Last night when i parked my 96 xj everything worked fine. This morning i started it and the headlights would not come on. When i pulled the headlight switch the dash would say the high beams were on as well as all my turn signals. The signals work when activated but no lights at all and the dash only displays high beams, no matter how many times i click the lever. Driving to school i was waiting for it to kick into overdrive when i hit the 45mph zone and nothing. I ended up driving all the way to scoop all 2,300 rpms at 57 mph. I checked the tranny fluid last night as normal maintenance and it was perfect and pink. Could these be related? Any help is appreciated and can give an update when i leave school at 2:30. Thanks

 

The '96 has seperate ECU and TCU, so the problems shouldn't be related.

Check the trans solenoids and verify 12-18 ohms. You can measure them through the female 7 pin connector beside the trans dipstick. S1 and S2 are the shift solenoids that control electronic shifting. S3 is the lockup solenoid. There is a switch on the brake pedal that causes S3 to unlock.

If you pull the fuse for the trans from the under hood power distribution/relay panel, it will disable the TCU. Likewise, unplugging the TCU (behind the lower dash trom under the glove box) will disable electronic shifting. With the TCU disabled, 1-2 should get you 1st only unless you force it to pressure shift at 4500rpm, 3 will get you 3rd only and D will get you 4th only. If manual shifting seems OK, the problem is likely electronic.

There is also a kickdown cable adjuster attached to the throttlebody. Make sure its adjusted correctly.

 

Thanks for the advice. In 15 minutes i will be done with school and im hoping it will work fine. With my luck it wont though. Any thoughts on the light issue?

 

light switch?

 

Ive thought that. But everything works perfect in the back. I tested the headlights with a volt meter and there is nothing so i don't think the headlights are blown

 

So i still got nothing. I just put a new headlight switch in it and that did absolutely nothing. Found a broken wire in the harness in front of the plug between the ecu and air box. It's red so i would think a positive wire. I checked with a light tester the headlight plugs and all three wires are hot. There is no ground and it makes sense to me because i have very very dim interior lights and my compuss/ thermometer flash with the turn signals. Could that red wire be it?

 

Looking at a wiring diagram (it doesn't say what specific year, but there is another for 1997 and later)it appears that ground is always black.

 

That's what i assumed considering it usually is but it doesn't make sense that i have a ground issue and the only thing i can find is a broken red wire

 

fix the wire see what happens ?

 

I haven't yet. The manager at the shop i work at thinks it might be the multi function stalk on the side of the wheel so we are trying that today and if its not it then im doing the wires. Im going to end up cutting every wire and crimpimg them all together if that stalk doesn't fix it.