Transfer case light?

I have a 97' Cherokee SE with the 231 t case, did a search and seen a bunch of 242 with the lights out but not for a 231, didn't notice it before till I had thought about it but upon closer inspection my dash has at the upper right corner the signals/words for 4wd hi and 4wd low, now I've tested the t case and it does shift to those points but those lights don't come on. Some will say that if it shifts its fine but I'm not like that. Was those lights for the more upper class jeeps like the sport and lerado and such? My guess is since mine is a base model, it might actually not have it. I've had it scanned twice with nothing saying anything. Think it might be a light bulb or something else?

There is a switch on top of the t-case that turns the light on and off. Unplug the connector that goes to it and jump it with a paper clip. If the light turns on then you know the switch is bad. You can unscrew it (3/4 inch wrench if I remember right) and clean it with electrical contact cleaner and see if that helps. If not, it's only a couple bucks at the parts store.

That ^ , and you can make the instrument cluster self-test and the test makes all the lights light up.

Tim_MN said:

That ^ , and you can make the instrument cluster self-test and the test makes all the lights light up.

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How do you self test? Is that where you just turn the key to on? Or is it more than that?

This is from the 2000 FSM, but should work for your 97.

(1) Begin the test with the ignition switch in the Off position.
(2) Depress the trip odometer reset button.
(3) While holding the trip odometer reset button depressed, turn the ignition switch to the On position, but do not start the engine.
(4) Release the trip odometer reset button.

Fezwick said:

This is from the 2000 FSM, but should work for your 97.

(1) Begin the test with the ignition switch in the Off position.
(2) Depress the trip odometer reset button.
(3) While holding the trip odometer reset button depressed, turn the ignition switch to the On position, but do not start the engine.
(4) Release the trip odometer reset button.

Click to expand...

Just did that and that is the coolest thing I've sen so far on this jeep lol looks like 7 and 9 nothing happens, I'm assuming 7 is for the gas door and 9 might be for the t case lights because they were the only ones that didn't light up. So would that be a fuse or just a burnt bulb in the cluster?

I just did the self test on my 2000 and the part time 4x4 light never came on. I know it works on mine so I guess the self test doesn't turn the bulb on. :dunno:

Try the paper clip method I said earlier. That will definitely tell you if the bulb is bad or not.