatchback for a trailer. Here's the harness I got:

Draw-Tite Modulite Trailer Light Power Module - http://www.etrailer.com/p-18187.htm

and the trailer:

Harbor Freight Mini Utility Trailer - http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=42708

From inside the rear I popped off the access covers to the tail lights, and made the following connections:

Left tail light:
- White wire (ground) on harness to body panel inside spare tire jack well. There was already a hole in the panel, I just found a screw that fit the hole and attached the ground wire.
- Yellow wire (left turn) on harness to blue wire.
- Red wire (stop) on harness to red stripe wire.
- Brown wire (tail) on harness to orange stripe wire.

Right tail light:
- Green wire (right turn) on harness to blue/red stripe wire.

Power:
The harness instructions recommend running a dedicated power wire from the car battery. I won't be using the trailer very often, and I didn't feel like doing this, so I took a shortcut. On the "To Car" side of the harness, I just connected the black power wire to the brown tail light wire. This means that the power for the tail lights are powering the harness. The disadvantage is that the trailer lights will only work when the headlights are on. If I end up using the trailer more than a few times a year I will run a dedicated power wire.


Hope this helps someone!


Oh yeah, and to all you anal "The manual says not to tow anything" weanies, bite me.

This is exactly what I have been looking for. Thanks for the post!