first id like to say that i have minimal wiring and electrical skills so sorry in advance for the simple question.

i tried wiring up my Pilot offroad lights to the roof of the xj yesterday and set the grounds and routed other wire to harness and to fusebox. even had some help from my cuz but it still won't turn on. the switch lights up when turned on but i can't get the lights to work. these are brand new out-of-the-box lights. can anyone shed some light as to what may be the problem?

 

I would double check where you have the ground wires attached. You want to make sure that you have it touching a good metal surface. In the past I've had to use a screw driver to kinda scrap away a little paint to get a good contact surface. Hope this helps

 

Yes always make sure your grounds are attached to bare metal. I'm on my phone and can't see your diagram too well, are you running a relay?

 

yes i grounded where factory grounds are grounded to so i know there good, but still nothing i have pos running from the ACC IGN fuse in fusebox, to another fuse in a box relay thing, to both lights, there are connectors that i want to try and eliminate and simplify the circuit. i want find the problem. when checking volts, everything has voltage. im stumped

 

If you're running an spdt or spst relay this diagram is perfect. Follow this and you can't go wrong.

 

nope no relay. just wire and 2 fuses in a black box with 2 wires coming out of it

 

Use a RELAY! Itll prevent fires if you use the correct relay. Also helps keep the switch cool to the touch again preventing a fire.

 

What he said. Most switches aren't rated to handle any kind of load and can burn up.

 

I suggest following the diagram that The91XJ provided. The relay and two fuses are the way to keep your keep fire free.

A simple way to see if it is a ground problem run a wire from the battery negative to the point you have grounded the lights and see if they work then.

On any added electrical unit on my jeep if I can run a dedicated ground return wire I will. It eliminates lots of problems trying to ground through the body. Especially with high power items like lights.