draposo

Hi everyone,

I have a 2000 Cherokee, auto, 4wd, that I picked up about a month ago. It has been driving great since I got it. I installed new speakers and a head unit a couple weeks ago and it has since been driving fine, no issues.

After reading a bunch of forums about how easy it is to install an OHC I picked up a 00-01 OHC from my local junk yard and started the install yesterday. Cut the headliner, ran the wiring harness, etc. the console lit up but the lights didn't work, and now none of the interior lights work either. No dash, footwell, rear cargo, OHC, or any of them. In addition, my dash gauges, stereo, and the door lock are not working either. The lock buttons on the doors will unlock the doors but won't lock them. I switched over the keyless entry to the new OHC, but that isn't working either. The blinkers, brakes, headlights and taillights work just not the interior lighting or stereo.

I did a google search for this stuff, but the problems seem to be pretty varied and widespread and none of the info I found really helped. I checked the gauge cluster using the odometer reset button diagnostic test and all the lights did their little dance, but none of the gauges work. I checked all the fuses and they were all fine.

Is the most likely solution that the harness was bad and it could be causing the rest of the system to go haywire?

Any thoughts or advice would be highly appreciated.

Thanks.

Ralph77

I just put a '99 OHC in my '00. Not quite plug and play but close. Since you don't really have to reinstall the dome light harness I would hook it back up and see what happens. Hook up the one connector to the keyless remote in the OHC (it will work), other for the dome light, and plug the two plugs back in down by the fuse box. Thinking for this you could ignore the visors, assuming you have vanity light ones, for the time being.

draposo

I am going to try unplugging the new harness and reusing the old harness to see if things straighten out. At least that would eliminate the new harness as a problem. The new harness was from a 98-01 but I'm not sure which year. The plugs were all the same but I'm not sure if the wiring is the same for each year, or if I need to change the way the wires go into the pins on the plugs for it to work properly. I thought it would be plug and play with that harness but it definitely is not. Unless there is something else going on, like bad wires or fuses that I agitated when running the new stuff.

Ralph77

Since you have an '00 and said that the harness was plug and play that makes it from an '00 or '01. If it were a '99 OHC harness you would have changed the one big plug down by the fuse box area for it to work. Can't comment on '97 or '98 cause I have never seen one. '99 on the left and '00 on the right. Wiring is the same. So if it is the harness you have a bad wire some where.

draposo

Thanks Ralph, the plugs were the same on the fuse panel end so it must be from a 00-01. So I guess I need to pull it out and check the plugs/wires to make sure they are working. Hopefully that will fix the other electrical issues as well.

draposo

Quick question. If I unplug the OHC wiring harness, shouldn't everything else work fine unless there is some other problem?

Rogue4x4

Does it work like before when you unplug it?

draposo

Just a quick update. I uninstalled the JY harness and plugged in the old harness, nothing worked like it should. So that told me it wasn't the harness, or at least wasn't just the harness but that something with the either the fuse panel or circuits that are connected to the OHC circuits. I don't really have experience with electrical work beyond splicing wires and basic wiring or lights and stuff like that, so I opted to take it to a stereo shop I've used in the past and had the guy there check it out. $100 later, problem solved and everything is working.

So the wiring harness I got was bad. I didn't take the time to find out what exactly was wrong with it, but when I installed it something on the harness blew a circuit on the fuse panel. The guy at the shop fixed the fuse panel and got everything back to stock, I installed a new harness from another JY Jeep and everything is working again. Now I just need to run the harness up the a-pillar and put all the panels back in place.

Thanks for the help, and hopefully this helps someone in the future.