JK/XJ Chris

I've been doing a bunch of upgrades to my XJ, but lately I have had strange electrical failures.

The only electrical upgrade to the Jeep was installing HID headlights. They worked for about two weeks and now when they shut off they flicker violently along with a loud clicking noise from what sounds like the headlamp switch. The clicking gets slower but continues until you turn the Jeep on again.

The same time all this happened, my horn died, along with all the gauge cluster needles and odometer.

The headlights will come on sometimes, but I have to cycle the power a few times to insure both come on when they want to work. The only other electrical type instill was a winch.

Has anybody ever come across anything like this before?

2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport 172,000+ mi.

EZEARL

Did you upgrade the headlight harness?

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/pu...nstall-164659/

JK/XJ Chris

No. The install directions were plug and play.

vw69turbobug

had the same problem....you have to unplug your headlight delay module located under driver side dash right next to the steering wheel

EZEARL

Even if that solves your problem:





The reason the lights aren't bright is the Cherokee's headlight wiring sucks. And, if you go adding brighter lamps without upgrading the harness, you're gonna be frying headlight switches.

xjsnake did a real good comprehensive write-up here:


Originally Posted by xjsnake https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/headlights-151196/index2/ - post2069179https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/headlights-151196/index2/ - post2069179
Upgraded headlights the legal (ish) way...

1) Get a new headlight harness.

You can make your own http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoHeadlightLoom.htm

Or you can buy one: http://www.eautoworks.com/Putco-H4--...s-PRD7540.aspx

The eautoworks harnesses used to be quite cheap until everyone on this forum started recommending them and the price was raised accordingly.

You can pick them up for $29.99 here http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/csd/full.aspx?Page=48 part number 36-3580. It says it fits a chevy blazer but it's the same as the eautoworks harness and I'm running the LMC harness in my XJ.

There are other more expensive options for pre-made harnesses but I'm not super familiar with those.

2) Upgrade to H4 housings

There are two types of regulations pertaining to headlight housings. There are DOT approved housings which are legal in the US and there are Ecode lights which are European housings and aren't legal in the US although many people use them as they are considered superior housings due to the light pattern.

DOT
Rampage http://www.quadratec.com/products/97009_501.htm
IPF http://www.quadratec.com/products/97017_1600.htm
Delta http://www.quadratec.com/products/97009_121.htm
Hella http://www.quadratec.com/products/97009_02.htm

Ecode
Autopals (look on ebay for Autopal 200mm H4 housing)
Hella http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=744
Cibie http://www.clearcorners.com/products/cibie/

Personally I won't buy housings that have plastic lenses, I much prefer glass but your mileage may vary.

3) Get good bulbs

Some of the above housings come with bulbs included with them. I tend not to recommend bulbs as the choices are extremely vast and everyone has their own preferences as to color and wattage.

4) Aim your headlights properly!

I can't say enough how much improperly aimed headlights annoy me on the road plus you are wasting all that time and effort to upgrade the lighting if you don't aim the light where it does the most good... http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=78017

5) On HID Lights

I do not recommend HID's for use in XJ's... People will show links to cheap HID kits and "Projectors" off of ebay and other sites which will give you a lot of light and will also throw a lot of light in all directions making you very visible to police and possibly blinding other drivers.


Read http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html for a well written description of the problems with HID kits.

When using HID's you need a true projector housing. I'm sure people will chime in and say they run HID's and ebay housings and have had no problems but I'm describing the legal (ish) way.

If you want to go down the road of HID's, take a look at what true projector housings cost http://www.kbcarstuff.com/6054-200mm...-p/xd-6054.htm
http://www.brightheadlights.com/hid-upcoming.htm
or you can buy the projectors and retrofit them into existing housings if you are so inclined: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f58/hea...9/#post1391556

There are a myriad of options available to consumers with the limiting factor being cost. One can spend under $100 and have significantly upgraded their lighting or they can spend $1000 and upgrade their lighting more. It's all in how much money you want to spend.

For those wanting to do some of these upgrades but not necessarily all I would do them in the following order:
1) Headlight Harness (major improvement even with sealed beams)
2) Housings and Associated Bulbs
3) Hid and Projectors (Cost prohibitive to do correctly)


For installation of the harness and housings see this excellent write up: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f59/my-h4-upgrade-114440/

Disclaimer: Always check your local and state laws as some places have more stringent lighting laws than others... I am in no way associated with any of the above companies and none of what I say should be taken as the absolute truth or only way to do things.

JK/XJ Chris

I have two questions.

1. I don't understand why I need to upgrade my wiring harness. The HID's claim to draw much less power than factory.

2. Would this be the cause of a dead gauge cluster and alarm horn?

andrewmp6

I have never seen a good hid kit that didn't use relays,And the stock wiring for the headlights is already under sized and power that's why you add relays to restore the power to what it should be.I'm not sure if the headlight switch and gauge cluster is on the same circuit or not,But if they are when the hids started messing with the headlight switch it could have messed up the cluster and horn.

EZEARL

1) Even though the HID's draw less the max system output is still going through the switch and minimal size wiring. At the least relays should be installed to limit that to a minimum. If you search you'll read of problems like headlights randomly flashing or going out completely. No doubt that a total melt down could be devestating. For the low price and ease of installation of a harness it's just not worth chancing it. IMHO at least.

2)Guess that's possible but it I've seen threads mentioning a possible ground problem causing a dead gauge cluster.

vw69turbobug

iv been running my hid on my stock wiring for almost a year with no problem. all i did was remove the delay switch.... jk/xj chris sounds like you have more then one problems first start by removing the delay see if that stops the clicking nosie , next check you head light switch that may be the cause of your cluster light problem. and finally for your horn check fuse #21 and your horn relay. all of these problems are on different circuits and dont see how a wire harrness upgrade is gonna fix all these issues

JK/XJ Chris

Ok. This morning I switched back to my old stock headlights and the clicking went away. Only the passenger side light comes on, but at least the clicking stopped. I'm thinking about removing the timing delay relay like everyone says so I can hook my HID's back up.

To be clear, my gauge cluster lights/dim features still work. It's the actual needles and odometer that have died. And for the horn, when you lock the vehicle with your remote you are suppose to get a honk. That has gone away. When I try it from the steering wheel it works fine. To make matter worse, it seems the relay has died on the rear window defrost.

All of these problems happened at the same time. I have no idea how much I can attribute to the HID kit or if everything is just going bad at once. Electrical problems are like some kind of really bad STD. I will keep the thread posted on anything I find in the way of a fix.