i just bought my daughter a 90 cherokee, the prvious owner backed into something and the tailgat latch is busted, dont know if this part of the problem or not. the taillights have a short somewhere. is there something that is common on these that cause this or is this rare. the interior lights also stay on. could this be related or not. any help would be appreciated

 

The switch to turn on the interior lights is at the latch in the hatch. You can change the switch or diconnect the two wires at the latch.

 

thanks will try to find the wires. now just the tailight problem

 

Tail lights not working is probably from shorted out wires that are in the rear hatch for lisence plate light.

 

x2 that.. use a test light to see if you are getting power and replace light bulbs while your at it

 

ok finally found the problem after tracing the wiring from the rear all the way up to the front. i unplugged the dash and it didnt pop the fuse. thought i was going to have to replace the dash. plugged it back in to check it for sure and no problems. i gues someone either plugged it wrong or something else but it was all related between the dome lights and the taillights. thanks to all who tried to help