So I ordered a harness with relays of eBay for my '96 after replacing the headlight switch (***** of a job) and ripping out the PO rat nest of wiring, 5 relays and red wires joined to black ffs.

All good till intermittent then no High beams, a bad feeling comes over me cause this was the original switches mode of failure

The hereness itself was unnecessarily "short", so a ***** to fit and tight in there...just a couple of more inches and no problem..sigh

break out my electrical bag and after a very short inspection, I observe that it has 15A fuse, BUT 10A wires, which have melted.

So I mess about but turns out the plug is cooked, so this leaves me with no realistic alternative but to just get 4 x 20A wires and run them as a replacement for the POS Chinese rubbish on the High beam.

Low beam is ok (for the moment), which is not unexpected as Lo draws less than 10A

I have to hurry as it is off the road and out of rego after a good looking Brazilian lass decided to pull away from the kerb and I could clearly see her long wavy brown hair obscured her rear view but did not have time to even touch the brakes and smashed her back into the kerb. My rock sliders opened her car up like a sardine can. A testament to the excellence of my fitment and the high qulaity, got them used many years ago fpr peanuts JK?...anyway they saved my XJ

However it was "written off" by her insurance company, after I explained how costly it would be for a regular mechanic to drop the front axle, what with possible oil seal leaks, that would be 2 days work, and my passenger door was dented in a bit (stil works perfect, and will be left as is)

So they gave me $3760, and I replaced the UCA for $135. took it to get inspected and we found the steering box and mounting area is damaged from the force of impact.
I have to swap boxes and while at it weld the frame area, reinforce, drill the unirail for heavy wall pipe, weld a bracket etc

Luckily my spare ;96 has the factory alloy bullbar which comes with excellent heavy duty steering box reinforcement plates, so all that will get swapped, and I will add a homemade steering brace

It will steer better than the day it left the factory

The XJ cost me $1500, and so far I have been paid out $3000, $1960, and $3760 so by my calcs that is $8720 minus $1500 = $6220 profit. It has several thousand worth of mods and I have 2 wrecks that cost me $450, both '96 and (near) goers. I also got paid out 3 times on my previous XJ, and it was a goer till the injectors got clogged due to a failed fuel filter, and its rear end is to mangled for on road, but is a good farm truck and organ donor

 

Funny you mention it. I had the relay stick on a cheap one yesterday, leaving my headlights on high beam. The relays are setup odd too. One relay for on/off, and the other switches between high and low beam. So you can't flash with both hi and low beams. I'm considering remaking the whole thing myself.

 

BTW

Some of the OEM relays in the power distribution center are a direct swap for the junk in the cheap harness. Check the diagram on the relays and compare to the pile you "acquired" on your visits to the junkyard.
The OEM are a zillion times better than the cheap junk.

 

I have my header panel off right now and have been thinking about a relay harness. Ive spent WAY too much time looking at harnesses on amazon and have pretty much decided they are all the same and theyre like 16ga wire. Even the Ksuspension one looks kinda the same, and uses those same clear relays. Putco might be good but its 2x the price. Painless wiring has one, which is even more expensive. Leaning towards making my own but Im lazy and would rather buy one.

 

I've got a whole bunch of Bosch relays in pile of misc stuff from the salvage yard.

 

The relays are setup odd too. One relay for on/off, and the other switches between high and low beam. So you can't flash with both hi and low beams. I'm considering remaking the whole thing myself.

 

headlight wiring harness:36-3580 $30 from LMC trucks Bought 6 and have had no problems

 

Thank you.