Sooo...having some issues

Well, I've been having some electrical issues with my XJ for a while now and I am NO electrician. They never really bothered me before. But, now that I'm getting better paychecks, I figured I'd fix stuff before upgrading stuff. Lol. Anyway, I tried searching, but there's nothing but billions of questions and write-ups for stuff that doesn't help me. So, I figured I'd try a new thread. On to it, then. '01 XJ, 4.0L, power everything.

First, my dome/interior lights stay on 24/7. Doors closed, switches off...still on. I just took the bulbs out and use the map lights to see.

Next, my rear defroster doesn't...defrost. I hit the switch and the little light comes on, but the window doesn't heat up in the least.

Finally I'm gettting some kind of feedback in my speakers. Sometimes, the driver's side door speakers don't come on until I turn the speakers way up. Almost always, I can hear a whine in the speakers that goes with the RPMs (higher pitch for higher RPMs/lower pitch for lower RPMs).

I think that's about it. Lol. Thanks in advance, everyone. atriot:

Dome/interior lights--unswitched power source, a bad switch in a door or the hatch and those lights will run as longs as there is power.

Check for power where the harness attaches to the rear glass.

Whine could be a lot of things, likely from the alternator. The speaker issue sounds like the radio itself has problems.

Hmmm. That sounds like a simple check/fix on the lights.

I wish I had a wire tester thing. Lol.

Well, the whine is coming from the speakers. If I turn the head unit off, it all stops. Maybe a bad ground?

Try running an additional ground from the alternator body to the unibody, see if that helps.

Joe, correct me if I'm wrong...

An alternator makes AC, hence alternator not generator. If the diode pack (6 of them ,I think...) in the alternator (that converts the AC to the DC we need) has a single bad diode in it, it will leak AC. The whine he is hearing could well be the AC running on top of the DC. The fact that the pitch (frequency) of the noise rises with RPM sort of backs my theory as the alternator's AC frequency must change with RPM.

So either take it to a shop for a diode pack change, change it yourself, or replace the alterantor. Won't hurt to add a ground, but I think we have AC riding the bus.

It isn't the alternator that is inducing the noise..you can replace every part on the alternator and it will still be there. There is something picking up the signal from the alternator itself, the amplifier in the head-unit (or external) is then amplifying the signal that it is getting, making it audible through the speakers.

If you have an amp hooked up to your speakers then you are getting noise induced through the RCA wires.

If you have a pioneer head-unit they are notorious for having noise issues.

So the question at hand is what head-unit do you have, and do you have an external amplifier hooked up in the vehicle going to said speakers?

Low output of one door spe is most likely bad ground to door. Lots of XJ have this problem.

I have an Alpine headunit and I do have an amp. The bad ground might come from the wires themselves. I made my doors removable and i pull the wires through the metal when removing them. I think that might have stripped them a little. Thought of another one, too. My door locks sometimes don't work. A lot of times, I have to reach over to the passenger side to lock the doors. Sometimes, that doesn't work either.