kastle

Factory Subaru Trailer Hitch Installation

General:
The factory Subaru trailer hitch comes with the receiver, the ball mount and related pin and clip, a nice plug for the receiver for when the ball mount is not installed, wiring harness (with instructions for non-WRX), and instructions (which can be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat format at http://subaruparts.com/install/2002itrailer.pdf ). If you are installing this on a WRX rather than a TS or Outback Sport, the wiring harness instructions are mostly useless. It appears that the WRX has a different wiring harness than the other two version of the Impreza and does not have the six-pin connector that the trailer harness is supposed to connect to.

(Right = passenger side)

Tools Needed:
* 14mm wrench or socket
* 17mm socket (shallow preferred or deep)
* 6" extension (for socket)
* Ratchet
* Torque wrench
* Utility Knife (Razor type with sharp blade)
* Flat blade screwdriver or small nail puller (pry tool type)


Wiring Harness Installation:
1. Remove spare tire cover and spare tire. Remove "rear latch panel" (plastic trim piece around trunk/rear hatch latch) by lifting directly upward. Start at one side and work to the other.

2. WRX ONLY - Remove "panel nuts" from the carpeted (at least in the wagon) right, inner rear quarter panel covering using screwdriver or nail puller. Fold back covering. Do the same for the rubberized sound deadening material behind the carpet. You should now be able to see the wiring harness that goes to the right rear taillight.

3. Remove the right rear floor panel by removing the two "panel nuts" securing it using the screwdriver or nail puller. Below this, you will find the main portion of the vehicle body wire harness. If you are working on a non-WRX, you should, according to the instructions provided, find the factory six-pin connector here and should be able to plug in the trailer harness without further work.

4. WRX ONLY - without the six-pin connector, you will need to splice into the car's factory wiring harness for the trailer hitch harness. The following are the wire color and the function for each wire you will need to splice into. Be sure to check each wire for proper function before splicing though.
a. White w/ red stripe - Taillights
b. Black w/ green stripe - Left turn signal
c. Lt. Green w/ black stripe - Right turn signal
d. White w/ black stripe - Brake lights
e. Blue w/ red stripe - Battery (wagon, unknown in sedan)

5. WRX ONLY - For the ground wire from the trailer hitch harness, I used a factory grounding location at the rear of the spare tire well and just attached the wire (white wire from the hitch harness) there.

6. WRX ONLY - You will need to cut the six-pin connector (white plastic) from the end of the trailer hitch harness if your car does not have the six-pin connector on the factory wiring harness. Once done, you will need to identify and separate the wires so that you can properly splice them into the car's wiring harness. The following is a list of the wire color (at the six-pin connector / different from at the converter) and their function.
a. Blue - brake lights
b. Red - battery
c. White - ground
d. Yellow - left turn signal
e. Green - right turn signal
f. Brown - taillights

7. WRX ONLY - splice appropriate wire to each other.

8. Remove the drain plug from the bottom of the spare tire well. Attach the second portion of the trailer hitch wiring harness (portion with the grommet already installed) to the converter.

9. Attach converter to the vehicle, in the spare tire well, using the adhesive already on the converter as shown in the instructions provided with the hitch.

10. Run the wiring harness through the hole in the bottom of the spare tire well and insert the attached grommet into the hole in the bottom of the spare tire well.

11. Using the black zip-ties included, attach any loose hanging portions of the wiring harness to either the body or an adjacent, existing portion of the factory wiring harness.

12. Reinstall all pieces removed in steps 1-3 in reverse order. Move on to actual hitch installation.

Hitch Installation:
The instructions provided with the hitch are very adequate with one exception. They state that the lower portion of the rear bumper cover needs to be cut and removed almost the entire width of the car. I found this not to be the case and only had to remove a 4" section to the left of the muffler (see photos). I used a utility knife to cut this portion out. The section to the right of the muffler did not need to be removed and only interferes slightly in one space with the trailer hitch receiver once installed.

__________________
-K

 

kastle

*UPDATE* - Got a email from WRX03 with this information in it...

> You might want to post a note that the 03
> come with the elctrical connector for the hitch. I
> came close to cutting the car's wiring before
> finding it well hidden behind the corner panel. I
> had already cut the wiring harness of the hitch, but
> I was able to redo the factory connector. Also
> there was a change in color codes. If you would
> like I can get the info, just have to pop off a
> cover or two.

Real names cencored to protect the innocent...