Krsxj

I had to replace the headlight switch and plug cause there were melted. I picked up replacements from autozone.Some of the wires on the new plug weren't an exact match to the original so i spliced according to pin location using the oem plug as a guide.It worked great for a couple of days and while driving yesterday i saw smoke coming from the switch so i jumped out and unpluged the battery.This morning i pulled the entire dash and all of the factory installed electrical tape around the wires was intact, no sign of anything melted.I'm not good with electrical stuff so before i start peeling tape off all the way to the fuse box and then under the hood can some one please tell what steps i should take.The headlights appear to be sylvania seal beams.

Turbo X_J

Why not just toss in a relay to take the load off of the switch? You can buy/make the H4 harness upgrade.

Firestorm500

Well that's not fixing the actual problem. He's got a fire hazard.

He's got a short to ground somewhere. Probably a wire around the headlight area has rubbed against something, or the insulation is broken.

I would start where the headlight harness passes through the headlight bucket on the way to the headlight plug.

Krsxj

I'll start at headlight harness.not good with solving electrical stuff so Ill surf eBay for a heavy duty harness just in case.

Pelican

Actually, installing a harness with relays is fixing the problem. Provided that the headlights are working at all, the problem is excessive current draw caused by the barely adequate wiring in our XJs.

The eautoworks/putco harnesses are cheap and better than nothing although I wouldn't put one in my Jeep if I had a choice. Others have had satisfactory experience with them including, I believe, Cruiser54.

94XjSport94

I agree with the statement about a short. Probably in the same location. Building a harness is easy.

Pelican

Could be a short if the circuit breaker has failed. FWIW I've only had one melted headlight switch plug ('85 XJ, years ago) and that was from extended high current drain over a period of time.

In any event, here is a link to a write-up from go-jeep with detailed instructions for a DIY harness. Putting it together is actually probably easier than it looks. I would strongly recommend getting a ratcheting crimping tool before taking this on. A reasonably priced tool used to be available from Parts Express for one.

http://go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoHeadlightLoom.htm

Krsxj

I just ordered a heavy duty harness from ebay for a H4 conversion, looks pretty solid even has a fuse attached .In the mean time i gonna start poking around the headlight area for burnt or broken wires.









UOTE=Pelican;2388764]Could be a short if the circuit breaker has failed. FWIW I've only had one melted headlight switch plug ('85 XJ, years ago) and that was from extended high current drain over a period of time.

In any event, here is a link to a write-up from go-jeep with detailed instructions for a DIY harness. Putting it together is actually probably easier than it looks. I would strongly recommend getting a ratcheting crimping tool before taking this on. A reasonably priced tool used to be available from Parts Express for one.

http://go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoHeadlightLoom.htm[/QUOTE]

Krsxj

I just pulled the grille,headlights and pulled the headlight harness almost all the back to the fire wall.Can someone please tell me where the connection point is for the harness on my 94" it looks like the harness goes straight to the fire wall with no connection point to plug the new harness.

Krsxj

New harness in, so far so good.I'll keep you guys posted,you all have been a great help