How to activate trailer lights on jeep grand cherokee

The dealership wants about an hour of labor because it takes about an hour of labor. And IMHO it's your best option because it will never stop working — part of that time is spent adding it to your build sheet — and you don't have to worry about whether you missed any buried secondary settings.

You can DIY it with a higher-end OBD dongle (for the love of God, don't attempt it with a cheap knockoff) and sufficiently advanced software, but you then have to find all the correct options and you run the risk of having to redo it after a service visit.

If you want the dealer to do it cheaper, bring a coupon. If you've got a Costco membership, that dealer may be in the auto program; get your Costco coupon. If you don't, there are always, always, always coupons on the Mopar site. Hell, most dealers have standing coupons on their own sites.

link scanners will work i've heard

rumors of other ones working as long as

they're elm327 compatible ones and

there's a lot of different ones out

there in eBay and on Amazon but they're

not guaranteed to work I've heard most

of them do work as long as they're on

three to seven compatible and I think

it's version 1.3 or greater the other

thing you're going to need is the alpha

obd program you can download it for free

from alpha LED comm which is a website

the you have to get the actual version

so I'll have to get it pay $50 to get a

code to unlock the real version it's

just a trial version if you download it

and don't activate it so you have to pay

$50 for that and then this one I think

was about $50 as well it's about $100

total and I recommend just getting the

stuff to do it yourself because if you

have the dealer program the trailer

lights to work it can cost anywhere from

70 to 150 dollars to get the dealer to

do it and if you buy these two things

for $100 you can diagnose a whole bunch

of other things with your Jeep or any

Ram product or FCA vehicle and it goes

into way more depth than just a normal

obd ii reader this goes into all the

different modules the transmission

module the ABS module the body computer

and and there's thousands of different

settings inside the program that you can

play around with and see what's going on

with your vehicle so I really recommend

getting the whole set up if you're gonna

do this okay so the first thing you're

gonna do is you're gonna plug in your

obd ii scanner and the port is right

underneath in this gap here

you see there's little lighting and a

hole opening in the carpet for this to

plug in it's gonna plug that in should

see the lights come on and to get it to

link up with your computer we're gonna

have to hold down this little button

here once you push that it should start

blinking rapidly that's when you can

connect it to your computer then you're

going to go into your settings in your

computer under Bluetooth and just click

add a new device and then it should link

right up with your Windows or Android

tablet either those will work with obd

link and the alpha obd program one quick

note don't leave these plugged in

because i've heard they can drain your

batteries as well so when you're done

with it unplug it once you have your LBD

scanner connected to your computer the

only other thing you have to do to get

it to start the program is you need to

put your car in run mode and to do that

it's very simple with the push button

key inside the car do not touch the

brake because if you put your foot on

the brake your car will start just gonna

hit it once it will go into accessory

mode hit it again and then we'll go into

run mode make sure you turn off your fan

blower and your radio because if those

are on it will drain your battery pretty

quickly because the car's not running

obviously so you need the car run mode

for it to connect to the program on your

computer ok so now once you have your

car connected with your obd scanner

you're gonna go into obd link and you're

going to make sure that you have the

correct car in here jeep grand cherokee

and you want to connect to the body

computer then you're going to depending

on which you your car is erie they're

gonna do 11 to 13 14 to 17 or 17 to 18

if you hit connect right away it should

connect if it doesn't you may have to go

into advanced mode or you may not have

your car in the run position so go to

the advanced mode and then in advanced

mode make sure the interface is for the

correct obd scanner you have and you may

need to switch which comport it is so

i'm using the USB obd links i'm

selecting that and

try it both different comport s-- there

as well and again make sure the body

computer is selected above and for the

where it says modification make sure

that's the correct car as well and then

it should connect there for you if it

doesn't you should you probably have

something wrong one of the settings or

you are not connected to your scanner

once you get it connected you're gonna

go to active diagnostics under the drop

down here you're gonna go all the way

down to the bottom and you're going to

select the the car configuration change

the bottom so gonna select that and down

at the bottom here there are a lot of

options that you can set do not just

play around in here either because there

are a lot of things that can't be undone

because they're work for other vehicles

and not just your Jeep so don't just

willy-nilly change settings and there's

no revert back to original settings what

you're looking for under here is CBC

config trailer backup lamps and there

are four settings one is for the backup

lamps one is for the tail lights and the

run lights and then the other is for the

turn signals and the flashers we're

gonna select one at a time change the

select value to yes then you're gonna

start and it will let you know what

position it's in currently so I've

already changed these on my car so it

says yes so they're already activated if

it says no there should be another

setting next to stop that says next so

you'll want to click the next button and

then it will go through and switch it

then you're gonna want to do that for

the other three that are underneath it

so that one was for the trailer backup

lamps then you're gonna also want to do

that for the tail lamp relay and the

turn stop relay and there's two of those

which are all again right there together

the last one you're gonna need to do is

under CBC features one says trailer tow

present and you also have to activate

that one as well so you're going to go

to CBC features trailer tow present and

this is in a different spot than the

other four select the value you want to

change it to yes

start and again you're gonna have to hit

the next - already activated so I don't

have that option and then that will

activate them for you the last thing you

have to do is you will disconnect and

then you're going to want to check to

make sure your trailer lamps work

How do you activate trailer lights?

Why won't my trailer lights come on?