aa7kn

I know there are alot of lighting questions out there, and I have looked at all of them but I have not found an answer to my problem yet, and hope that someone out there can help. I have a 91 XJ and everything has been working and is a pleasure to have and drive. BUT, today I was out checking things and decided to check the lights, I was suprised to find the following: no L/R tail lights, no left side turn signal lamp, (right side is ok), back up lamps work both sides, no marker lights either side, no tag lights, but I do have stop lights on both sides. bulbs are good and fuses are good both under the dash and in the power distro box under the hood. seems strange that both the tail lights on both sides would fail and also both tag lights. I assume the ground is good because I have stop lights and the right side blinker light. if anyone has any ideas, I sure would appreaciate it. thanks in advance...

cruiser54

Check the connector described in Post 3 in my link.

timberwolf

did you test the fuse or just look at it?
are the dash lights working?

aa7kn

I just looked at the fuse but today I brought home my multimeter and will test it. thanks, and where is post 3 of yours cruiser 54 ? I will be happy to check it out. thanks

JamromXJ

Take a look at this video as well...

Might be worth checking out some of what he describes.

aa7kn

thanks guys for the cool info. today, I pulled the head light switch out, unplugged it from the connector. using my multimeter, I found the 12 volts that are on one of the pins in the connector. thinking that all the mechanical switch does it route the 12 volts to the lamps depending if you pull the **** out to the first stop for parking lights or all the way out for everything. I tested the switch, and when I ohmed between the terminal where the 12 volts hooks up to the head light terminal, with the switch pulled all the way out it would short and open with the switch just like it should, but when I ohmed between the 12 volt terminal and the parking light terminal it had 450 Meg ohms of resistance...sounds bad to me....I made a jumper between the 12 volts on the connector and jumped to the parking lights on the connector and the rear lights and the tag lights lit up...SO it sure sounds like a bad light switch to me...what ya think ? or am I missing something ? still don't understand why the front parking lamps worked what the rear ones wouldn't, but when I jumped it, they all worked. what do you think ? Oh and thanks again for all the input, helps to keep the thinking juices moving....

aa7kn

well everything is fixed ( for now) thought I would share what most of the problem was...the no tag or tail/park lamps in the back was weird. I found the wire on the light switch that goes to the rear lamps and when I jumped 12 volts to it everything light up...until I wiggled the car...well I started tracing the wire from the switch ( Dark Blue with red stripe...2 of them), one went front and the other went back through a connector behind the drivers side kick panel...the darn connector was half way unplugged..!!@#$#@@@ and just hanging there. seems the locking tabs had rotted off the thing over the years and it just worked it self lose. I plugged it back together and put a tie strip around it to make sure it stayed together and all the lights worked and even my intermittent fuel gauge now works all the time. the no left blinker was funny, I decided to check the bulb and it was good BUT, the plastic clip that holds the hot wire inside the socket has dry rotted and fell out and wasn't making contact, so I just taped it up in place and now the blinker is working. strange how things seem to snow ball all at once with an old XJ, but I still wouldn't give it up for anything. thanks guys for all the input and I hope this helps some one else who might be having trouble with lights....CHECK ALL THE CONNECTORS especially if you have an older XJ...thanks guys...happy jeeping

cruiser54

Great job, and thanks for the update!!