4x4jeepmanthing

My drive to end from work is dark, a colleague pointed out that my passenger light was out.
I have this wiring harness installed:

I have tried:

-pulled the passenger bulb and put in in the driver side to test if its a bad lamp, no light again.

- I then put the driverside lamp back and tested it as it worked before, NO light, now i have two headlights that arent working

- checked the in cab fuses- all good
- pulled the harness off the Stock wiring and tried the same test as above by switching lamps between driver and passenger plugs, No light again.
-I then tested power to the stock plugs: I do have 12v to both hi/low beam on both driver and passenger stock plugs.
-I tested the grounds on the stock wiring plugs: passenger=.000-.001, driver=.002. Both times I tested using the battery as ground and the only variances were from moving the probe around,thats fairly decent unless Im mistaken.


I have no idea what to try next, I made it home with my light bar on so im just begging for the cops to investigate.

Cherokee brothers what do I try now?

jordan96xj

If this is accurate, and you see the same with the harness plugged in, then doesn't that imply that they only remaining possibility is the bulb(s) are failed?

4x4jeepmanthing

I didn't test the harness other than unplugging it from the stock wirring, which I have power from but no lights. How would I get two newer lights to go out. I need to try jumping the lights directly to the battery.

jordan96xj

Forget what I said about the harness, it doesn't matter.

If the plug that a bulb is being connected to definitively has power, but the bulb does not light up, there aren't many possibilities.

1. Bulb is bad
2. Problem with plug (contacts able to be touched by meter, but not by bulb)

But if you switch plugs and the bulb still doesn't work, then #2 is not likely.

Now, if you connect a fresh new bulb and it fails quickly, there could be a bigger problem, but you tested and observed 12v (not more right?).

Unless there is missing information, you have 2 bad bulbs.

4x4jeepmanthing

I retested everything again tonight. It all checked out with a test light and 12.6-12.10 on the multimeter for hi/ low.
I plugged in the lights Again, no low beam, but High beam does work...... What the heck

Is this coincidence?

BruceB

For what it is worth, I installed a Putco Harness and H4 LED headlights. For about a year I had no problems. Then the headlights would not shut off with the headlight switch unless the ignition was turned off first. I yanked the delay light device, but made no difference. Then after a few weeks, the high beams would not come on. Switched the relays. No high beams. Went in and cleaned all the connections, and the grounds. Ordered new Pilot relays and multi control lever on the steering column. Seem to solve the problem. Two weeks later, headlights go off while driving at night. No high beams or low beams. Switch on and off..nothing. disconnect power to harness and check fuses..nothing. Lucky I have aux driving lights mounted on the front to its own independent circuit and relay. Next day I verified that the original headlight wiring had power with the switch on both high and low beams. Reconnected the Putco harness and switched the H4's to regular bulbs, not LED's. Low beams only. No power to high beams. Switched relays, still no high beams. Since I am using LED's, I reconnected them to the original headlight wiring and bypassed the PUTCO harness completely. That has been about two months ago and headlights are working as designed. I do not see a noticeable difference in brightness without the Putco Harness using LEDs. So at this point I do not plan on messing with the Putco harness in the future.

4x4jeepmanthing

does the 99 xj have anything on the headlight switch or a relay that would only allow hi beams?

going to test the lights jumped directly to the battery

the lights are silverstars just supplemented by a harness.

jordan96xj

If the plug has voltage on both the high and low wires, then the low elements in the bulb are burnt out. If you have voltage for hi and lows at the plug, then it doesn't really matter what relays or switches might be doing, they aren't the problem.

Lows tend to go out first, and yes, they can go out back to back.

Since the plugs are good, according to your test. Have you tested with a new headlight yet?

4x4jeepmanthing

two new headlights and i have full operation of hi/low

thanks for everyones help