Trailorr

Hey everyone,

First and foremost, I did search for this topic and I did do some reading but either I suck at the internet(which is probably the case) or I can't search well.

Here's the issue I'm having. I went to my girlfriends house and I turn my lights on, everything works. No problems whatsoever. I leave, start my Jeep and on my way I go. I notice it's really dark inside the cab and I look down and I have no instrument lights, and heater control lights. Luckily their is a gas station at the next light and I pull in and grab my owner's manual. I find the fuse, which is #17 if I can recall and replace the 7.5amp fuse. Nothing.

Upon searching, some mentioned to turn the head light switch and check out the dimmer and see what happens. Nothing works, I can turn the dimmer on and my dome light turns on but that is it. My head lights, dome light, reverse, and brake lights all work.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Taylor

Namu Mac

Switch might be bad.

CRoading

Try to scan the wires through your switch as well as the switch itself...

Bustedknuckle

Both of the above. ^^

Ask away all you want, and seriously, thanks for at least trying to do a search first.

Trailorr

Well I did notice that when I turn on my left turn signal switch the dash and climate control lights will blink to the turn signal.

Trailorr

Where exactly is the wiring harness I'm supposed to be looking at? And what switch should I look at replacing? Just the head light switch?

KD3NE

This is making me thing there is a grounding problem somewhere in the dash. I Hate problems like that. I had one in a Chevy Blazer dash, we tore it completely down looking for the problem. Finding nothing I put it all back together and decided a shop should look at it. What do ya know, after I put it all back together the problem was gone. I talked to my friend at the shop and he said that's not the first time he heard of that happening. He guesses maybe a connection was bad/weak and we did not see it but on reassembly we fixed it.

Troubleshooting I would go to the back of the cluster, turn the lights on and measure for 12VDC from one of the dash light circuits to ground. If 12VDC is present at the bulb, then the ground is missing. The back of the cluster has a printed wiring circuit for the lights and they should me somewhat marked.

I might be wrong, I am fairly new to jeep but electrical problems are something I made a living with troubleshooting.

freegdr

what year xj is this that has the prob

Trailorr

It's a 1994 Cherokee Sport. KD3NE, I guess I need to try that when the weather calms I need to really try and figure that out.

KD3NE

We have that in common, needing the weather to calm down to get to work. I have a distributor and three sensors to install on a my two XJ's.

What lit the bulb off in my head was when you said the Turn Signals caused the cluster lights to flash with the signals. Sounds like the flasher circuit is completing the ground to the cluster when the lights are flashing.

I only learned about the cluster wiring when I had to pull one out because it failed inspection for the odometer not working. I had to take the good cluster out of one and put it in the other to get it past inspectors.

I almost bet that if you located a ground point on the cluster and ran a wire from that to chassis ground on the vehicle the lights would work. That's the backwards engineering method ( there are many names for this method - I chose the non-offensive one ) . But you will probably want to try and find the real problem and fix that. If you can't then you can run that backwards engineering ground.

I hate ground issues in vehicles. Some times it is easier to run/install new grounds and ground straps then to try and find an offending one.

freegdr

not fuse 17

Trailorr

Today, I finally have some frustrating but good news! I tacked the cold weather and did some investigating.

I went out and bought a new head light switch. I start taking apart my dash, the bezel, instrument cluster, defroster and all that jazz just to find out where exactly and how in the heck to take this switch out. After a few broken clips(no worries, new ones are ordered) and what not, I find the switch location just to figure out how in the hell do I get the switch out. I read, re-read the Chilton's manual and I just don't understand how to get this switch out. Finally it hits me, you unscrew the "screw" where you pull the head light **** out. :thud:

I get it out, look at the ground and realize it's in top notch shape. Put the new switch in, tighten all the screws down, put my dash back together, and finally hook up the positive cable back the battery. My fingers are cold, and I'm already wanting to blew this Jeep up. I turn the head lights on, turn the switch, and wa-lah! NOTHING HAS CHANGED!!!!!!! What the heck!?!?!

My brother comes outside and sees how angry I am getting and asks to see the owner's manual. I throw it at him and tell him to turn to page 168.

The cool part is that since I did replace the switch, my dome light turns on without having to turn it on and off a few times once the Jeep warms up. He asks if I replaced fuse number 17, I say yes, what about 19, once again yes, and finally he asks, what about 15? Hmm, no, I haven't, I grab a new fuse, take the old one out and realize it's bad, put the new one in and what do you know. My interior lights work, instrument lights work, my tail lights work(found out last night they did not) and my head light buzzer was working.

Frozen and finally relieved that problem was really only a fuse, I am once again a happy owner of my Jeep.

Lock this up, fellas!

freegdr

15s a circut breaker for the wipers no. hey at least it working

Trailorr

Either my fuse block is different then the one you showed up but to the original owner's manual, that's what I had to replace.

No worries though, everything works and I'm happy.

freegdr

there may be a manual problem maybe you can get a pic from you owners up here for others might clear up others fuse problems ,you fuse panel is on drivers side correct