PapaBearXJ88

I've search the forums and can't find anything quite like what my crazy XJ is doing now with the turn signals.
The turn signals on my 88 XJ Laredo defying any logoc, I am hoping that something in this sounds familiar to someone that could put me heading the right direction.
So here it goes:
RIght rear turn signal never works, even after I changed bulb. Changed the bulb, no change. Checked it with a multi=meter, no voltage. Right front only works when lights are turned off. Both indicator arrows on dash are lit when lights are turned on, and front turn signal does not work when lights are on/
Anyone have anything similar to this? What causes the dash lights to light up when the lights are on? suggestions as o what this might be?


Here's a more detailed breakdown of what it's doing:
Head/Park lights off:
Left signal works just as it should, blinks every second or so, works in front and in back.
Right signal blinks slowly, but inconsistently on the front signal only (tonight in the cold it was blinking every 2 seconds or so, earlier this week it was much longer)
Multi-meter shows 10v at the park light terminal n the front and 5 or 6v at the turn signal terminal on the bulb.
Emergency Flashers work equally in the front park/turn signal lights, but only left rear lights up, blinks with the right side.

Head/Park lights switched on:
Both dash panel turn indicators light up (green)
Left signal works as it should, front and back
Right signal does not work at all, front or back, and right Park light does not work at all

cruiser54

You have a poor ground somewhere and you need to clean the connector featured in the link below.

http://cruiser54.com/?p=35

PapaBearXJ88

Thanks Cruiser, will do.
After seeing the difference that improving the grounds and eliminating the C101 had on how the engine runs, I'll never again under estimate the effect of bad grounds/connectors when troubleshooting, thanks for the heads-up.
I hope to get on it next week, I'll post updates once i do.

PapaBearXJ88

Would the bad connector possible be how power is getting to the dash turn signal indicator lights when I turn the lights on (no signal activated, just head/park lights)?

cruiser54

Likely.

craigjacob1

Are you also having issues with your wipers or back up lights?

PapaBearXJ88

Wipers are slow, but operate. Backup lights have no issues.

cruiser54

When you're done with this project, I have a "fix" for the wipers.

97grand4.0

Not sure about an 88, but the 98 have wire harnesses in the rear lights that get corroded. A couple years ago I completely jumpered out all those and have not had a single issue with lights not working in the rear since.

PapaBearXJ88

I got in there under the air box behind the light - haven't found that connector Yet, but from the looks of this picture I need to dig it all out!
Trying to find his section of wiring harness to replace this section if I can (firewall connection to the front of the air box is a melted mess), but so far no luck. I may have to just get creative with the soldering gun again.

PapaBearXJ88

Found this apparently from a PO, no clue what all they've done.

PapaBearXJ88

When I pulled the rear panel and looked at the connectors, they we're wet and dirty, so stands to reason they need to at very least be pulled and cleaned.
Exactly what did you do to yours to "jumper" them? Did
you put new sections of wire and new sockets for a clean connect back into the rear harness?
or do u mean u jumped from one side of the connectors to the other?
I plan to getting there with a DMM tomorrow and see what's getting voltage .

PapaBearXJ88

I checked rear turn socket with digital multimeter, did not register.
I tested the connector shown in my last post behind the tail light assembly, both side showed nothing, but when I hooked up an analog multimeter and set it to the lowest voltage setting (2.5v) the needle was moving in rythm with the sound of the turn signal turning on and off. BARLEY moving, maybe 1 volte at best.
The wiring diagram shows it going straight from the rear harness to the multifunction (turn signal) switch.
Is there a connector somewhere in between that wasn't shown?
it looks like the taillight wiring goes up through the corner post and along the roof.i tried it with ground straight to shiny metal on the body - nothing. All other lights in the assembly work as they should,it is ONLY the turn signal.

Now that I know some power is getting to the socket (which I cleaned contacts on while I was there), what could cause it to be such little voltage?

97grand4.0

Well, what I did was eliminate that connector altogether, because mine were toast. Add new pieces of wire with wirenuts and inhibiting grease.. Before you do if you want to verify that is your problem, you can strip a little piece off each side the connector for a particular wire, and then check voltage to a good ground for each side. If they are different, guess what ..you have a bad connection. A phantom voltage of 1 volt like you have tells me a very weak connection. "some power" ..you mean some voltage...indicating a large voltage drop across some resistance, severely limiting any power...and that resistance is the funky connection. E = I x R ohms law together with your multimeter and 9th grade algebraic manipulation of that law will tell you anything else engineering wise you want to know of the connections.