good evening from SOCAL, yes .... everything is on fire and I'm still more worried about my jeep ha-ha


anyway, I got an issue, I recently got a 97 jeep Cherokee sport 4 door 4X4 AUTOMATIC

when i go to turn on my head lights the low beam on the driver's side is what turns on, BUT when i turn on my high beams it only turns on the passengers side high beam! - LOL

so i already know there was a rat issue with this vehicle, the damage was very minimal thou, only a few chewed wires thankfully, mostly are easily repairable.





also does anyone know of a place where i could just buy the wiring harnesses i need to replace? would make my project easier if i could just replace everything.

what im looking for is a wire harness diag that shows where the wires for the head lights are routed so I can go threw the wiring and check for chewed spots, is there such a thing ?

 

Maybe you did it and didn't mention it but checking the bulbs would be a reasonable first step.
After that check the voltage at the bulb connector and start tracing things back thru the harness.

 

Definitely bulb check first. Then a ground connection check. Lastly, wiring check for chewing damage.

 

I'm going to replace the other light bulb just to see, I just find it weird that one light bulb only works on the low beam and the other only works on high beam. i was leaning towards chewed wiring but i look at it all and it seems intact, kind of stumped.

 

It could be a sign your headlight switch is on its way out

I had the same initial symptom as you, then started losing other functions till I just had high beams

(just goes to show how **** weak XJ headlights are that not one person flashed me)

I wouldnt let it get that far, as I lost all lights very soon after, had to pull the switch from my spare XJ while I waited for anew one to arrive

I found mine had a dodgy rivet to a terminal, it just fell out when I removed the headlight switch

I would certainly test the wiring backwards from the bulb using a test light, as replacing the headlight switch is not very much fun (on a '96)

 

Verifying your headlights are both in good working order would be the start, verifying solid grounds would be my next approach. Especially through the factory harness connector at the very front corner of the engine bay tucked away from the pcm and factory air box. Very common for those plugs or the wires to look like someone treated them with dehydrated crest toothpaste (it just oxidized wires).

After your sure you have that power flowing correctly without an chewed bits do yourself a favor and upgrade your harness with one of these kits:



They take the load off the headlight switch and dramatixally improve the effectiveness of your headlights.
I just did this to my 87 MJ and its was surely needed - hunting season starts this weekend and i dont plan on using the jeep to bag any game animals

 

Oh yes, a headlight relay harness upgrade is an absolute must, I just used a generic one.

The PO had relays, but I just dont want to talk about what he did with them

I think one or more dead shorts in his wiring may have caused my headlight switch to get fried.

I had to replace almost every part of the headlight system

 

97 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 5.2 L V-8. In family since it was new.

Then:
Previously low beams were working fine, though when in Auto lights would flash on and off, fog lights worked, dash panel light only illuminated when I held pressure on the slider ****, and finally, the low beams began working sporadically and finally stopped working altogether.

I replaced the headlight switch.

Now:
No flashing on Auto, dash console lights work fine, fog lights work fine and hi beams work fine, but low beams do not work.

Appreciate any ideas to help me stop annoying people I'm driving behind at night.

Bulbs are fine.

Thanks in advance for your help.