The wire to the lights that is getting hot

 

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you sooner. Busy week. If you still need a picture of the wire thats acting up I can send it to you tomorrow. If you take your light switch out there are two blue wires that connect to it, one is dark blue and the other is light blue. Those are your brake lights. The dark blue one in my case was the trouble maker. You can bypass the switch and the fuses by taking a spare wire and connecting it to the big red wire that is also on the switch cluster, and see which set of wires heats up when you make a connection (the one that heats up is the shorted wire.) Then it's just a matter of disconnecting things until you've isolated the area of the short, and where things are going sour. I would start with the brake lights on the passenger side and work my way around to the driver door until you can make the connection with out it heating up. When it doesn't heat up anymore, you've found the length of wire thats responsible for your short. Just remember to be careful when patching the wires like this. They will heat up quickly and can melt the cluster housing or worse, all the other wires, so don't leave them connected too long. You should do it just long enough to feel it heat up. The bad wire will probably also spark quite a bit more than normal when contact is made with the battery. I'm betting its going to be the same set of wires as mine if your having the same exact issue.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Also, I'm not a technician, and it should be noted that this is my first time ever dealing with an electrical issue. Everything I'm telling you I have learned from ripping the darn thing apart and trying to make sense of it. If anyone has any corrections with this method, please feel free to let me know.

 

the wire going back to the tail light from the head lamp

 

Did you ever fix your problem?

I just ended up running a new wire down the side to the back.

 

Just FYI,

I had the same problem on my 90 xj... The fuse for the tail lights/gauges blew the moment I flipped on the lights. I tracked down the short (kinda). On the drivers side rear there is a connector for the drivers side tail light, one to jump to the passenger side tail light, and a small 2 wire connector that takes the dark blue wire up the side and disappears. when I disconnect the 2 wire connector the short goes away, and all lights work. I dont know where the wires go. I assumed that they went to the license plate light on the door, but it still works. EVERYTHING that is installed back there works, so I have no idea where they go, and dont really care to find out.

E

 

so now when you replaced that wire . did everything work right again

 

naw im still working on it ive been trying to trouble shoot and see if its the light bulbs wat are the light bulbs you put in them cause the ines i bought wouldnt fit and they were 2057

 

Qoute Sorry I haven't gotten back to you sooner. Busy week. If you still need a picture of the wire thats acting up I can send it to you tomorrow. If you take your light switch out there are two blue wires that connect to it, one is dark blue and the other is light blue. Those are your brake lights. The dark blue one in my case was the trouble maker. You can bypass the switch and the fuses by taking a spare wire and connecting it to the big red wire that is also on the switch cluster, and see which set of wires heats up when you make a connection (the one that heats up is the shorted wire.) Then it's just a matter of disconnecting things until you've isolated the area of the short, and where things are going sour. I would start with the brake lights on the passenger side and work my way around to the driver door until you can make the connection with out it heating up. When it doesn't heat up anymore, you've found the length of wire thats responsible for your short. Just remember to be careful when patching the wires like this. They will heat up quickly and can melt the cluster housing or worse, all the other wires, so don't leave them connected too long. You should do it just long enough to feel it heat up. The bad wire will probably also spark quite a bit more than normal when contact is made with the battery. I'm betting its going to be the same set of wires as mine if your having the same exact issue.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Also, I'm not a technician, and it should be noted that this is my first time ever dealing with an electrical issue. Everything I'm telling you I have learned from ripping the darn thing apart and trying to make sense of it. If anyone has any corrections with this method, please feel free to let me know.





hey you think you can send me a picture of which ones that were giving you hell

 

Hey guys, I just bought my jeep about 3 days ago and I'm having the same problem with the lights. My brake lights and gauge lights arent working at all. I already replaced all the bulbs and the brake light switch behind the pedal, checked all the bulbs in the guages and have had no luck. Can anyway tell me what fuse runs them so I can start to track the problem? Thanks.

 

i finally had to take it in to a shop you probly got a couple burnt relays and some one who wired up my jeep before i had it but hot wires into grounds vise versa and so it was just time before i got **** over . but any way check your relays to them . and when you turn your light on do your bright the only thing that work

 

oh and the parkinglight and gauge light fuse is number 10 with a 15 amp fuse if you gott a book for your jeep it helps out a little

 

thanks oneal for the info