cskip Posted November 12, 2016 Share Posted November 12, 2016 I have conflicting advice from towbar fitters. I thought I would ask the collective power of BC. Scotchlock or Plugin?Various towbar fitters are giving different opinions about fitting of the single electrics to a 430d. Most are pushing the use of a plug in electric connector that connect directly into the existing BMW electrics. However I have one supplier saying that he has stopped using the connectors as a fault in the electrics of the trailer can cause the car electrics to fault, with subsequent main dealer fault fixing at main dealer charge rates! As a result they use scotchlocks and various fuses on the towbar electrics to protect the car electrics.What is the collective thoughts on this topic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted November 12, 2016 Member Share Posted November 12, 2016 No knowledge of this particular problem: have you tried the big UK BMW forum?In general I'd prefer most other options to Scotchloks.JonathanPS: The subtleties of fitting towbars is one of the reasons I still haven't bought a 3 Series Touring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Deslandes Posted November 13, 2016 Share Posted November 13, 2016 Scotchlocks are the spawn of the devil as they risk cutting host cable strands. They also corrode and fail with time. I have the BMW fitted removable hitch (brilliant, takes 10 seconds to fit or remove) on my 5 series, with standard electrics and never had a problem. It has a 13 pin socket with an adapter for my trailer's 7 pin electrics.Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cskip Posted November 14, 2016 Author Share Posted November 14, 2016 Thanks for the comments. You confirmed my view that Scotchlocks are not the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seventh-heaven Posted November 15, 2016 Share Posted November 15, 2016 The issue here seems to be specific BMW design electrics or overlay electrics. Scotchlocks are an irrelevance in that respect as they are just one way of achieving an overlay - it could equally be achieved through high quality soldered joints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlesElliott Posted November 15, 2016 Share Posted November 15, 2016 I can't speak for BMW specifically, but on my Audi, if you use the official harness it activates trailer light detection, trailer stability control etc. For that reason alone, I would be looking to use the official harness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumster Posted November 15, 2016 Share Posted November 15, 2016 Same for me on my CR-V. When I purchased the car 2nd hand from a Honda dealership I asked for a towbar to be fitted and was advised that it would be far cheaper to go to an independent but make sure I specified a vehicle specific harness.for reasons outlined above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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