Introduction/electrical issues

Hey guys, Just want to introduce myself, my name is Shayne and i just bought my first XJ. picked up a 88 Laredo 4 door manual 4.0 with 351,xxx km for 300.00 Dollars. I had to replace the hood and get keys cut for it thankfully i managed to find the key codes in the factory maintenance manual. Anyway i bought the truck for a winter beater/fun 4x4ing in the summer. Plans are a s10 bastard pack with grand Cherokee coils+spacers for a 4 inch lift. YJ brake lines and some 33 inch tires. That's about all i have planned for her. Now on to the issues i am having with the truck. First of all it runs pretty well especially for a 300 dollar truck. all the drive train is in great shape. Now i will try to explain my electrical issues. I got the truck with only one high beam working, the blinkers work and no running lights. When i got it home i put in new headlights and i got both high beams working.
So ongoing issues are
-no low beams
-blinkers are slow when headlights are on low or hi
-break lights are always on even when vehicle is off but i disconnected the two wires from the switch on the brake pedal. i think the switch needs replacing.
- no back-light on the dash, but the gas light / part-time light and all gauges work.
-Oil pressure gauge reads off the chart which i guess is better than no oil pressure, but is still a cause for concern.

All fuses are good, i checked all the tail light grounds for continuity and they are good. I am kind of at a loss for what else to do, I'm not great with electronics. also i lost the high beams and when i put my hand up behind the dash and pushed on the wires attached to the headlight switch i got them back. I think my low beams may not be working because of the switch but that is just a guess, and i could not figure out how to get the switch out. Any help is greatly appreciated and thanks for reading.

Make sure you use V8 ZJ coils or you may not get any lift at all out of them. V8 ZJ coils from a ZJ with UpCountry package (there will be stickers on it somewhere or other, rear quarters or cargo area I think?) would be even more likely to net you some lift.

no low beams - probably an issue with the headlight switch or a grounding issue in the headlight harness, not sure which. There is a button or something you press on the headlight switch to pull the knob/shaft off, then you can pull the switch out easier.
blinkers are slow - not sure on this one, hasn't happened to me... yet!
brake lights - yeah, probably the pedal switch, try cleaning it or readjusting it, if that doesn't work, junkyard/NAPA!
backlight on the dash - this could also be the headlight switch, or the bulbs could be burned out.
oil pressure - your sender is probably broken, it's a cheap part, get an OEM one not a cheap knockoff. It screws into a mounting point right near the oil filter so idiot greasemonkeys at quicklubes break them off all the time.

Have fun! Great price on it.

Blinkers slow could be a charging issue. If you don't have a multimeter, you need one. Should be 14.5 (or so) volts at the battery when running. Oil pressure sender could have been replaced with on for a light instead of a gage. That can be checked with your meter too.

manual trans? some of your problem could be this, what has happened is the clutch master leaked fluid on the fuse block and it has eaten away the plastic and wire connections in the fuse block. if its like my 89 with manual trans, the fuses test good for continuity but there is no power going through them.

im in the process of rewiring my entire fuse block becuase of the this. a temp solution is to find the fuses that dont have power through them and wedging in a conductive jumper in the fuse slot so it make contact with the fuse and the power side of the fuse block.

this problem is not for the faint hearted when it comes to electrical. to get this problem fixed at a service center would cost more then the worth of an 88 xj. removing the fuse block is half the battle, rewiring it just take time and a good bac because of the awkward position.

head light switch comes out by pressing a button on the bottom of the switch and should now be ble to pull the stalk from the switch. its easier to get to if you remove the bottom dash piece. hopefully the bad switch didnt burn the ends of the wiring harness to the switch(like my 89).