electrical gremlins in my 92

I have some odd electrical things going on in the 92 xj I just picked up.

One thing, the dome lights don't work at all and I have no power at the pink wire on the radio harness. I have power on the igntion lead of the radio and my ground is good but none at the pink battery lead. IIRC that pink wire is part of the dome light circuit too, which probally explains why they dont work either. I have no power at the domelight fuse either, radio fuse has 12volts. The spot on the fuse panel marked batt has no voltage either.

I bypassed that pinkwire on the radio end and ran the battery power for my headunit right to the accesory spot on the fuse panel. Radio turns on but the only way I get audio is if I have the headlight switch on and the dimmer all the way dimmed. Very odd. Unfortunetly the only fsm I have is for my fathers 2001 xj which doesnt help me too much as the wiring is different and the fsm from my 87 xj went bye bye with it when I sold it a few years back.

Can anybody shed some light into this for me. I haven't worked on an older xj in a few years but from what I remember from my 87 the wiring sucked. Hell my fathers 2001 has some wiring issues already.

check your fuses in your power distribution area in the engine compartment thats what i did i had one blown fuse in there

You're right, the dome and radio feed off the same circuit. Chances are you have a burned fusible link near where the positive battery cable connects in the power distribution box. If you find one burned, trace the wire back to the inside fuse panel, looking for a shorted or frayed wire. Something had to cause the burned link......

Well I fixed the dome lights, power locks and radio hot wire. The fuse in the engine bay for the igntion off draw circuit was flaky, blown but not very noticable.


All my wiring along the door sill looks brand new still as well as everything under the dash.

But I still get this weird radio problem where I dont have volume unless the headlights are on and the interior lights are dimmed out. Can anyone post the wiring chart or colors and descriptions for a 92 cherokee laredo.. originally equipped with 6 speakers.. thanks in advance

Check installdr.com that's where I got my diagrams when I had a very similar issue on my 92.

87Base, just for kicks, try running a ground wire from the radio chassis to a nearby grounded screw. This is such a weird problem that it may be simply a poor radio amplifier ground, that's finding a path through the light switch somehow.

adding another ground sounds like a good idea. I will have to give it a try later. thanks