ignition switch wiring question...

I just got new plugs for the ignition switch on my 88 xj. what was wrong with the last set of plugs were severely melted, because one of the wires was over heating. I found that if I unplug this wire I can still start the car but the radio and the airconditioning, wipers, horn etc. didnt work anymore. so I need to find away to bypass this some of these things through another wire OR put a bigger wire on there. I know that this is somewhat common in some xjs and I was wondering if anybody had any solutions that they had come up with. I need to fix this as soon as possible.

thanks

From reading other posts and having a somewhat similar problem myself, I would say that you need to replace the ignition swith. I got in my '89 jeep and the wipers, horn, signals, ac, radio etc quit working. After some research and plugging around under the dash I came to the ignition swith. After some wiggling things started working correctly again. I plan to replace the switch and harness. Hope this helps.

iiideuces said:

From reading other posts and having a somewhat similar problem myself, I would say that you need to replace the ignition swith. I got in my '89 jeep and the wipers, horn, signals, ac, radio etc quit working. After some research and plugging around under the dash I came to the ignition swith. After some wiggling things started working correctly again. I plan to replace the switch and harness. Hope this helps.

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Well, see the thing is that it all works, it just gets too hot, do you think that replacing the actual ignition switch will fix this? maybe there is some sort of relay in the ignition switch that has gone bad or somthing?
Johan

Jeeper said:

Well, see the thing is that it all works, it just gets too hot, do you think that replacing the actual ignition switch will fix this? maybe there is some sort of relay in the ignition switch that has gone bad or somthing?
Johan

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It lasted for 17 years can't be too bad, get a new switch and plug and your good to go for 17 more years. The contacts wear out and get hot. You can't just hook everything to a different wire without burning that one up too.

ok, I think I'm going to go ahead and try getting a new switch and then see how it goes. I'm still open to more sigjestions though. I'm sure somebody has fooled with this quite a bit. thanks for all the advice so far.

Johan

I'm thinking I may have a bad ignition switch myself. It's bypassed now with a simple toggle switch after the third starter relay burned out on the trail. I'd like to fix it properly, though. So where is the ignition switch? There are quite a few candidates under my dash. Which one is the winner?
Has anyone else had a problem of starter relays burning out that turned out to be a bad ignition switch? If not, what was the cause?

Thanx

What Rd said:

I'm thinking I may have a bad ignition switch myself. It's bypassed now with a simple toggle switch after the third starter relay burned out on the trail. I'd like to fix it properly, though. So where is the ignition switch? There are quite a few candidates under my dash. Which one is the winner?
Has anyone else had a problem of starter relays burning out that turned out to be a bad ignition switch? If not, what was the cause?

Thanx

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Can't tell from here without knowing the year.

langer1 said:

Can't tell from here without knowing the year.

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Ok - good point that slipped right past me. Mine's a 93, 4.0, AW4, with a tilt column, if that makes any difference.

What Rd said:

Ok - good point that slipped right past me. Mine's a 93, 4.0, AW4, with a tilt column, if that makes any difference.

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well, my ignition switch is right ontop of my steering collu. I have an 88 FWD tilt wheel. there is a blue and a black plug pluged into it. what I did to fix mine from ever heating is I scrapped some old plugs from a junked xj and got a new switch and I think its doin fine. hope that helps.

Johan