So rust finally retired my much beloved 96 XJ, but as some luck would have it, I found a really solid 2000 with just over 70k miles on it a few weeks ago. It's been driving great, my local mechanic's given it a thumbs up, and I just have one really dumb question: does anyone recognize this aftermarket looking LED next to the steering column?



It's on all the time, never blinks or flashes, and I have no clue what for. Fake alarm system? Badly hidden government tracking chip? Not that it really matters any which way, curiosity just compels me to ask, at least before I'm compelled to tear it out and start tracing wires.

 

Looks like some sort of alarm system. It could be a fake one for sure. When I had mine installed, they mounted it just a bit farther to the left.

 

Is that a button? Could it have been for some auxiliary lights?

 

Hah that would drive me crazy. Pull it apart and find out and let us know.

 

that when I pulled the cover off this morning, what I thought was a little decorative ridge was actually the cover for a button.



And when I press it... nothing happens. Engine on or off, no change, light doesn't even blink. There's 4 wires leading into the thing; running the meter over it shows one's carrying about 1.7 volts, one's carrying 4.9, and as far as I can tell, one is a ground and one's dead (or the dead one is wired to the button, I just don't have the extra three hands to hold the PCB steady and press the button and hold the multimeter probes all at once). Any other guesses would be welcome, though I'm more or less resigned to it just sitting there mocking me until I get fed up and cut it off.
Thanks.

 

There are some wide band O2 sensors that have a constant led and a button to reset the wide band. I hade one on a old explorer I thought the same thing(alarm system).

 

I'd like to get that switch assembly. it would be perfect for an increased idle switch.

 

Airbag toggle switch?

 

Well they all seem like reasonable guesses. I'll keep pushing it randomly and post if anything ever happens, or if I'm able to trace the leads back to their source.
Thanks.