Stubborn power plug

[DrRod]

I have just spent a frustrating half hour laying under the bumper trying to get the power plug inserted but it just won't go. I've done this before so I don't think I'm doing it wrong. I've got the alignment bump straight up and the locking clip held up out of the way. But I just can't get it inserted all the way. Can you suggest what I might be missing here?

Thanks

 

[flyerdan]

This is a trailer type plug, right? Is it one with round pins or flat ones like the new 7 pins have? If it's round pin, I'd suspect there might be some debris in the socket (trailer) side, not allowing one of the pins to bottom out.

 

[jaxs]

Obstruction,bent pin or possibly someone used petroleum base lub and swelled the plug. Close inspection with flashling then spray with silicon (not WD40).

 

[DrRod]

Well, as you might have guessed, there was a simple fix to this [just not obvious at the time]. I went back out the next morning and instead of bending over to plug it in, I crawled under the bumper. Turned out the socket was not installed perfectly straight. While it seemed straight when just looking down over the bumper, it was actually about 5 degrees off vertical. I had been carefully holding the plug in a vertical position to insert it but this meant the pins and holes weren't lined up. A bit of a twist and it went right in. A perfect case of don't assume the obvious. And thank you for your responses.

 

[jaxs]

I hope all you want to be wrench monkeys are taking this in because otherwise it might take years learning to troubleshoot it. I'm kinda disappointed one of the pros here didn't spot it right from the start.

 

[bigtiller]

I watched a guy fight his like you did. He got frustrated and started talking to it. He stepped to the side to let me try my luck and it went right in. He went from mad to embarrassed in a heartbeat when he seen me rotate the male half 180 degrees.

We all do silly things like that. They make good stories in our elderly years.