parkerbabco

well i rewired the whole front end headlight and parking and turnsignal harness and followed all the wires to the fuse block under the kick panel.. took of the fuse block and took out the dimmer/light/parking light switch and cut the wires .. planning on running all seperate switches for all of the old switches functions so i grouped the parking light wires to one wire and put it to power.. lights turned on but wire got so hot it melted a little bit.. i re did all new grounds and stuff the only wireing i did not touch was from the back of the fuse block up to where the dimmer switch was ..what do you guys think the problem is ?? do you think it could be in the wiring up to the dimmer switch from the fuse block cause thats the only section that i didnt completly correctly rewire..if anyone is good with electrical problems id appreciate some help

thanks in advance

a1racer

dang dude you are having a ruff few days hope some one can help with your issue

parkerbabco

yeah i know its really giving me a headache

89Cherokee

Can you maybe draw a diagram or something - maybe one with how it looked before and one how you want it to look...

I am an electrical systems tech in the Air Force and if I can't figure it out, I can ask around my office. It sounds like you are trying to pump too much current through the given wire gauge though (maybe you shorted something out when rewiring)

parkerbabco

well heres how it all started.. i wired up new switches for things that are completly unrelated to the lights and didnt tap in to anything with the lights... after i got all my switches hooked up i turned on the jeep to test them .. they all worked and again it was unrelated to any wires in the headlights wiring harness.. i pull my dimmer switch out to turn on the headlights and right off i noticed my parking lps 10 amp fuse blew.. i put a 15 in .. pulled the switch it blew right again.. i put a 30 in and it drained all my power and eventually shut the jeep off after about 10 seconds of the jeep slowly dying.. so i figured i got a short somewhere.. i rewired the whole front end up to the back of the fuse block under the kick panel.. then i did as i stated above and thats where i end up to.. my regular headlights dont draw too much voltage they work on there own fuse and isnt on the same circuit as the parking lights but it does share the same power source.. so headlights are out of the situation.. its just the parking lights they draw soo much current from the power source wire it kills the jeep and melts the wire .. im not using any less gauge of wire then what used to be on it.. im using thicker gauge then stock actually.. so that is my problem i dont see what it could be except for the wiring from the old switch to the fuse block.. again that is the only wires i did not touch at all .. yet

D Brown

Damn bro I had a problem similar to that but my problem was a lose wire causing tiny archs to get it hot enough to melt the wire but just make sure all your connections are tight

parkerbabco

all the connections i redid are flawless .. i made sure of it if i rewire somthing i give it 110%..wiring isnt worth doing half assed the first time and then having to redo it again

89Cherokee

If you have a volt meter I would check for resistance of the copper wire from the dimmer switch to the fuse block. If that wire is original I wouldn't assume that is would have that much resistance but if you have a 30A fuse attached to a 10A wire it would definitely cause the wire to melt! if you just rewired the whole front end i would check if you crossed a wire - connecting a ground and live wire together will basically create a loop or act like a heater and cause the lowest grade/weakest wire to overheat and melt. I would also check each light from the dimmer switch and connect it directly to see if any of them causes your battery to drain quickly.

Question: did you ground each of the lights to the same point or did you just wire them to a near-by metal chassis?

mike37

did you bypass the relays you maybe over loading the wire
if you are running all the lights from
bat through the switch and out to the lights

parkerbabco

my headlight harness is a completly different circuit then the paking lights they just share a common switch that gives it power.. that circuit ran without anything else on it just the headlights work just fine no problem.. i give the parking lights power and it gets hot and overloads the wire and almost melts..

mike37

are any of the lights not working on that circuit

sounds like you defiantly have a short
if you have something you can check continuity go around with power off
pull one light at a time check the terminals

parkerbabco

yes there is one bulb that the second filament is burned out because of it getting too much power im guessing .. but the other side lights up and the rears light up too..

89Cherokee

I talked to the guys at work and they also said that it sound like a short. Could be a wire got partially stripped when you were running new wires and it is grounding against the chassis...

parkerbabco

im gonna post some pics here to help you guys help me.. if anyone thinks im wrong on this speak up
heres a pic of the dimmerswitches wires i cut off

big red- constant power no doubt

little orange- dash lights

2 little red+2 little blue- left sidemarker left turnsignal marker right sidemarker right turnsignal marker

big brown- headlights no doubt

2 little blacks- dimmers


again if im wrong speak up please

now heres how i have it wired right now..
sorry for the blur it wouldnt focus

i have the big red constant 12volt wire taped.. the big brown goes to a purple wire of my own and is going to go to a switch.. if i give it power the headlights turn on and i controll them by pulling my turnsignal lever back.. nothing wrong with that cicuit ..the little orange going to the green is to light up my dash .. it also has no problems.. it is going to go to a switch too ... now.. the 2 black im leaving there alone because i have no need to dim my lights in the dash... the red and blue are left... i gave power to the blue wire that comes down and touches my finger.. that is the one where i give it a power source "doesnt matter what power source i give it" it gets real hot and almost melts....

ol"blue

Which wires were for the dome/map/courtesy whatever it's called light? It was usually turned on by rotating the dimmer ****, correct? Wasn't that on there? Maybe the two black wires?