89 XJ 4.0 4x4 auto 115,000 miles.

Asking before I break anything.

Been having blinker trouble and had a brake light out, or so I thought. Also had a reverse light out, or so I thought.

Took off this back left one and my grounds are bluish looking. One socket has a tiny bit of rust. When I wiggled one of the ground wires on the second bulb from the top it lit up.

I tried to lightly pull on the gorunds so I could sand them clean but they don't want to come out. Should I grab the pliers or are they not supposed to come out.

Also the socket for the little yellow bulb what is it for? It is dark looking so it appears bad as well. For the time being everything is back working just by wiggling them all really good to get them to make connection, on the left side. Now on the right.

Here are some pictures.

 

Quick update:

Took the right side off. Doesn't look nearly as rough. I have a reverse bulb and a brake light out on that side.

My turn signal on the right side lights up and stays on when I click it up. Both in the front and back.

(Also when I turn my head lights on. The arrow lights up on the inside of the jeep on the right side but with the head lights on the front right side doesn't come on like it is supposed to).

On my left side, I can get the turn signal to work if I wiggle and get the ground positioned just right. The rest of the time it just stays lit up.

I can make a video and show everything I am talking about if it is confusing. This is has been really aggravating for so long.

 

I have a loose one of those ground connectors and I think it would pull out with some pliers but haven't tried and for that reason can't say go for it. Some electrical contact cleaner may be the best bet along with a good wire brushing on whatever you can reach.

The yellow socket is for a rear side marker light to illuminate the red lens on the side. That's something the UK spec haev the holes for but not the wiring, a task I one day will do now that I have spare yellow sockets.

With your cluster lights, I'm going to take a guess at a cluster ground issue.

 

Do your front indicators below the headlights turn on for side lights then flash brighter for indicators? When working correctly that is.

Check the grounds for that light unit as a bad ground could be back feeding power from the side light feed, into the indicator circuit causing issues. Grab a multimeter, pull the bulb holder out and check for voltage between the bulb holder ground (the casing, not the wiring) and the battery negative. You should see 0 or very close to. Try this with your headlights on and then also while indicating.

 

Here is a picture of the front with the head lights on and a picture of my dash panel with the head lights on.

As you can see the front right bottom bulb is not on. However on the inside it the arrow is lit up very bright.

The front left bulb is somewhat lit up. And on the inside the left arrow is lit up but much less bright.

With my head lights on my right turn signal will not light up at all. If the head lights are off and I use the right turn signal it will light up but just stays on.

With my head lights on my left turn signal will light up to some degree (as you can see). If the head lights are off and I use the left turn signal it just stays lit up UNLESS I wiggle the ground wire at the rear left turn signal.

So basically it's all weird and interminent as eff. Except the right side. It never blinks, only will light up with head lights off, and will never light up at all with the head lights on.

Bottom right bulb (passenger) not on at all.

Head lights on. Right arrow much brighter. No light outside. Left arrow dimmer, but lit to some degree outside.
Battery hand reading nothing because the jeep is off just to clear that up.

 

I'm certainly thinking grounds is your issue. Pull the front right indicator bulb out and see if the dash light turns off. If it does it's getting power through the side light filament and through the indicator filament.

You could also try a jumper lead straight to the bulb holder and the battery earth to mame a good ground source for testing.

 

I will certainly pull the bulbs one at a time tomorrow and see what happens. I ran out of time today. Thank you.

I am the slowest on electrical stuff and often need it explained in details and step by step. However, I am not as much of an idiot on it as I used to be, because I do catch myself understanding things that I used to would have never understood without an explanation. So I'm maybe a 2 out of 10 on it.

 

Said screw it and went out tonight. Could not get the effing turn signal bulb I out for nothing. Pulled as hard as I could. Tried to use pliers obviously broke it. Lucky I didn't cut my hand or get it in my eyes because it popped pretty good.

Then took needle nose and it still wouldn't come out. Messed the socket up unless it's supposed to look this way. Been so long since I had the bulb out I can't remember.

This bulb was insane tight. Never had a bulb like that. Pretty sure I'll have to go to the junk yard and get another socket to splice in tomorrow. Not exactly sure what you mean by jumping something. Can I do it now with the socket this way? Oh, yeah the arrows are off on the inside now with the head lights on. The front left light is lit up how it is supposed to be though, full and bright. No turn signals work now though.


Edit: I guess I didn't mess the socket up and it looks that way. As hard as it was to get out I just assumed I screwed it up. Except that little prong it mine, don't know what that is.

 

Your front bulb holders are different to mine I think. I'm sure mine have a metal casing so the jumper idea won't work as you can't ground through the plastic.

I would guess that pin on the side is the ground and it wasn't sat right. It certainly doesn't look right sticking out like that.

 

Went out and tried to take the right front bulb out just to see if it would come out and see how the inside of the socket looked.

Yeah, same thing. Would not come out no matter what. So I busted it and used needle nose to get it out. Little prong was also on that one as well when I got it out.

Went to the back to remove the bad brake light (it was milly looking). Yeah, you guessed it, would not come out. Busted it and used needle nose pliers to get it out.

I am driving on a dead tag because of all this stuff. It will not pass inspectiom with out correctly functioning blinkers.

Oh, I tried for a minute to wiggle on of the grounds out of the rear sockets so I could sand it. It wouldn't come out but it will move around. So not sure why they won't slide out. This is turning out to be reallly aggravating for something that should be simple. I don't know if we can even buy new sockets for our jeeps and besides I doubt I would be able to afford all new sockets right now, because I bet they would be $10 to $30 a piece...So basically, a trip to the junkyard and hope I find good ones (don't even know how I would check other than looking at them) or I am just effed for the moment.


Edit: I will be cleaning the cluster ground later today because that can only help everything in the end, after new bulbs, sockets, or whatever.

 

Ok, it was my fault the bulbs were not coming out to some degree. I wasn't twisting them far enough to release. However, some when I twisted them the bulb glass came off and left the metal seat behind. So I still had to use pliers to get it out.

Got in new brake lights and both work now.

Put in two new front turn signals.
It is again doing the same as before.
The left blinks as it should so I must have the rear ground good enough to make contact. The right side just lights up and stays on.

When I turn the head lights on the left side lights up as it should, on the outside only.

The right lights up in the arrow in the jeep, but nothing up front outside. I wish I was as good as some of y'all. The only things I know left to do is replace the headlight switch to see if that solves the right arrow coming on when the head lights are on but nothing outside, however my right side blinker still doesn't blink with the head lights off. So not sure if the two can even ben connected or are just two seperate issues. Also clean the instrument cluster ground. Though I don't have much hope.

Went to clean the instrument cluster ground over to drivers left knee and I don't see the one I've read Cruiser talk about.
I don't believe the wirung of this jeep to be messed with at all.

So where is this instrument cluster ground. Maybe I just don't see it.

Hood latch to left.

Just another picture.

 

At least you've gotten somewhere with the rears.

I can't say where the cluster ground is as the older diagrams don't really show locations.

From the 1990 diagram there is a ground point listed as "LH Shock Tower" and there is also the front lighting harness connector which is found near the drivers front corner. Those may be points worth making sure are cleaned up however, I have less faith with those solving it as you don't have issues with your other lights. Still worth checking even if it isn't the problem.

If you can see the metal base of the indicator bulbs while plugged in, try the voltage reading between the bulbs metal and the battery. It would really help to try prove if your grounds are working or bad.

 

Thank you. I probably won't do what you are talking about but I'll do what I think is right and report back.

Now, I have another issue. I went to the auto parts stprw and bought 2 new brake lights (2057). I have one good tail light bulb, broke the other. So now I need to go get some tail lights. However they list them as 2057's. But the original tail light(s) bulbs I have are smaller than 2057. I tried to use one of my new brake light 2057 bulbs and no matter how much I pushed and twisted it will not go in. The smaller bulb goes in the left or right socket very easily. So I don't know what size of bulb my tail light takes.

Big bulb is the new brake light (2057). Smaller bulb is the tail light....no idea what size that is. They list them as 2057 but obviously that is not what it is and both sides had this size before I busted one.

 

That's a question to be answered by someone State-side. We number our bulbs differently.

 

Set the multimeter to 20VDC, poke there with one end and the battery negative with the other.

Actually, yours are like mine, steel cased so you can also check against the metal casing of the bulb holder and see if you get different results from the bulb directly and the casing of the holder.