Hey everyone, new to this site but I have 99 cherokee its well equipped for offroad locked etc...I have never had problems with it I can fix until now...and its driving me nuts...

I have random electrical issues...these are the problems I have had recently.

dome lights turn on when the door is closed, It almost seems like they are in a dimmer state when the doors are closed, sometimes they turn of completely, sometimes they turn back on, when I mess with the rotary dash switch and put it in the "on" position the lights get brighter, when off the lights get dimmer, however they usually do not turn off completely, Of course this has been killing my battery, and I have to take the bulbs out to make the battery last overnight.

sometimes when I turn the car off or turn the headlights off I hear a buzzing noise coming from behind the dash, usually quick and goes away in a second or two.

2 days ago when I was driving my defrost (for mirrors and back window) started buzzing, the light was illuminated and pushing the button would have no effect. it would just keep buzzing....eventually it started smoking and the buzzing went away.


So here you go, these electrical problems have been driving me nuts...has anyone expreinced any of these, or is anyone compitent with troublshooting electrical.

thanks everyone for your help and putting up with my nubeness....

cheers...

 

"sometimes when I turn the car off or turn the headlights off I hear a buzzing noise coming from behind the dash, usually quick and goes away in a second or two."

I hear this too in my 2000 XJ Sport 2wd

 

I hear the buzzing in my 01 xj so maybe a common problem...but you def have a short or bad connection possibly in your switch in the door jam for the overheads...have you been in any really deep water or gotten the inside wet? if so maybe some conductive corrosion on a switch or two...honestly could be a million things easiest thing to do is set aside an afternoon with a wiring diagram and tear apart the front of your dash and look for anything...specially the now burned up previously smoking wire and trace it to a source...the wire is probably exposed or black due to melting jacket ...keep us updated!

 

First off , Thank you all very much JEEPFORUM members for all of the extremely important information that you provide all of us, I hope to contribute at least a small part of what I have learned from many of you after countless ours of reading invaluable information from most all of you.

I have a 99 cherokee that I have a few strange electrical issues with too, It starts with the window lock button which locks out everyone but the driver only on occasion, I think that is is a loose wire but I'm not sure which one it is
The next couple of problems are kind of strange to me. Today I was at the auto parts store picking up some p.m. stuff and none of the windows would roll down from any button.... I turned off my Jeep and re started and everything was working right. I changed my oil tonight, and drove around the block, when I got back I turned off everything including the headlights and the engine, but the headlights stayed on. I pulled out the key and double checked the headlight button and it was off. I re started the motor and they instantly went off.


I am confused?

Thank you for your help