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I have a 2000 Cherokee with a light bar mounted across my front grille. I recently painted the grille pieces and replaced the center piece, so I had to undo the wiring for my light bar. I thought I spliced them back together correctly, but now I have an issue.
The light bar is spliced into the high beam wire for the stock passenger side head light and grounded to the negative terminal on the battery. When the high beams were on, the light bar would turn on with them.
Now, when I turn on the high beams, the passenger side headlight is out (it works on low beam for some reason though?) and the light bar doesn’t come on either. It’s almost like I have no juice going to the high beam wire. Is there anything I can check? I’ve already checked the kick panel fuse for the passenger headlight and it’s fine. I don’t know much about wiring, so now I’m stumped
If someone could help me I’d appreciate it.
(I can upload some pictures of the wiring to make an easier understanding soon)
Last edited by mikecorrell; Jul 1, 2018 at 07:39 PM.
Year: 1998 Classic (I'll get it running soon....) and 02 Grand
Model: Cherokee (XJ)
Engine: 4.0
Originally Posted by mikecorrell
The light bar is spliced into the high beam wire for the stock passenger side head light and grounded to the negative terminal on the battery. When the high beams were on, the light bar would turn on with them.
That ain't good. The headlight circuit is already running close to the edge of disasterland. Adding an aftermarket device is not smart.
Your problem sounds like a poor connection. How are the wires connected?
Here's what I recommend - lose the current setup completely. Re-wire it correctly. (This might be a good time to add a headlight relay harness. It takes the load off that headlight circuit, which prolongs the life of the headlight switch.)
What does, "re-wire it correctly" look like? You have a relay to power the light bar, and the headlight circuit simply switches the relay. No power from the headlight circuit is used by the light bar.
You'll put the inline fuse either on the battery + terminal, or (better), connect it to where the battery connects to the PDC. Run a wire from the inline fuse holder to the relay, which you'll mount in a convenient place near one of the headlights. Then from the relay to the light bar.
To trigger the relay, you'll splice into the high beam wire and run that to the relay, and also provide a ground for the relay.
i just went and did away with the stupid light bar (splicing directly into the headlight circuit was the genius idea of the previous owner). Not gonna pass Pennsylvania inspection like that anyways. Plus I have enough light coming from my 50” led bar and 2 pods for off-roading.
I did a temporary splice job to get the wires back to factory... All I did was match the two colors that had been cut. Still a no-go.
Last edited by mikecorrell; Jul 9, 2018 at 06:39 AM.
How did you do those splices? Please tell me you didn't twist the wire together and tape them.
I did do them like that just to test them. Not permanent.
Anyways, thanks for all your advice, I really appreciate it.
I took it to a shop this morning and $106 dollars later, it was a bad headlight connector and the high beam wire was broken way over by the driver’s side fender. All fixed now.
Thanks again.
Passenger high beam + light bar not working?
