HELP NO TAIL OR DASH LIGHTS?!? please

[muddydirtyxj]

ok i posted before about this prob. i changed the headlight switch. and still its blowing the dash fuse every time i turn on the headlights. i dont know what to do and i have got'n 2 tickets now in the past 2 weeks. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

[RINGKONG]

Get some fuses

Disconect one headlamp at a time.


turn on lights

if it doesn't blow

turn off lights

plug lamp back in and disconnect other lamp

turn on lights..

if it doesn't blow

make sure your using the correct amprage fuse

Disconnect both lights... turn on switch..
If it blows You have a short in the wiring from switch to lamps

if it does blow for one light and not the other

then you know where to start looking at the wires..


Heck maybe one of you lamps are to blame.. but most likely a short somewhere..

[Boatwrench]

You have a grounded circuit, probably a pinched wire. The one light at a time plug & test works good unfortunately it is time consuming and waste fuses.

Go to an auto parts store with a good tool selection and look for a circuit tester, The Snap-On one I have cost like $30 bucks twenty years ago, but a Kragen at today's prices should be ~$20. The tester has a quick resetting circuit breaker that trips when the grounded circuit is energized and also has a meter with an arroiw that deflects when the circuit collapses due to the circuit breaker tripping off line. The meter is run along the wire path and when the arrow stops deflecting you are in the general (within ~8inches) are of the short circuit.

The dash lights are a sub-circuit of the tail lights and have a smaller value circuit protection so if there is a problem in the sub-circuit the dash light fuse blows and tail lamps will still operate.

The headlights are fused in the switch, not a disposable fuse in the fuse box.

The front parking/turn lamps are on this circuit as well as all markers.

I would guess that the tail lamp wiring harness has become pinched. Have you installed a radio, CB, fog lamps or any mods that required drilling into the body? When I worked as a mechanic the most common cause of tail lamps blowing fuses was bad radio installations where the wire to hook up the radio lamp was wried incorrectly. The second most was a drill or screw run into the harness from some accessory being added.

Also don't know the wiring harness routing but if the exhaust got hot enough to melt the insulation then.....well there's your grounded wire.

Rarely, I mean rarely, the filaments in the bulbs are touching each other and because of opposing voltage grounds to make the marker lamps work cause fuses to blow. Usually touching filaments make the dash lamps glow funny and the turn signals act up.

Hoped this helped.
Tom

[RINGKONG]

Originally posted by Boatwrench
You have a grounded circuit, probably a pinched wire. The one light at a time plug & test works good unfortunately it is time consuming and waste fuses.

Go to an auto parts store with a good tool selection and look for a circuit tester, The Snap-On one I have cost like $30 bucks twenty years ago, but a Kragen at today's prices should be ~$20. The tester has a quick resetting circuit breaker that trips when the grounded circuit is energized and also has a meter with an arroiw that deflects when the circuit collapses due to the circuit breaker tripping off line. The meter is run along the wire path and when the arrow stops deflecting you are in the general (within ~8inches) are of the short circuit.

The dash lights are a sub-circuit of the tail lights and have a smaller value circuit protection so if there is a problem in the sub-circuit the dash light fuse blows and tail lamps will still operate.

The headlights are fused in the switch, not a disposable fuse in the fuse box.

The front parking/turn lamps are on this circuit as well as all markers.

I would guess that the tail lamp wiring harness has become pinched. Have you installed a radio, CB, fog lamps or any mods that required drilling into the body? When I worked as a mechanic the most common cause of tail lamps blowing fuses was bad radio installations where the wire to hook up the radio lamp was wried incorrectly. The second most was a drill or screw run into the harness from some accessory being added.

Also don't know the wiring harness routing but if the exhaust got hot enough to melt the insulation then.....well there's your grounded wire.

Rarely, I mean rarely, the filaments in the bulbs are touching each other and because of opposing voltage grounds to make the marker lamps work cause fuses to blow. Usually touching filaments make the dash lamps glow funny and the turn signals act up.

Hoped this helped.
Tom

I am a cheap bastard... :D and like to do things the hard way.. :)

[muddydirtyxj]

THANKS GUYS I LET YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. THANKS AGAIN!!!!!! DAN

[Boatwrench]

RingKong,
There's nothing wrong with being Chea.........aaaahhh, I mean thrifty.

[FatXJ]

I don't know if you've done this but the dash lights grounding out will also casue the fuse to blow. I know this from personal experience. SO if you have pulled the dash apart sometime you may want to recheck your connections.

[Mich88XJ]

Rarely, I mean rarely, the filaments in the bulbs are touching each other and because of opposing voltage grounds to make the marker lamps work cause fuses to blow. Usually touching filaments make the dash lamps glow funny and the turn signals act up.

Hoped this helped.
Tom

Sorry to bring this up from the dead, but I am having the same trouble. Now for the past 4 years I have owned my 88 Cherokee, the right turn signal has always glown in the dash, but the signals operated fine. Last night I lost my parking and taillights, which got me pulled over and almost got me a DUI (Stupid michigan's limit being .8). So I got a fixit ticket, but am looking for the best place to start. I think the circuit would have blown the fuse sooner than 4 years of that glowing like that, don't you? Thanks! Christian

[YELLAHEEP]

90% of the time I've looked at the blown fuse for the tail lights / dash light circuit, I've traced it to bad trailer harness connections. Those nifty blue pinch splice connections get corroded and wet and cause the problem.

My .02

[87manche]

both f my turn indicator lights glow when I pull the parking lamps.
Bad grounds in the sockets up front. I need to replace the sockets.

[stewie]

, which got me pulled over and almost got me a DUI (Stupid michigan's limit being .8). ... but am looking for the best place to start. Thanks! Christian

in my opinion, i would worry less about the xj and more about you. even if you are under .08 (.8 would be 80% blood alcohol volume) you can still be sited and or arrested. its a little thing known fondly as "impared to the slightest degree." shape up before you go to jail or kill somebody

stewie