XJRed96

OK, so recently acquired a 1996 Cherokee 4.0L HO 4wd. all the basics nothing more than i need, which is exactly what i want. Any who, been chasing a really weird problem now since i started driving it. first a little back ground...previous owner had a small collision with a plow truck, front fascia and the lense covers are all damaged but still in place. Had an issue with the left signal flashing fast (left front marker lamp bulb not operating), ok easy enough, pulled left front lense out to replace bulb and the found a corroded wire in the harness. replaced wire voila everything was operational again. until i noticed that the RF turn signal (under the headlight) was not as bright as i would like it to be due to the age of the bulb(1157NA bulb with the amber tint, was all blacked out due to age) anyway replaced the bulb reassembled tested and it worked. shut car down finished putting tools away came back in to retest one last time and now i have no flasher operation, light just stays on. found that the fuse that operates the defrost and the flasher had blown, put new fuse turned key tested operation... nada same problem. replaced flasher, still same problem, discovered that anytime i turn the key on and the flasher relay is in place there is a dead short in the circuit and automatically blows fuse. now the interesting part. all lights are operational when i manually operate the turn signal all bulbs work as they should, marker lamp shuts off second filament in lower lense energizes, everything is normal there. what i've done so far.... have removed all bulbs from sockets, still a dead short. disconnected headlight /marker wiring harness connector along drivers fender, still a dead short. inspected trailer hitch wiring finding no evidence of a short. disconnected turn signal/hazard switch still a dead short. again the fuse that keeps blowing is for the defrost and the turnsignal/ hazard flasher. i doubt that there is a quick fix and i feel I'm gonna have to some majorly invasive surgery on this jeep to track it down, and if not looks like i'm running new wire... YIPEEE . any who on the long shot that anyone else has tracked down this problem before or sounds familiar any and all input would be much appreciated though I feel this problem may be unique to my baby. best off i have a Haynes manual and access to alldata wiring schematics and neither one of them appear to be accurate possibly because the 96 was a cross over year. any who i'll keep the thread updated i've gotten so use to manual signaling i am no where near as motivated as i should be to correct the issue. but now that winter is here in Chicago the defrost function for the rear windows would be nice to have.

jmarcy85

I have a 98 Cherokee and it was involved in a similar collision but was a mailbox on front passenger side and it to has a turn signal grimlin but it moves around in mine. Some times my back turn signals will blink together and sometimes it fine. Other times the front driver side works and sometimes it don't . It's what I'm working on now if I make progress I will post findings.

highmileage

Try looking at the relay that controls the lights, or the blinker circuit switch at the fuse box.

kennzz05

have you taken the fan motor wiring out of the loop yet


just dawned on me youre probably talkin about the rear defrost huh? anyways take that out of the picture