Adding Footwell Courtesy Lights

Last year I bought a clean 98 SE with very few options. That’s what I was looking for since I just wanted a weekend vehicle to pull my ersatz safari camper (utility trailer with a bunch of mods) and do a little light wheeling at a friends place in the woods. Well, as luck would have it the transmission in my DD died soon after. After driving the Jeep around for a week or two I began to miss a few items. Luck struck again and the local pick a part had an all you could carry when their yard filled up with C4C vehicles. I walked off with an armload of upgrades including a full gauge cluster, cruise control, overhead console, and footwell courtesy lights plus a few other odds and ends for $75. After countless hours surfing through and other sites I dropped all of the parts in with no troubles at all. Almost. I was assuming (hoping) (wishing) that I would reach under the dash and find the connectors for the footwell lights. No joy. After countless evening searching and other sites I cannot find where the factory footwell lights tie into the wiring harness. I don’t have access to a FSM (yet) to track down the elusive junctions. Could it be that my base model (no power windows and locks) has a very different wiring harness? I would head back to the pick a part but, alas, the late model XJs I prowled through have been crushed. Before I start hacking into the dome light circuit could someone throw me a bone?

Thanks!

I assume this varies by year but my very basic '93 had the connectors under the dash in the general area of where the footwell lights mount. They were not real easy to find.

Stocking multiple wiring harnesses for assembly would be a nightmare, so they are in there somewhere.

connectors are there. on the driver's side, remove the knee board via 3 screws on the bottom edge of the dash, and 3 or 4 more on the steel under-plate.

it's to the left, probably buried in behind several relays.


likewise on the passenger side...remove the 3 screws on the bottom of the dash that are holding the glove box on. connector is to the right of the glove box, buried somewhere.

I'll snap some pics of mine if you'd like.

My MJ did not have the lights, but there were two connectors I couldn't figure out what they did. They were for the C-lights. I grabbed 2 at a junkyard, the guy just gave them to me for the $2 admission. So $1 apiece. The plugs are there, keep looking.