Interior lights staying on

[Agreen]

98 4 door sport

Through my search, this seems to be a common problem... and commonly never solved.

So far I have unplugged the headlight switch, all 4 door switches (the rear ones are hard to get to, as you have to remove the front seatbelts) and the rear hatch main harness connector. Both dome lights are disconnected, and I had to remove the bulbs from the courtesy lights in the floor boards so it wouldn't drain my battery.

That leaves everything unplugged, and all switches have been tested with an ohmmeter. They all open when pressed, close when released.

There is a 70~ish ohm ground on the yellow wire, which is the common to all door switches.

So now, I'm faced with having to rip out the harness and find what is chaffing it. It seems like this is a common issue with the XJ, so SOMEONE has to know something. Maybe a "common rub point" or a self-tapping screw in the unibody somewhere?

If nothing else, can someone please help me out with how that harness is routed through the vehicle?

I really don't want to continue tearing the inside apart to figure this out, but I'm pretty much there as it is. I have the driver's side dash ripped apart, both side door sills pulled, both front seatbelts removed, and the rear hatch trim is completely removed. I'm about to go through and remove the entire interior in hopes of finding the problem. I guess while I'm at it, I can give the carpet a good cleaning.

 

[Heavyopp]

I would look at the wiring closest to the driver door -- I had wires broken in the rubber boot between driver door and door frame -- had to pull back the boot to see them

How close are the interior light wires from that boot? Are there any interior light wires that actually enter the doors thru that boot?

 

[Agreen]

As far as I know, the wires for the interior lights don't enter the door through that boot. The harness connection for the door switch is under the trim by the driver's seat.

 

[Agreen]

Update:
I unplugged the connector at the power distribution center that goes to the interior lights. I then used a razor blade and started chasing the yellow wire back. Luckily, the 5 wire splice was about 18" down from the connector, so I didn't have to go very far.

I labeled and cut the wires at the splice until the the short was gone. So now I have mostly functional interior lights, except for the rear hatch. I have to chase that one out, but at least I don't have to rip everything apart to find it now. Half-splitting is awesome!

I also have some pics of what I've done, but I'll have to open a Flickr account or something to show them here. I guess my post count is too low?

On the bright side, I also ripped out the carpet. It needed cleaning REALLY bad.