Overhead Console Wiring

I'm in the process of installing the overhead console into my 98 sport and ran into a small problem. The donor vechicle was a 99 Limited. The problem is the harness itself. The 99 has one plug in the kick panel where mine has two.

99 Harness pin connector



My 98 pin connectors




Is there a way to take the wires out of the 99 connector and reconnect them into the correct locations on the two I have? How do pin connectors come apart? I'd like to be able to use my factory harnesses and not cut and splice anything.

You should be able to match up colors... when I get home I can check my 98 FSM and see what colors should go where in those 2 connectors.

Most of them should be the same colors, very little changed 97+ on the OHC wiring except the connectors.

Pulling the pins out is easy, see the little plastic tab next to each terminal in the business end of the connector? Use the point of a razor or (if you are all thumbs like me) the end of a very small flat blade screwdriver to push it away from the terminal while pulling gently on the wire for that terminal. This requires either 3 hands or finger-yoga classes.

Smallest flat screwdriver works best for me. Also, there is not much room to run the plugs down the A pillar and behind the dash, so after you take the pins out of the 99 plug, tape them together and run it down the A pillar and behind the dash, then put them into the 98 plug. Somewhere on this site you should find diagrams for each year to help.

It is infinetly easier if you pull the locking "pin" out of the top of the connector. You can remove them with that in place. I have a FSM, but I'm not sure which connector it is. It shows one for the overhead console, but that is up in the headliner. Any ideas as to the # or technical name for these particular two?

Believe it's C301 or C302. The connectors that plug into the junction block are C1, C2, C3, C4 or similar... not sure which but they are very low numbers, should be able to just compare.

I wonder if any of the dodge minivan harnesses would be plug & play... that or ZJ. lot of them in the yards. I think the trick is to get your exact year - thats what I did with my 97. Found a guy with a 97 OHC

Hammered said:

I wonder if any of the dodge minivan harnesses would be plug & play... that or ZJ.

Click to expand...

No, they won't.

You can 1) cut the wires and splice them together with no connector, 2) purchase and install one or two male/female wire plug connectors from Radio Shack, or 3) disassemble the factory connector by removing each wire and reassembling the correct matching connector on the removed wires. As suggested, a very tiny screwdriver will do the disassembly.

Everything is wired up and working great! Just have to drill holes in the back mounting bracket so it isn't using the headliner for support. Thanks guys! :cheers:

Can you post up what wires went where? I'm about to install a 99 overhead into my 98. Help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Eric

I just swapped the wires over from the 99 connector to the 98. But now I've got two wires that don't have matches.

A black wire with pink stripe on the jeep side and a solid blue wire on the console wire harness.
There are also two white with black stripe wires that matched up, but I think I might have gotten them backwards because when I plugged in the connector for the remote and it locked the doors and wouldn't allow the doors to unlock.

the two white/black wires are a chrysler-ism. One is one of the wires in the CCD bus, the other is ignition switched 12 volt power. The one that is twisted around another wire (if memory serves, a purple wire with a green or brown stripe) is the CCD bus wire, it should go to the one that is twisted around the same color wire on the other side of the connector.

I got the white wires figured out. Got lucky and put them in right the first time. Now I've just got to figure out the two mystery wires.

I've been wanting to install an overhead console in my '93 XJ for some time but haven't
been able to fine much info on how to do this.

How does one snake the wire harness up to the roof? Does the roof liner have to be
removed?

the roof liner can be lowered a bit when you unscrew the sun visors, RKE module (if any), and A-pillar trim.

I also pulled off the trim over the back doors just to get some extra room when I put in my OHC. I mounted it with the font screws and, using a tape measure at the back, centered in on the headliner. Gently trace the OHC with a sharp pencil to get the outline as you will be cutting the headliner to make room for the back connector. You will also need to remove the existing mini-console support bracket and replace it with the OHC bracket. Not a difficult job at all. I had one wire that I could not identify and kastein determined it to be for the SKIM. As I do not have that feature, the wire was left tied back into the loom. No exposed wire and heat shrink on it just to be sure.

Also... If you have a fob for the door locks, transfer your RKE (Remote Keyless Entry in Chryco Speak) Module out of your miniconsole into the OHC as kastein has suggested. That way your fob will still work. Otherwise, it is a trip to the Dealer to get the module programmed for your fob(s) as it take the DRBIII tool to do the job. The old way of programming stopped working with the 97 model year. Could have been the 96 year, not sure. The module in the OHC is in the rear set of electronics. Just plugs in, once you have it apart. Take your time as there are plastic tangs to be broken if you happen to get in a hurry.