Grind-575

So I bought a new to me 1998 cherokee sport...it didnt have any dome light bulbs or cargo light bulbs when I got it. I put a LED bulb in and it stayed on regardless of the doors being opened or not and regardless of the ****/ switch position...

So I figured no biggie, door jam switch. I bought one ( local auto parts only had one switch out of three lo-cals...) I started at the drivers door, took old out put new in nothing... did the driver side rear passenger door....nothing... did the rear passenger side door, BINGO! the light shut off when depressed and came on when released.

now here is my problem....all doors turn on/ off the dome/ cargo light EXCEPT the driver door. what gives?

n_a_i_w

my driver door is the same way. Still havent figured it out. if you do let me know.

Grind-575

I will as soon I figure it out...

on a side note I did pull, jiggle, wiggle, and moved the wires about while watching the dome lights...but nothing happened. So that kinda proves against there being a short in the immediate wiring.

So anyone have any other ideas or straight up fixes?

Kuro89

do you have a rear cargo light as well?
because my switch in the rear (kinda like the door jam switch) is jacked and my lights wouldn't turn off so I unplugged the switch and now they work fine except they don't turn on when I open the hatch.

98 XJS

Same problem, wondered why PO had bulbs half way out, pushed all in and then realized when lights wouldnt got off. I wound up just splicing in a kill switch to the lights (yellow wire I think) not really a fix but it works... also good if going doorless or having hatch open for a while when working and not wanting to kill battery.

I've heard of people replacing all the door switches and still having a problem. I think it's a short somewhere because even heavy vibration to the vehicle makes them go on sometimes.

Grind-575

I mentioned that I do have a cargo light earlier....and my cargo light doesnt have a door jam switch, it is a touch or push light. when i touch it and turn it on, the rear cargo and the front dome light come on. touch it again and everything goes off...so everything works as it should minus the front door...

Grind-575

Oh, and nice work there 98 XJS, very clean job.

adkodak

If I remember right the harness should come together under your glovebox and move up the column on the passenger side. Might trace your wiring. Maybe the PO did a Frankenstein job. The PO of my Cherokee wired his CB into the power window harness on mine, I know weirder stuff has happened.

Kuro89

the rear switch isn't just for the cargo light it is for both and it you have a cargo light you should have the rear switch, its an integrated part of the latch in the hatch you'll see two wires in the left of the mechanism
from what I can tell you can't replace the switch without replacing everything else. I'll try to get a pic posted later today.

91 limited owner

Could be the overhead console light swicht is broken. Mine would turn it self on in the midddle of the night. aND DRAIN THE BATTERY. The swichtes are so soppese to be three position. After months of looking out, in the drive way, and seeeing my indoor light on. that is what I figured out. When I unlock my door,the rear back comes on, and the rear overhead. 15 mins. later I would look outside, and the overhead was still on. The courtesy lights didn't help either. I thought it was gremalins. Replaced the the swicht, and battery. ( by now after dead so many times. It would not hold a charge) It's fine.JMO!

Grind-575

So what your trying to say is that the interior light should come on when the hatch is opened because there is a switch in the latch.hhhhmmmm....I will take a looksy and check for loose wires or what not then.

and the front driver side door still doesnt turn on the lights....

98 XJS

Thanks, I had that 3 position switch lying around and also needed a switch for my fogs so I ran all the wires to all three at once... down the a pillar and into the glovebox for future use.

I just always make sure to turn it "off" when leaving car for the night just in case. I was actually driving down the road at night the other day with the door switch circuit "open" or operational and the lights came on while driving.... kinda freaked me out so I mostly leave it off all the time but it's nice to have lights when I need them now.

Good luck with this, keep us posted.

Grind-575

Well I bought another door jam switch thinking that maybe two had gone bad...no such luck. put the new door jam switch in and nothing happened...

I also took a look at the latch mechanism on the rear hatch and I could not find any wires through the 1/2 gap around it...I am guessing I will have to take the entire panel off to better check it.

Kuro89

does the hole the door jam switch goes into have clean bare metal threads?

Grind-575

yes kuro, good metal contact is being made, only one door jam switch had any corrosion on it and that was the front passenger door.

My local auto parts guy gave me a quick test today, I switched the driver and front passenger door jam switches just to verify that the new switch wasn't defective from the factory...I found out that the driver door jam switch still works just fine in the passenger door socket... I chased wires and wiggled and jiggled in the engine compartment with the drivers door open while watching the dome light to no avail.

I also figured out that the rear cargo light has a cool feature, if it is clicked "on" it shuts off when you close the hatch and turns on when opened again. but if you click it off, it stays off. I found this out by reading the owners manual...
I plan on refreshing the flat braided ground strap in the engine compartment too. the end on the motor is covered in oil and gunk and I am not sure that the end on the firewall is making a paint free connection either...I am not sure this is the problem but it cant hurt.