I have a 2001 Cherokee Sport that is making me nuts and after Google has failed me I hope you guys can.

My rear hatch notification light is constantly lit on my dash. The strangest thing is that it turns off when I hit my brake pedal, and doesn't change at all whether my rear hatch is opened or closed. Checked all of my other lights and they're working fine; no oddities. Is this a weird ground issue that I will have to go through and chase out?

As for the doors my driver side door started not closing unless it was locked. The key wouldn't unlock the door and it had to be opened from the inside; power locks didn't lock/unlock it correctly either. It felt like the lever was hard to move so I pulled the door panel off and sprayed out the lever mechanisms that are in the door. Upside is the door closes (mostly) correct and will seems to be getting better with use. Downside is the lock lever is engaged in the "lock" position even though the door operates like it's not. No matter how much I have messed with it I cannot get the panel to mount and work the lever; it acts like it's stuck but moves fine when I manually move the connector (bar?) on the inside with the panel off. Passenger was doing pretty much the same thing and I repeated the process to the same effect. What did I screw up?

I am definitely no mechanic just a guy trying to figure out his XJ without taking it to a shop. Thanks for any help.

 

I have the same problem on my 98. I have posted a couple of times asking for help and had no luck. The only difference is mine doesn't go out when I hit the brakes. Hopefully some one has some info on what the problem may be. What I have done for the last year and a half was put a piece of electrical tape to cover the light.

 

There is a dash light that shows the hatch is open???
Hhmmmm never knew that.....guess mine doesn't work.

 

The lift-gate switch is integral with the latch could just be trashed but check the mess of wires & ground terminal behind the rear drivers side panel.

 

I checked the latch and even disconnected it and the light still wouldn't shut off. But I never checked the wires behind the panel. I need to check them out once it dries out, we have been have a lot of rain down here. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Humm.........Smart azz reply disconnect the light

 

That's my next step if I can't get it to work right.

 

I will tear apart the lift panel to see if there's a bad ground or crossed connection there. Anyone have thoughts on the door lock switches?

 

Sorry about the highjacking of your original post. As for the drivers door. I would pull the door panel and make sure that all of the linkage isn't bent. I would also clean all of the moving parts and re-grease them all with lithium grease and see how it works then. I did have a similar issue on my 98. After cleaning all of the linkage and spraying them down with the lithium grease and working the mechanism they freed up and haven't had a problem since. Hope this helps.