Just recently the power to my jeep has been lacking. Not hp wise, but electrically.... while I am driving my headlights dim in and out and my headunit turns on and off. Then when I turn my truck off and go to turn it back on, every so often it is completely dead.. no cranking not even the dome light turns on... I wait like 5 mins and it turns right over and everything works. When it dies and turns back on the headunit completely restarts itself... which I have only experienced in the past when the battery was disconnected. I checked the cables and battery and they are charged, in tact and tight... any ideas what the problem is? It just recently happened... I have a full audio system, bumper lights and piaa lights mounted on my pillars. Never ran at the same time and they have been on for a year and this is the first time its started happening... any ideas?

 

Check all your grounds in the engine compartment. Take them all off and clean them. I just had the same problem. Took me all day to figure out the 5min fix. Lol.

 

Clean your grounds up... Kinda a paint to find them all. Get your alternator tested. Your battery may be good but your alternator could be going out. If your lights dim when you apply your brakes, sure sign.

 

Where do I find them in the compartment? Do I have to remove anything to get to them?

 

No you wont have to remove anything. Theres one just to the left of the battery, one is a stud with 3 ground wires on the passenger side of the engine block near the last spark plug, and one that goes from the firewall to the last bolt on the valve cover on the driver side (This one is kind of a pain in the ***).

 

Isn't there a separate ground on the alternator too? I only say that because when I go for alternators I'm told to check the alternator ground before replacing it.

 

For the 90 and earlier models but they share alot of the same points:


From the factory wiring manual with a Ground Distribution page in it regarding lighting:

There are 2 points on the left inner fender.

There is the engine dipstick tube stud. SUPER IMPORTANT!!

There is the ground above the lower diagonal dash brace to the left of the steering column on the shiny part of the dash.

There is one in behind the trim panel where the spare tire mounts.

The one on the instrument panel grounds a ton of things. Probably too many things as a matter of fact, given it's poor mounting point on the panel with a self tapping screw. I remove the screw that it's held on with, add a wire, using 10 gauge, and terminate it to the stud near the fusebox.

There are also grounds from the engine to chassis, notably the poor one from the back of the head to the firewall but that wouldn't affect your dash lights. Not that the engine to chassis grounding shouldn't be addressed.

 

Moved to OEM Tech.

 

Need to change the name of "Advanced Tech" to something else......

 

Modified...

 

Agreed. You've got friends in high places. Get to work on it!! LOL.