parking lamps not working

so i just picked up an 88 xj. and it looks mostly factory as far as i can tell. how ever i have no parking lights or dash lights. the fuse box has signs of being wet but nothing to serious. any thing i should look at first? also the relay on the left of the fuse box i replaced and its clicking on and off. also the interior lights do not go on when either of the front doors are opened. but work when the back doors are open. also the chime module does not seem to work.

i have a 90 fsm so i will eventual sort through it but just wondering if someone has any hints.

How do the fuses for parking and dash lights look? If they look good, I'd see if it's getting power. If it does have power you may have to bodge a fix so the fuses make contact, depends on how bad it is.

The door switches for open closed could be bad or stuck. If not then it would be further in the wiring. You should be able to test these issues before having to dig in to the wiring loom.

Not sure what the relay that's clicking is, on my 85 the windshield had a huge leak on top of the master cylinder leaking on the fuse box I replaced all kinds of relays, I want to say horn and maybe high beam are in that area. Not sure on the 87-90 XJ, should be very close.
I ended up replacing the dash harness and engine because the original were too far gone.



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Check the light switch function they have a history of failure. The parking light harness at the front bumper fails frequently so check all the connections. The Renix era XJs have a large bulkhead connector near the brake master cylinder known as the C101 connector, will not appear in the 1990 FSM as it was deleted sometime between 88 and 89 (my '89 has it but most manuals say it shouldn't), that is a known problem spot. Clean or bypass the C101 connector. Problems with the parking lights will defiantly take out the dash lights. I had so many problems with my running lights I had to totally rewire them from the C101 out. I cleaned my C101 connector and it solved several other problems (not the parking lights as the connectors in the harness after it were bad). For the dome light failure start by cleaning the switches and the mount holes.

Check out Cruiser54's Renix tips

the c101 looks to be in good shape but i will definitely look into it. the relay that is clicking is the radio/clock dimming relay. also looks like the door switch grounds into the headlight switch. so i will replace the headlight switch and see what happens. then ill start checking voltages.

A bad ground in the parking light circuit up front will cause all sorts of problems. Yes the headlight switch does go bad and can cause problems. The C101 can look fine from tge outside but age has a way of playing havoc with it. It's a pain but a good idea to clean it to ensure good contact and add some dielectric grease to seal it. The stuff AMC used is very much like tar and a real pain to clean out. Cleaning my C101 did improve a number of issues under tge hood but led me to further trouble shoot finding further problems downstream of it. Renix Jeeps electrical systems are kind of like Pandora's box. Good luck.

If the common stuff doesn't work out for you, one guy on the board here years ago had an internal short in the clock illum. which caused the instr light fuse and the parking lights fuse to constantly blow.

I had the up harness near the inside of the drivers side wheel well get a cut on a seam and short. Same outcome the instr light and park light fuses to blow.

Twice now I've had a shorted dimmer assembly in the headlight switch cause the same two fuses to blow.

Something I noticed when the dimmer assembly inthe headlight switch would short is the rod for the heaalight switch would get finger blistering hot. **I also had a partial meltdown of the headlight switch connector plug**.

Also check the fuse sizes, some people think the solution is higher amp fuses. The usual outcome is eventual meltdown.

none of the fuses are blowing. i haven't had time to look at it any further. when i got it there was a few blown fuses. but they have been swapped with the same size. im thinking it could be from the uhaul trailer wiring. looks a bit hacked in there.

Go to www.cruiser54.com and Tip 3. The featured connector there is a great place to start.

so update. headlight switch was bad both front door switches are bad and chime module was bad. im not sure the exterior lights are working yet. slowly getting there.

Oh U-Haul why must you hack the wiring. Got my rear tail lights working after I rewired the mess. Next step is the front lights!

It's called progress, and you're making it!!

i got all of my lights working the front light wiring was all hacked up too. only ones not working is the reverse lights but that's most likely the NSS and the license plate light. it had a corroded connector and new wires ran to it. Next step is to replace all of the missing bulbs. I'm thinking of replacing all with leds. ill let you know how it comes out.

Way to hang in there!!

im fairly good with the electrical. my next step is to swap in the overhead console and keyless entry. and im hoping that its as easy as swapping harness's.