Humps0406

Ok guys heres the problem! Its a 2000 XJ and My driver side headlight is very dim, 30% of the passenger side. Also the tun signal on the driver side blinks very rapidly, as if it were out. I've been told its a ground issue. My problem is finding out which ground it is!? Has anyone had the same problem and can point me in the right direction? Thanks guys!

leecarr

On my 99 there area couple directly under the windshield washer tank screwed to the inner fender, they are behind the main wire harness so might be a bit hard to see. It's a place to start, I have had a lot of problems with bad grounds on mine good luck.

gms0623

Sorry to bring back an old post but this very same thing happened to me. With my headlights and running lights off, my turn signals work fine. with the running lights on, my left turn signal blinks rapidly but my right turn signal works fine. with the headlamps on, my driver side headlight, running light, and side marker are all very dim. left turn signal light on the dash stays on and when i toggle the signal it blinks once. when left on, for a few moments it buzzes (behind the headlight switch?) and blinks once. this repeats. my right turn signal works fine.

possibly a ground or maybe a relay/fuse? this just happened so i havent looked at my fuses yet. thanks

macgyver35

If it's not a ground issue, I'd say a failing headlight switch. IIRC, all of the current for the headlights goes through the switch, and its not uncommon for them to fail.

I suppose you could test for a ground issue by identifying the ground wire at the dim headlight's plug, and splice in a second wire to that and run it to ground. If your light brightens up, its a ground issue. If not, maybe a switch, relay, or wiring issue.

CCKen

Here's a pic of the grounds referred to above.

gms0623

Thanks for the help so far guys! Anyway I cleaned those grounds and also took the headlight out and cleaned the 3 prongs on the plug, on both the headlight and the plug. Still the same as it was. Is there anything else I should check before gettin a new headlight switch?

w-stev29

My friends was having the same issue he replaced the switch and fixed it but he had to get a good quality one. the one he got from Napa failed in about a week he got one from the dealer I believe and has had no issues about 5 mos.

gms0623

So i guess that means dont get the 10$ one from rockauto? i know sometimes those replacement parts from parts stores suck, i had a duralast alternator only last me 4 months once. sounds like he was only remedying the problem and didnt actually fix it to me. figured id get a JY one first and just see if it helps. ill pull the switch tomorrow after work.

gms0623

Holy hell that switch is hard to get out. It looks okay, put everything back together but still dosent work

gms0623

Anyone else have this problem? Still trying to fix it...

CCKen

Do you have fog lamps?

Turbo X_J

Why didn't you just replace it if you had it in your hand? BTW, 99% of failed electrical components look "good".

CCKen

Are you suggesting he didn't replace the switch?

Say it ain't so Joe....

macgyver35

I know you said you cleaned the ground points, which is always good to do, but it is still just the end points. The wire may have a fault somewhere along it's length that cleaning the ends doesn't fix. Have you tried taking a 2 foot length of wire and using it to temporarily replace you headlight ground wire? You can do this with alligator clips or inline splice connectors and it should only take a couple of minutes to do. At least you'd for sure rule out ground and could focus on other areas, most likely the switch or the wiring coming form it to the lights. I think we are still unclear as to whether or not you've replaced that yet.

88_cherokee

at i did was remove the lightbulb, and since the base around the bulb s what makes ground, i stuffed an extra wire in the and forced the bulb in. then i put the other side of thewire to ground. or just buy a new socket