Hey y'all. I'm having a tough time figuring out an electrical issue. About 6 months ago I learned that when my headlights were on and I pushed the brakes, my two running lights on either side would go off, but the top brake light would come on. After googling I learned about the contacts for the light socket getting messed up and that it was remedied with aluminum foil. That worked worked for while, and then got the same problem again, so I adjusted the foil and it was back to working.


Then last week, I realized it was happening again. I tinkered with it, re-did my foil, etc. etc. and then nothing. Even with the headlights off, no brake lights, with head lights on, no brake lights, AND no running lights (this part was new). I went ahead and got new circuit boards for the lights, installed one, and it worked, but then blew fuse 23 - stop lights. After blowing that fuse 2 more times, I took the foil out of all sockets, and was able to get the brake lights in the back middle, and on the right to come on, but not on the left (hadn't replaced that circuit board yet), and also no running lights with head lights on. I've replaced that circuit board too now, and have all the brake lights that come on with headlights off and on, but no tail lights lights when headlights are on and brakes are off.


Can anyone help with a potential cause and solution? Thanks in advance!

 

You may have a ground problem behind the cargo area side panels. I haven't had the panels off on my WJ, but my XJ went up in flames because of corrosion in the connectors back there. Luckily I got it out with only one panel melting. I had to rewire all the circuits back there on both sides, so now they are just butt connectors. This was caused by water leaks in the wheelwells. You probably just have a corroded ground connection.

It's funny you should mention those circuit boards. I just recently found out about them and now I'm worried. My WJ has 265K miles on it and they are still working, but for how much longer will they? I've had problems with the contacts in the bulb holders, but a sweep of the junkyard for more holders fixed that. BTW, all the bulbs and bulb holders are the same. I blew a brakelight bulb one night and used one of my reverse light bulbs to fix it until I got home.

From what I can figure out, the reason those holder contacts go bad is the heat generated by sitting in stalled traffic with your foot on the brake melts the plastic of the holder until the contacts sink into them causing loss of connection. LED bulbs would cure that problem. Keep your turn signal bulbs though. Making them LEDs would require resistors to maintain the flash rate.

 

Thanks Dave,

I'll poke around back behind the cargo side panels. Any idea how to get back there? Take off the threshold and then unscrew the plastic panels maybe?

I can't remember where I saw that the circuit boards are replaceable, but after messing around with all my sockets and blowing fuses with too much foil and tightening too much and further cracking the plastic... I decided to just go ahead and pay the $40something to get something that wasn't all shot to tarnation and I'm glad I did. Got new sockets too which came in this morning. Switched out all 6 (kept the same bulbs) and now my left side tail light/running light works with the headlights on. Hoping that the cargo panels will lead to further progres

 

You got it. They are a bit tough to remove if I recall. I believe the hatch opening side trim also has to come off. The top part just hooks over a lip below the side glass. Also I think the seatbelt runs thru it, so you can just swing it out of your way. I'm not sure which side has most of the wiring. In the XJ, it's driver's side, but in the WJ, the wiring for a remote CD changer is on the passenger's side so that's probably where most of the connectors are.

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