'89 XJ Electrical

Hi all. Having a mojor problem with my XJ. About a month ago, my radio and clock display were fading in and out. It would turn off, than suddenly go on again. My park lights and dome lights worked sometimes, now the dome and radio don't work at all. The park lights, well if I jiggle the fuse panel they will come on.
All of the fuses are good. My next step I gather is to remove the fuse panel and check for any loose wires. Any ideas on how to remove it? Manuals are of little or no use. Thx

Did you ever figure out how to do this? I have a similar problem with my '89. The fuse panel is badly corroded and just plain shabby. I have fuses stuck in there with tinfoil and such just to keep my brake lights working! I am going to the wreckers to find a swap, but it would be nice to know how the thing is connected.

I was going to pull it and do a wire-by-wire swap over if needed. I know there are 2 REALLY long screws that hold it to the body, but with those undone it is still attached somehow.

lornius said:

Did you ever figure out how to do this? I have a similar problem with my '89. The fuse panel is badly corroded and just plain shabby. I have fuses stuck in there with tinfoil and such just to keep my brake lights working! I am going to the wreckers to find a swap, but it would be nice to know how the thing is connected.

I was going to pull it and do a wire-by-wire swap over if needed. I know there are 2 REALLY long screws that hold it to the body, but with those undone it is still attached somehow.

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Something tells me he didn't since the last time he logged on here was 2005. But now that you've revived the thread I'm sure someone can probably help. I've tried to pull it apart before and I got part of the way but almost broke the engine end of it off in the firewall, so I gave up. If you're just doing the interior part of it though, those two long torx screws going through should release it enough to look behind there.

There is a single long bolt in the center on the engine compartment side holding it together. Each half is attached to the wiring harness on that halfs side. One half is attached the the dash wiring harness, the other half to the hood wiring harness and C-101 conector if you have the C-101 connector year jeep.

Also on the inside it is possible to the separate the fuse box and get to the back side of the fuse box. You remove the 2 screws you mentioned under the dash, then there are four very tight plastic hooks that hold the two halves together like a quick connect fitting that snaps together I think the hooks can be squezzed to release once the dash side bolts are removed. You need to pry, squeeze them loose. It can be done, but it is difficult because you can not see what you are doing.

I have had mine loose on my 85 and 87 and I have cut into the wires behind the fuse box and bypassed many of the existing fuse box slots in the OEM fuse box. I installed inline fuses to replace the bypassed fuse slots and used standard butt connectors to attach all the wires. If you can find the parts, and tool, it is possible to remove and replace the individual fuse holder metal clips, but I found it easier and quicker just to bypass the box on mine and add extra wire so I can access it easier in the future. Cutting the wire, stipping the ends and replacing the fuse holders in the OEM box is a very tight close quarter job.

liIf you pull the entire harness, it is much easier to work on, but I usually try and avoid major R & R effortske that since I tend to be lazy. I have enough projects to do with out yanking everything out and then trying to figure out where it all went after I replaced a bad connection, LOL.

I got the aftermarket inline fuse holders in the electrical sections of O'Reilys and AutoZn.

Don't forget to check the ground strap from the cylinder head to the firewall - it's the primary ground for the chassis. (And, it's called the "RENIX Killer" for a reason...)

Chassis electronic function can be improved by the addition of a heavy ground (8AWG or larger) directly from the battery - terminal to the fenderwell.

Thanks guys .. that helps. I was thinking about bypassing some of the really bad ones by using the inline fuse method as an alternative to changing the entire fuse block. That sounds a bunch safer than risking serious electircal foobar by yanking something apart where I can't get it. Sounds expensive.

Cheers!

Don't bypass anything even with a fuse. I'm still trying to trace down wiring gremlins from the previous owner. It had a bad ignition switch and they tried to make things work by bypassing.

Cox89XJ said

"Don't bypass anything even with a fuse. I'm still trying to trace down wiring gremlins from the previous owner. It had a bad ignition switch and they tried to make things work by bypassing."

:eyes: My ears are burning, LOL!:laugh:

Sorry, but after replacing two brand new, burned out melted and fused ignition switches in less than 12 months, and after pricing the only 2 remaining partial, under the hood only wiring harnesses in stock in the entire USA (at $495.00 ea, and the dashboard side harnesses with the fuse box being NLA) and getting tired of fidling with a literally shot falling apart fuse box in both of my jeeps (85 was really shot and 87 was not that bad so it got salvaged and reused) I decided enough, was enough.

I bypassed the ignition switch on my 87 and the fuse box for several of the biggest loads (one 10 gauge wire) that were part of the overheating problem in the ignition switch. One in particular was the A/C power to the blower motor on my 87, a notorious trouble spot for jeeps. Another was the head lights on my 85. I installed a dash switch on my 87 which bypasses the ignition switch for power to the windshield wipers, radio, turn signals and A/C blower motor. I also used heavier gauge wires. I have had no electrical problems since then.

The OEM and aftermarket igntion switch is simply not designed for that much power to run through the ignition switch on one punny little connection carrying maximum amps on a #10 multicore wire. I left the rest of the ignition switch and igniton wiring intack, on purpose!

You would love trying to figure out the wiring on my 85 Cherokee. The engine runs with the ignition key removed and steering column locked! It has Nissan diesel, SD22 engine transplant from 82 Nissan pick up truck under the hood.
I can disconnect the battery and the diesel will still run!:sunshine: No electrical worries with it! Actually it was fun tracing down all the non-blueprinted, undocumented wiring changes in it when I bought it (it already had the diesel transplant, but it was sort of an incomplete project that I took over). It had lots of OEM wiring problems and the custom, undocumented wiring for the diesel made it even more interesting! But I like black box chalenges. Its why I drive a Jeep! LOL.:laugh:

Anyway, next time you buy a Jeep, you may want to ask for custom drawings and blueprints!:eyes:

All kiding aside, I agree that Jeeps do have enough wiring gremlins with out adding new ones. Good luck with traking down yours. Just think of it as a treasure hunt and picture how much fun you will have when you find the gremlins!:sunshine: