GREENMACHINE97

i have a 1997 jeep cherokee I6 with ax-15 and manual door locks and windows

heres the low down, I was driving into town the other day when all the sudden my jeep just shuts down! i have had battery issues in the past and thought i had fixed all my issues with new battery, new starter, my grounds are good and tight on my battery and block. anyway the issue seems to me be a short some were because i could get my power to come back intermittently if i shook some stuff around but couldnt seem to narrow down where it was coming from. until i started messing with my emergency brake. i have the ax15 so i have a hand brake. if i let my hand brake all the way down everything flickers and then kills all power and i get a click sound coming from my kick panel fuse box? how can something cable driven cause a shut down like that? i took out my center console compartment so i can see down were the hand brake is and dont see any sort of wiring. i dont know why there would be wiring down there anyway. could it be in my fuse box itself?

ive searched thread after thread and everyone seems to have automatics or grand cherokees with similar problems but this hand brake thing has got me stumped!! anyone have any ideas before i rip apart my whole center console???

Turbo X_J

"because i could get my power to come back intermittently if i shook some stuff around"

^
That sounds like where the problem is.

freegdr

Possible cables pulling on something underneath ?

xjzaped

All modern vehicles have a switch in the parking brake that let's you know it's engaged on the dash. Almost sounds as if the switch has failed in some spectacular way.

rompnXJ

Haha I was thinking the exact same thing...maybe more along the lines that the wiring for that switch is shorted to some other wiring.
btw OP, we all have handbrakes, even those of us with slushboxes.

try unplugging the switch, then pull the handle up & down and see if the symptoms persist.

salad

Massive grounding problems, wow!

The hand brake switch in 97+ is a single wire, once it's grounded via the body the light illuminates in the dash.

Has your Jeep ever gone for a swim? Wondering if you have a problem like this: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/int...-issue-174856/

GREENMACHINE97

thats what i was thinking but i dont see any wiring to the hand brake and i couldnt find a fuse for it in the kick panel? i didnt know if autos would be the same lol..also the cable if totally free underneath it isnt touching anything. so do you think i need to take the whole center console out or is there another way?

thanks for all the replies ill start search for my long lost wire lol

salad

It runs along under the center console, may find some under the carpet.

CCKen

When you said you looked under the floor console, did you remove the floor console or did you just lift it up to peek under it?

Did you notice if the Aibag Control Module is located under the floor console or still under the driver's seat. A TSB relocated the ABCM from under the seat to under the floor console on earlier XJ's.

Here's a pic of the parking brake lever and switch connector.



Notice that the ABCM wiring harness runs next to the parking brake handle. I wonder if your parking brake mechanism is pinching the ABCM harness. The ABCM can kill the CCD Bus....thus, your engine.

GREENMACHINE97

wow thanks!! thats exactly what i was looking for.. all i did was take out the glove box compartment on the center console so i could see down in there and i noticed where the connector is on your hand break mine is missing? gotta love what PO's do and never tell you.. also my parking brake light has never worked since ive had it i guess i just never thought it had one lol. i really dont want to have to rip up my whole console if i can get around it now that i know where the wires run ill try and find them.

carbuff

I was thinking it might have to do with the wiring to the magic box under the console. I call it the magic box because I dont know what it is. LOL. It appears to be some sort of computer box to me with a big wiring plug going to it? What is the ABCM?

Edit: Figured it out. Air bag control module. Strange place to put it. Right under that heater duct and all.

CCKen

Removal of the floor console isn't really that hard. It sounds like Bubba has been butchering under there so you may really want to see what he's been up to.

If he pulled the HVAC unit he would have had that console up.

salad

Worst part is getting the E-brake lever up all the way!

GREENMACHINE97

heres an update..

i pulled the seat out to give me more room and when i did that i was able to pull the carpet under the console fare enough to be able to see those wires for the airbag module (which is under the seat by the way) and found my connection for the hand brake light. the wires dont come close to my hand brake and when i plugged the connection back up it didnt seem to change anything. im still coming back to my fuse box on my kick panel because i can here a click coming from it before everything shuts down..i took the plastic trim panel off to get a better view of the fuse box and doesnt seem to show any signs of corrosion. any other ideas??

prcherokee

Have you check under the truck?.