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Installed HD headlight harness now headlights stay on until ignition is turned off

MichiganXJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
SE Michigan
Over the weekend I installed the Autopal H4 housings, and also installed the "heavy duty" headlight harness from eautoparts (basically a generic copy of the go-jeep or FitchVA version).

The lights work fine, but now when I turn the headlight switch to "off", the lights will stay on as long as the Jeep is running. Once I turn off the ignition, the lights turn off.

I don't see how I could have installed the harness incorrectly (it's only 2 connections and 2 grounds).

I will note that before I installed the new lights, there was one or two incidents where the lights stayed on after I turned off the ignition, but then went off by themselves after about 90 seconds. I have no idea if that's some weird factory feature or what. (Edit: Nevermind. This sounds like the Headlight Sentinel feature at work)

Any ideas?
 
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Are there new relays in the system who's coils are picking up 12v from the ignition switch? I haven't studied into replacement harnesses much, but I would imagine that you would use the juice from the original lighting harness to fire the coils in the relays, and have battery power flow through the contacts. Is it possible that wires got crossed? Or is it the Headlight Sentinel acting up? Sounds like you need to spend some quality time with a Volt Ohm Meter.
 
Over the weekend I installed the Autopal H4 housings, and also installed the "heavy duty" headlight harness from eautoparts (basically a generic copy of the go-jeep or FitchVA version).

The lights work fine, but now when I turn the headlight switch to "off", the lights will stay on as long as the Jeep is running. Once I turn off the ignition, the lights turn off.

I don't see how I could have installed the harness incorrectly (it's only 2 connections and 2 grounds).

I will note that before I installed the new lights, there was one or two incidents where the lights stayed on after I turned off the ignition, but then went off by themselves after about 90 seconds. I have no idea if that's some weird factory feature or what. (Edit: Nevermind. This sounds like the Headlight Sentinel feature at work)

Any ideas?

My 91 has daytime runners. It's a Canadian Jeep though, if that makes a difference. When the light switch is off the lights are dimmer. There is a fuse that controls just the daytime runners. Do you have this fuse? I cant remember the exact name of it and it's damn cold outside!
 
If you leave them on and remove the key from the ignition, they should stay on for ~90 seconds. If they will not turn off after 2 minutes, I would bet that it is one of the two following issues:

1) If you have fog lights, you need to remove the fog light fuse that is in the front passenger side kick panel. You will lose the fog light function.
2) Otherwise, my bet is that you are using cheap relays. Replace them with good quality relays and the problem should go away. I had this problem until I switched to good quality relays.

Edit: just remembered - try turning off the lights. If they stay on, then try flashing the high beams. If the regular lights turn off after you flash the high beams, it is definitely one of the above fixes - I can't remember which.

Over the weekend I installed the Autopal H4 housings, and also installed the "heavy duty" headlight harness from eautoparts (basically a generic copy of the go-jeep or FitchVA version).

The lights work fine, but now when I turn the headlight switch to "off", the lights will stay on as long as the Jeep is running. Once I turn off the ignition, the lights turn off.

I don't see how I could have installed the harness incorrectly (it's only 2 connections and 2 grounds).

I will note that before I installed the new lights, there was one or two incidents where the lights stayed on after I turned off the ignition, but then went off by themselves after about 90 seconds. I have no idea if that's some weird factory feature or what. (Edit: Nevermind. This sounds like the Headlight Sentinel feature at work)

Any ideas?
 
maybe the wire that SHOULD be going to your old headlight socket, is instead going to ACC..?
the lights come on w/ the jeep too, right?


do you have a male spade plugged into one of the old headlight sockets?
 
88xjLover. there is a fuse for the DRL? I also have a 91 Canadian XJ and this is the first I have heard of it. I made GoJeeps Harness as well.

I ended up pulling the DRL module, to avoid the buzzing from the relay caused by the DRL sending only six volts through the relay. I also ran a jumper wire in the DRL plug in socket to retain my high beam indicator light. It works perfectly now. I have full functionality, with the ninety second courtesy/sentry lights feature. Just no DRL. Not that it matters, I always turn them on after i start the car.
 
Mine do this too after installing the HID kit from tcm glx. Never did before. Well... my stock head lights would stay on if I shut off the ignition before I shut off the head lights. But if I turned off the head light switch before the ignition they'd go right out. Now with the HID's they just stay on until I turn off the ignition too.
 
If you leave them on and remove the key from the ignition, they should stay on for ~90 seconds. If they will not turn off after 2 minutes, I would bet that it is one of the two following issues:

1) If you have fog lights, you need to remove the fog light fuse that is in the front passenger side kick panel. You will lose the fog light function.
2) Otherwise, my bet is that you are using cheap relays. Replace them with good quality relays and the problem should go away. I had this problem until I switched to good quality relays.

Edit: just remembered - try turning off the lights. If they stay on, then try flashing the high beams. If the regular lights turn off after you flash the high beams, it is definitely one of the above fixes - I can't remember which.

I'm going to try the suggestion to flash the high beams.

I don't have any foglights.

The relays do appear to be cheap made-in-Taiwan stuff. The whole harness is made in Taiwan, but I read good reviews, so I went with it. I'll see if I can grab some better quality relays in the next few days. What's a good brand? Bosch?

Also, the harness is in fact plugged into the original passenger side headlight socket.

Thanks for the input so far.
 
I assume it is wired into your acc. ?

Would this be correct? I think the new relays get their power from the original headlight wires. Unless the car has DRLs, the ignition switch should not be in the loop. I'm curious about this because I'm going to try to build my own version of this, using factory fog light relays, if the amperage rating is sufficient.

To the OP- did the system behave properly before you added the new harness? I assume that you do in fact have Headlight Sentinel, given the way they sometimes behave. I will agree that it sounds like the contacts in a relay are sticking.
 
I just looked at the link- the install seems pretty straight-forward. My guess would be a faulty relay- somehow it's not breaking. And, turning the key off shouldn't matter. If you figure it out, post it up. It would be interesting to see what the problem is.
 
Ok, if you kill the headlights by turning off the ignition switch (headlight switch already off), when you turn the key back on are the headlights ON (headlight switch still off)???
 
Two sticking relays? Both headlights? And the headlights should get power whether the key is on or not. The key should have no effect. Check the switching side of the relays to see if they have power after the switch is turned off with a test light or voltmeter.
 
Update: Flashing the high-beams will turn the headlights off.

From what I recall this is a relay that sticks shut. Like I mentioned above upgrade to a better relay and the problem should go away. Bosch relays are good.
Edit: If you have 2 relays for the low beams you need to replace both with better relays. I went to Radio Shack (maybe it was NAPA auto parts) and got some - the problem went away.
 
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