So yesterday, out of no where, I was getting out of my 99 WJ 4.7 and went to lock the doors and nothing happened. I had an issue with this and some window control issues when I first got the Jeep. Got a used switch and put it in and fixed it (temporarily I guess). Naturally, I pressed the button a couple times and jiggled the wiring going through the boot in the door and got the power locks to work.

A few hours pass and I go to hop in and go to the store, and after firing the Jeep up, all the gauges drop to zero, I get all the lights basically lit up on the dash but the jeep keeps running fine.

I did a little research and a lot of people say it's a common funky wiring issue with the doors. I briefly peeked into the boot and saw someone has previously soldered the orange and blue (power?) and black (ground) wires. The solder was taped up and seems pretty damn solid. I re-taped it and I am still having this issue.

I'm posting this to ask - am I basically going to have to get a donor plug and re-pin some new wires and splice all 10+ wires running to the driver door? I want someone to break the bad news to me before I just go ahead and do it for no reason.

EDIT: Forgot to mention - before starting the Jeep, all the windows and locks work via the switches. After you crank it and the gauges die, none of the switches on any door work

 

Try Self Testing it if you haven't already. next thing to check is for bad connection/corrosion on the cluster's connections

 

Just tried that, everything worked fine. I tried checking the plug connection while the cluster was out and nothing changed.

 

I have never tried the dash self-diagnostic,. Because I read it does not work on WJ's? Cherokees, but not Grand Cherokees.