jon-d

the brake lights and flashers work but the running lights do not. now that its getting dark sooner i need to fix it. i checked the fuses under the hood and also in the cab and they are good.

any suggestions on where to start?

Bugout4x4

Have you checked to see if you have juice coming out of the switch when it is in the parking lamp position? A good sharp pointed old school tester is best for this because you can poke wires to a ground.

jon-d

I have not done that yet. the headlights work, is there a separate circuit for the rear and do you happen to know the wire color I need to check?

Bugout4x4

I did not realize it was only the rear not working, this could be another problem then. Honestly I'm not sure if there are separate circuits in the switch for front and rear, Usually not, or there shouldn't be, but these things surprise me all the time. As far as wire color I would have to go do the same thing to mine to find out. Poke wires with the key off and the light switch in only the first click parking position and headlights off until I found a hot output and then turn the switch on and off to see if it is the right one or if there are more than one.

jon-d

thanks for the advice Bugout. i was hoping there is a known common point of failure that would expedite the troubleshooting.

Dave your quiet on this one? any advice??

dave1123

Sorry, been asleep for my paper route. Have you checked the bulb holders for melted contacts? Do you have power AT the tail light housings when on parking lights? Lots of weird things can happen if the contacts inside the bulb holders get hot and the plastic melts. Try swapping the reverse light bulb holders with the tail light ones. All the holders are the same. The actually controlling circuits are in the housings. All the bulbs are the same too. What's nice about that is if you burn out a bulb, you can swap a reverse bulb until you get to replacing the tail light.

If you spend a lot of time sitting in traffic with the brakes on, those holders can get real hot and the plastic gets soft enough to release the tension of the contacts against the bulbs.

jon-d

i have not dug into it yet, just doing a preliminary information gathering before breaking into it. its just kind of weird to me because everything else works and both sides are out. so it must be at a common point but i don't know where to start.

dave1123

As I've already said, check for power at the tail light housings when on parking lights. Take the holders out and probe the contacts on the side of the holder openings. If there's nothing there, I would take the cargo side cover off and check the wiring connector there, on both sides of the trailer converter if you have one. It should be the only wire that's hot. If you have power on the incoming side, but not on the downstream side of the trailer unit, connect the two plug together, bypassing the trailer unit.

If you do have power in the light housings, I would suspect the bulb holders.

Bugout4x4

Yep... If it has trailer wires, this is usually the culprit when both rears go out.

jon-d

no trailer wires but i did find the problem, or at least it appears so. The grands that have VIC's have a light outage module in the access panel dave mentioned. that unit is designed so that when a bulb burns out it will send a signal back to the VIC and inform the driver. it can trip if there is over voltage also. there are two plugs that go into it, and the unit can be bypassed by simply plugging the two plugs into each other. after a bit of troubleshooting, i was not completely sure the outage module was bad but i plugged the two plugs into each other as a check and sure enough, i have lights! so if you have one of those modules you can simply bypass it.

i think the bulbs were original. there was some dried up grease in there and the bulbs looked old. i replaced them both as part of my troubleshooting just to make sure.

Bugout4x4

Thank you for updating us!

steve0507

Hello All,
my 1997 Grand Limited seems to have same problem. How was this fixed? My parking lamps don't work. headlamps work, brakelights work, but the parking lights including tailights aren't working. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I inherited this Jeep and have solved a few problems on my own which I am proud of. But this one stumps me.

JeepWJ...Q.and.A

Same problem. If you have the original tail lights best bet it's the connector melted take a look for your self you'll see the melting/burnt spots. Been there done that. I replaced for clear aftermarket brand with different connections style. Been working fine since. #2 check your fuses all of them you'll be surprised how over looked this can be. Alos light bulb night be burnt out. 3# test to see if your getting current to back lights with a test light cheap 5$ buy at harbor freight. No current ok look for relay STOP LIGHT above fuse UNDER DASH ruffly straight down from turn signal relay. Solve my lights problem. Didn't see the right right answer so made this hope it helps. I also did swap out the handle to activate the lights handle but didn't do anything so went to fuse next. Skiped that for you guys. I have to wj a 99 and 02 know alot about these ask away. Solved the no reverse lights/wont start problem also.... its the neutral switch on transmission