Front lock door switches and interior lights stuck on

Hey guys just recently started have a problem with my 98 XJ. First my interiror lights are staying lit with all the doors closed and at the same time my driver side door switch went out it will unlock the doors but it will not lock them. 2 weeks later now the passenger side just stopped working the same way unlocks but won't lock. Iv checked the headlight switch kn the dash and pulled all of the door switches that tell the interiror lights to come on and so far i got nothing. Anybody have this issue? I have searched this but nobody ever write back saying what fixed the issue

There are door switches on both front doors. They do fail after time. Disco them and see if it solves your interior light problem. The master control is through the driver door switch. Most likely the issue with the door locks. Actuators can fail, but the most common is the switch. The pass. side may have failed as well. But I would start with the driver side.

Couple things going on. All of the switches are "NO" normally open. When you open a door, they close (contacts) and bring ground to the junction and energize the dome lights/ courtesy lights. It seems like one of those wires (most likely at a door) is shorted to ground. One test would be to open only the hatch and depress the cargo lamps switch, if the lights go out, then the short is in the harness at the lift gate (infamous place to short )

As for the door situation, do you hear any relays click when you try to unlock? The drivers side failures usually are associated with the window lockout switch, but locking and unlocking are more of the passenger side controller. I would remove the door trim and take a look at that harness, and seat/reseat and get some contact cleaner. Radio shack should have the "deoxit" on sale since they declared bankruptcy. Great stuff for low current connections.

Iv tried pressing the cargo lamp switch they still haven't gone out. Also from driver and passenger I can unlock all doors but neither of the switches will lock the door doesn't make any sound when trying to lock them

How about the passenger side power mirror? does it work? There is a wire in the passenger side harness that is common to the mirror, locks, and door jamb switch

Door wire harness and switch module issues are very common. As already suggested, from the inside of the Cherokee, unplug the door wire harness. What is the result ? Since you have the wire harness unplugged, you might as well inspect it and test it for chafed wire insulation, broken wires, and failed wire splice. You should also inspect the backside of the cargo area lamp, they sometimes overheat and melt, causing short circuits.

Bother mirrors are still working checked rear cargo lamp doesn't look like its been hot. Are you saying the wires that come from the body to the door in the black rubber boot could possibly have a broken wire? To think of it for 2 days the driver side door lock switch would work with the door shut but not when it was open

Yes, you have to take off the door panel (carefully) and inspect all of the wires. My 99 had plenty of chaffed wires and the speakers wires were completely separated when I got it. Some of the rear hatch wires were in similar condition. If you find some , best is to solder and heatshrink the connections, or butt splice and heat shrink the connections. Again it could just be a loose connection in the door switch connector. I was re-keying my door locks last week and when I put the passenger panel back on the door locks would not work, only a relay click. Pulled the plugs to the door switch (the window and lock switch) and put contact cleaner, now good to go.

Checked the door jamb wiring harness didn't find any broken wires passenger door z lock switch is working again now. I have been still looking up about the dome lights iv seen people say that the drivers dpor switch controls them and that some where there is a relay that controls them. Not sure if this is true anybody here know about this? Also in the trunk on the driver said someone told me there is a control module underneath that panel haven't checked that

Not sure if there is a significant change between the 99 and 98, I am making suggestions based on the 99 and the 99 manual.

Anyway the circuit run you want to look at is 8W-44-6 this the ground path to the dome lights. The Dome gets hot from the same circuit that powers the vanity lamps in the visors and the accessory lamps that are on either side of the dome.

8W-44-6 makes it way to the dome light via: the rear hatch lamp, the rear hatch switch (on the 99 its inside the door actuator not on a jamb), either one of the door jamb switches, and rotating the headlight switch.

You can google 8W-44-6 and find the schematics from other websites.

-To test this circuit,

-Disconnect the battery negative terminal
-go to anyone of the door jamb switches and pull it.
-It may be easier to check at the rear hatch lamp assy, as the entire 8W-44-6 is electrically the same
-You will need a volt ohm meter, does not have to be very fancy a Harbor Freight one will do.
- using the ohm meter function, check continuity to chassis ground, if you have an alligator clip, clip the negative probe to chassis ground and check the connections inside the switch.
- with all doors closed and the headlamp switch not rotated, you should have open continuity inside the switch. If you open one of the doors the continuity should go to 1 ohm or less. If you have continuity with all the doors closed and the headlamp switch rotated midway, you have a wire shorted to chassis.

If this is the case, I would unplug the headlamp switch and retest. , then the fun part of finding a hidden short.

Again, make sure the negative battery term is not connected or you will blow the fuse in your volt/ohm meter

Here is a pic I found online, it is of a burned light, but that is not important.

See the plug is removed. This is where you will check for continuity. (obviously do not cut the wires)

I am uncertain of which wire goes where, as the color codes change quite often, but with the plug pulled from the switch and all the doors closed, negative battery term pulled and headlight switch not rotated, you should have no continuity to either one of the wires to chassis ground.

One wire is hot, one wire is the ground path to the rear hatch, the other wire is the common ground to turn on the interior lights.

If you find that one of the wires is showing continuity to ground, go and open the rear hatch to see if two wires are now showing continuity to ground. The later ground signal is the hatch and that would be good. The first one means there is a short in the other part of the harness (door jamb wires or headlamp switch)

thanks for the info guys i will try that out