??? strange things happening???

whats up guys. first off i posted this in OEM tech and got one response, i am thinking maybe a few more people in here might have an idea as well so here we go.
i got a few things that are inop and i am gonna start my diagnosis tomorrow afternoon. first thing is my radio, heater, cig. lighter, rear defog., and turn signals and wipers dont work. all went out at the SAME time. not even jokeing. just driving down the street and i got a little advanced warning of what was to come, i have a radar detector that i plug into cig. lighter and the radar kept beeping and flashing LOW VOLTAGE and a few seconds later all the above mentioned items stopped working. wierd huh? :dunno:
now i am thinking maybe a bad ignition cylinder not sending acc. voltage to the acc. or a turn signal switch seeing as my wipers and turn signals dont work. the hazards work from the switch on the side of the column and high beams work when i pull back on the handle.
i dont know if all these particullar items are in the same fuse block or relays? if anyone has had this experience i would love to hear what you found or tried to fix. thanks in advance.
aperwork

we all need to know your year of Jeep and did you even check your fuses yet?

well its a 94 w/ 4.0L , auto trans, 4 door. right now i have the bottom panels of the dash off and i am checking power to all the acc. that are inop. i am also checking the fuse box under the dash on the drivers side kick panel, where the wire loom from the engine compartment goes through the firewall. it looks like the wires from the engine side go through the firewall and directly into the back of the fuse box. there is no cover for the fuses and i dont have a manual to check, i am trying to figure out what all the fuses go to. there are numbers but no other i.d. for them. some work w/ ign. on and some dont. maybe i got a bad connection at the firewall? i got to do somemore testing, but i gotta find on the I-net a pic. of what all the fuses are for so i can see if the ones that dont work are directly connected to the things that dont work at the moment.

so i tested the fuse box w/ the ign. in the ON position. still had few fuses without power. all the underhood fuses check good. and i noticed a fuse for IGN and it was good. so i checked the connector ON the steering column, about halfway down, and probed all the contacts w/ the IGN in the ON position still. and i thought to myself, what the hell, let me try w/ the IGN in the ACC position (just realized that you had to turn the key BACK instead of FORWARD. and whallah!!!! everthing that didnt work before works now! i feel like such an idiot! but now that it all works with the key in the ACC position, i should change the ign. switch and it'll be all good i hope. but i think it will be a "little bit" of a project. has anyone changed one before? or at least taken out the steering column? i wanna make sure i have all the tools i need before jumping into it.

ignition switch on the column under the dash
same thing happened on my 90.
one terminal powers all those things

assuming its close to my 90:
take off the lower trim panel, 2 bolts drop the column into your lap the switch is right there on the top.
its not that bad of a project
hour, maybe hour and a half

twoksl2 said:

ignition switch on the column under the dash
same thing happened on my 90.
one terminal powers all those things

assuming its close to my 90:
take off the lower trim panel, 2 bolts drop the column into your lap the switch is right there on the top.
its not that bad of a project
hour, maybe hour and a half

Click to expand...

so you're saying that its NOT directly connected to the ignition cylinder? i would have thought that. but every car company is different. where'd you get yours? local parts store or dealership? yeah i seen the two bolts that hold the column up. looks easy to take down. when i was looking around at the column, i wasn't sure that the switch was where you say it is, i have a friend that works at a shop that has ALLDATA so i will call him up and ask him where its at. not that i think your wrong or anything, i just wanna be 100% sure where it is. but hey guy its nice to know that someone else has had the same experience that i just had. i mean i was really thrown for a loop for a little while. thanks for your input and help.

Where ya located in the Hoosier state?

schererville/dyer area, you get out to Badlands much, i just started goin this past year. how 'bout you?

Shit I live in Dyer/Munster....parent's divorced.

I've been there 4 times. Want to go again, maybe in the springtime? The cold sucks.

I drive a black & silver trimmed XJ with silver rims. Lifted without flares.

The ignition switch is between those 2 column bolts and the firewall,its connected to the cylinder lock by a heavy(like 3/16")rod.

yeah i definetly wanna go again, but like you said gotta wait til spring when its a little less cold. i have probably seen you around, i cant remember it exactly.

i also have a black xj lifted about 2", wanna get it to 3.5" in late winter/early spring. got 31" BFG A/T on painted black stock rims w/ grey center caps.

yeah we gotta keep in contact so we can head out to badlands at the same time.

RCP Phx said:

The ignition switch is between those 2 column bolts and the firewall,its connected to the cylinder lock by a heavy(like 3/16")rod.

Click to expand...

i did see that switch, and the rod moves when you pull back on the turnsignal lever for the high beams? is that the one your talking about? it did look kind of odd when i saw a whole lotta wires coming out of it when all i thought it worked was the high beams.

I may have seen your Jeep before. Who knows. Will let you know when I plan on going.

RCP Phx said:

The ignition switch is between those 2 column bolts and the firewall,its connected to the cylinder lock by a heavy(like 3/16")rod.

Click to expand...

so i just wanted to say thanks again to RCP on his bit of help here. i replaced it about 2 hours ago and it works like a charm. only $15 and guess what the switch is an ACDelco part and we had one in stock so i lucked out in all aspects!!! and it only took me an hour to put it in from start to finish.