1994 Cherokee 4.0 auto 4x4

Anyone have any idea why my rear lights don't come on when I flip on the headlights? Ask in questions you need too because I don't know what is relevant to it and would like it fixed before I start getting more than just warning tickets.

 

Electrical problem?

 

Trick question, YOU NEVER HAD REAR LIGHTS TO BEGIN WITH?

What do I win?

 

I guess the real question would be after 5 warnings, why deal with it now? Try for 6.



In all seriousness...what have you done? Checked bulbs? Fuses? Wiring? Switches?

 

Bulbs are good, they light up when I hook up a 12v battery to them.
Wires appear to be okay, no obvious breaks or hard kinks.
The fuse for the dash lights is blown but that just happened today. It blew while I was messing with the headlight harness to make all four headlights come on in lowbeam.

The NSS is bad, can't start in neutral and my reverse lights don't come on. Not sure if that matters.

 

Putting the bulbs on the battery to test them is not going to tell you if you have voltage at the bulb sockets. Get a volt meter and check the sockets to see if you are even getting voltage.

 

94 cherokee with 4 headlights? what?
did you do a waggy front clip or something? and why would you want all four headlights to come in lowbeam anyway? you know only two of those headlights have low beam filaments unless you installed all with dual beams.

and messing with wiring might have caused your problem, unless it was like that before. but something doesn't add up.

do as suggested and check your rear bulb sockets with a meter or test light.

 

I'll check the sockest for power tomorrow, I only avoided it cause my volt testers battery went out and I didn't feel like replacing it.
The reason I'm at a loss is that I can't think of a reason for why they don't work. They light up when I apply the brakes just not when the headlights come on. So I know they can receive power. I just need to know why they only do when I apply the brakes.

Is there a relay or something that could have gone bad?

And yes I did a waggy swap. I put all four on lowbeam and I have some off-road lights that come on when I put on the high beams.

 

This things always been weird with the wiring.
I think the PO liked to yank wires for fun.
Only one sound bar speaker had power. Only one door speaker had power. The radio antenna wasn't plugged into the radio and shortly after I plugged it in the whole radio lost power.

 

Two separate circuits, brake lights and running lights.

 

That is right, I had a similar issue. My 95 has a separate fuse for park/tail lights and is a 20a and the brakes are fed through a different 20a fuse for the Clk/Haz/Stop which is also a 20a.

 

could be as simple as a broken wire for the running lites.

 

'94 rear lighting diagrams:

 

Headlight switch maybe.

 

He has loads of excellent info to go on and no reason he shouldn't be able to find the problem if he checks all of the above.


About the best bunch of answers I've saw in a short time for a problem!