Dinghy Odometer Question

Griswald One

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2015
Messages
544
Location
Brooklin, Ontario
Good Day All,

I was talking with a fellow MH owner today about Dinghy Towing. I Flat tow a 2015 Chevy Sonic. I mentioned to him that it was frustrating that my Sonic was accruing Odometer Mileage while being towed and he told me that in his experience this was not normal.

Is he right? And if so what could I bee doing wrong?

My one thought was that I do not remove the DLIS Fuse. My RV Tech put in a charging line for me to keep the battery up and told me I would not need to remove the fuse when towing?

Any thoughts are appreciated.
 
I know many vehicles are unique in how they need to be prepared for towing, I am lucky in that neither of my Fords that I tow need to have any fuses pulled, and neither accumulate miles when being towed. I do have charge lines connected on both so that my EvenBrake doesn't deplete the toad battery.

Does your owner's manual address recreational towing procedures?
 
DLIS Fuse

I have reviewed the owners manual. It says to remove the DLIS fuse to prevent draining the battery. The Dealership added the charging line, telling me that I would not need to pull the fuse with that in place.

A Chevy forum indicated that the DLIS Fuse powers the "BCM"? Would removing power from the BCM stop the odometer from accumulating mileage?
 
I have reviewed the owners manual. It says to remove the DLIS fuse to prevent draining the battery. The Dealership added the charging line, telling me that I would not need to pull the fuse with that in place.

A Chevy forum indicated that the DLIS Fuse powers the "BCM"? Would removing power from the BCM stop the odometer from accumulating mileage?

Dealership was wrong!

My SONIC never ran up miles, I had installed the switch.
 
I flat tow a Nissan Versa. It does not require pulling any fuse or other modifications. Just put in neutral (has to be a manual transmission to flat tow), turn key to notch just before Accessory. Nothing actually turns on it just unlocks the steering wheel. That is it. It does not accumulate miles.
 
Griswald, I flat tow an Equinox. My instructions are to pull the fuse. It not only prevents the battery from draining but cuts off your odometer, but Chevy can't tell you that in writing :)
 
We flat tow a 2016 Chevy Traverse. It has 20,000 miles on the odometer and 50,000 miles on the tires. I originally had to pull 3 fuses. Had it upgraded to have a switch put in so only one fuse needs pulling and the other 2 are controlled by the switch. This was all done by our Chevy dealership.

I record the Seneca mileage when the Traverse is being towed and always add that number to the work orders in the Traverse is taken in for service. At 50,000 miles, I had the transmission fluid serviced/changed/filtered and the dealership said it was getting a little dark.

I have the tires rotated every 5,000 miles of tire wear/travel on the Traverse.
 
Switch installed

OK The switch is installed.... What does it do??? It took me several minutes to actually answer that question because when I first turned the ignition on the entire dash stayed lit up.

After playing around I now understand it's operation. It does cut the power to the dash, but only when in accessory mode. I suspect that makes sense because otherwise I could flip the switch while driving and stop the odometer from rolling on a daily basis.... which considering I have already towed it about 15000km I would sorely like to do :)

Thanks to all for your assistance!
 
Post Install Problems

Today was my first chance to tow the Toad with the switch installed. I now fully understand why the RV dealership did the install the way they did.... The DLIS Fuse when removed kills the 12v power source, which of course is required to operate the brake controller. Hence the reason they chose to add the charging line, in theory eliminating the need to remove the fuse.

So back to the Parts store to buy a new 12v power source and put it on a dedicated fuse so that I can make this set up function properly.
 
We flat tow a '16 Subaru Forester (manual trans).

No fuses to pull, no limited speed or limited distance as we tow. No mileage accrued to the odometer as we tow. AND when we get to the camp site, exploring the area with the Forester is a blessing at 30/32 mpg.

:cool: :D :cool:
 

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