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left turn signal stops flashing when brake lights on

C

CLOISER

NAXJA Forum User
Location
USA
1998 4.0 5-speed

left turn signal stops flashing when i press brake pedal and brake lights come on, right turn signal is fine

okay where should i start looking? man my jeep is starting to piss me off one problem after another :gee:
 
Look for a burned out brake light bulb. 'Sounds funny, but some cars are like that. Not sure if the a Cherokee is or not. My CJ was.
 
My XJ had the same problem after a trip the desert, I spent 2 weeks trying to figure it out with a multimeter, thinking I pinched or rubbed through a wire somewhere.

Turns out it was one of the filaments in the brake light bulb, it had broken loose and fallen onto the other filament inside the bulb itself, causing it to short out when I hit the brakes. Check your bulbs as tbburg suggested.
 
checked out rear tail light bulbs and they are all good, what else could be causing this?
 
Check out ALL the bulbs. My wifes TJ had a similar symptom,
it was a bulb.

edit: If you have a DMM, check for a short between the fillaments.
I agree that it should be the rear lamps but if that doesn't pan out
may as well check them all.
 
Last edited:
all the bulbs are good, there's just something wrong with the rear passenger middle bulb, from the car to the computer i forgot what it was doing but something like it wouldn't come on when brakes pressed and left signal on
 
Jeeps just take a bit of work as they get older, part of the 'fun'.

Really not a whole lot of wiring/bulbs/sockets/connectors involved, Just dig thru it, should not take long or cost a lot.

Pull all the bulbs from both taillight assemblies and swap sides, careful of mixups. Retest. ( Have a good looksee at each socket while passing)

Clean/Reconnect any grounds to frame/body. some in left side behind spare and panel.

Good Luck,
Orange
 
Last edited:
Aren't the turn signal and stop lights bulbs two different bulbs on an XJ?

When you say turn signal stops flashing when brakes applied are you talking about the outside lights? or the dash indicator?

From my experience when this problem is exhibited from the dash indicators only, it is the turn / hazard switch in the steering column that is the most likely source of the problem.
 
Last edited:
Boatwrench said:
Aren't the turn signal and stop lights bulbs two different bulbs on an XJ?

When you say turn signal stops flashing when brakes applied are you talking about the outside lights? or the dash indicator?

From my experience when this problem is exhibited from the dash indicators only, it is the turn / hazard switch in the steering column that is the most likely source of the problem.
Click to expand...

Good point.

When a lamp isn't working its pretty easy to determine the missing element. Power, ground, filament. So, which is it?
 
Does the indicator on the dash stay illuminated and just stops flashing?

I'm still leaning towards a switch problem, hows the hazards working?
 
There is a common ground on the drivers side rear behind the panel where a spare tire is attached.
 
I vote ground, find them, clean them, snug them. I gave up on one recently that was causing engine issues, turned out to be the ground for the left tail lights....took 3 hours+ for a fellow Jeeper at the dealer to track down with an FSM.
 
Boatwrench said:
Does the indicator on the dash stay illuminated and just stops flashing?

I'm still leaning towards a switch problem, hows the hazards working?
Click to expand...

I thought you would have overdosed on all that birthday cake sugar! party1:
 
ya so grounds (behind left panel where a spare goes) are good and i noticed it has same problem with hazards on (left signal on touch brake it stops flashing, hazards on touch brake they stop flashing) and when i put hazard on sometimes left blinker hesitates to start flashing, i'm thinking maybe it is this switch problem spoken of
 
Well, I was thinking maybe your late model went to the combo turn/hazard flasher, might be worth taking a quick look at it.
 
so we are talking about the actual stalk that comes out the steering column? thanks for the help
 
I'm talking about the flasher unit under the dash.

And the others are talking about the switch inside the steering column, not the stalk.
 
ok i didn't rip into it today but is the stalk integrated with the switch like on the wrangler? i'm guessing yes, where is this flasher unit, again i'm assuming the setup is same as wrangler with swtches for signals and hazards integrated in the little unit with the stalk coming out in the steering column
 
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