Intermittent 4x4 lights...

All the lights on the dash that let me know the vehicle is in four-wheel only work some of the time... the four-wheel drive works fine, but the lights only come on every once and awhile. Any ideas what makes these lights work? I know it's not a bulb issue, any other ideas?

Have a good Thanksgiving!

What year/t-case?

Check that you have a good ground. Cherokees are notorious for having bad grounds; you may even want to add another one from the battery to the body. A vacuum switch in the transfer case controls the lights. Often they get plugged and cause the light not to come on. Its really not worth dropping the transfer case and opening it up to fix the switch unless you are already tearing it open for something else. Like you said, the light on the dash has no bearing on whether or not you are really in four-wheel drive. My lights do the same thing; I just look at the shifter lever to see what if its really in 2 or 4.

The other thing you can do is leave your hand on the T-case handle when you shift it. You should feel a slight knock when it actually moves the gears. I can acutally hear it when it shifts (242).

If t his is a late model part-time system, it probably just has a switch on the side of the transfer case for the 4WD indicator, in which case it might be worth checking that and replacing if necessary.

What year/t-case? The final version of the axle disconnect used with the 231 (like on my 91) used a switch on the disco to activate the light. The wires coming from it are fairly exposed and I managed to rip them both off, no more light. If you have a later model with a disco axle you might want to take a peek at it. On this version their will be two wires coming from the opposite side of the disconnect from the vacumn cannister, see if they are still attached. Earlier disco's just had three vacumn lines and no wires.

Tony

Sorry so long to respond. It's a '99 with the 231 T-case. I should be able to look at it tomorrow to see what the deal really is.

Also having some problems with the blower... in defrost mode at anything over setting #2 on the fan control the system goes haywire and doesn't blow out the dash at all... almost likes there is a door not opening. Weird shit if you ask me.