What do you know about wiring?

The black and yellow; white black; and solid black are the wires I have found at this point that have somehow been rubbed bare by a small rock, somehow wedged into the plug. Its a 97, and the front driver marker lights don't work, I need to get this fixed for inspection asap. any body know what these wires are, I know black and yellow is the power supply for the marker lights, not too sure about the others. Any help?

I don't have a schematic in front of me to tell you what those wires are for, but that would be your best bet.

On another note that black with yellow trace wire looks like the insulation has melted and not rubbed through. Is there any corrosion on in the plug? Especially on the terminal for that wire. If it is melted good chance you have a blown fuse.... at a closer look it does look green on that wire down in the plug, but it's hard to see.

Go out and buy a Chilton manual. There is a good electrical sectiion wire wire diagrams

Monster Mopar said:

I don't have a schematic in front of me to tell you what those wires are for, but that would be your best bet.

On another note that black with yellow trace wire looks like the insulation has melted and not rubbed through. Is there any corrosion on in the plug? Especially on the terminal for that wire. If it is melted good chance you have a blown fuse.... at a closer look it does look green on that wire down in the plug, but it's hard to see.

Click to expand...

yea the fuse keeps blowing, thats the issue I've been having. I replaced the fuse box and took the old one apart and found a few spots that was burnt inside. As of now I plan on taping the right front marker and splicing it to the left. I cut that black yellow wire cause I was sure it was the problem, it wasn't.

I do have a chilton book but I cannot find a "key" if you will that tells color codes, I've looked though page by page and cannot seem to find it...

and now thinking about it I agree it is more melted, I did pull a 20 amp out of that 10 amp circuit though. And the other wires have obvious rub marks, Ill post up tomorrow when I go home.

That is Connector C4
at your junction block (fuse block inside passenger lower kick panel)

black/yellow stripe is park lamp feed
black/orange stripe is ignition switch output (run)
white/black stripe is fused ignition (start/run)

ok, so ill wrap all them up in tape except the black/yellow wire cause, for some damn reason, I decided to cut it. Now if I remember right that was the power FROM the fuse box TO the switch, SO I could get a 10 amp inline fuse, stick it in a power side of an empty fuse holder, and be good to go from there. Right?

You are hack-patching the problem instead of fixing it... and there is a good chance it won't actually fix it.

I see a bit of corrosion in the pins across the whole bottom row of that connector. Looks like a few of them could use cleaning and (hopefully not) replacement.

BTW, haynes manuals and chilton manuals are absolutely worthless when it comes to wiring (and even more when it comes to wire color codes) on most jeeps. Get a factory service manual for your year.

How much work is it to replace this harness? I have a donor XJ for a short while, the plugs looked in good shape, most the jeep was there, I know this harness was. I know it leads to the front driver side, to the passenger then the driver. Where else does it go to? Again, I can not go look now but if somebody done this before let me know what I am getting into.

I'm not saying you need to replace the whole harness - that'd be a lot more work than I think is needed. Though it is blowing a 20 amp fuse and the wire looks kinda melty... it might be needed but better to try fixing in place before that big a project.

I'd carefully remove the bad-looking terminals from the connector (there is usually a small plastic tab that holds each in that can be pressed carefully to the side to let the terminal slide out the back of the housing) and see if they can be cleaned. If they can't, cut the same pin off the donor harness with a few inches of extra wire and use a butt splice crimp terminal to attach it to the harness in your jeep and reinsert it in the connector, see if it fixes it. You might want to get teh whole connector and a short section of the harness to it from a junkyard so you can avoid chopping up the one in your donor if you think you'll end up having to replace the whole thing anyways.

IIRC that harness goes across the back of the dashboard, but I've never pulled one apart myself. It is not a simple one to replace.

there aren't any newer models around here in the yards. Ill look at my donor, see what it'll take, I'm afraid if I replace the bad spot it'll happen again cause there is a ground or short somewhere up the line. Ill get into it tomorrow...

If the ground or short were further up/down the line more than likely that is where the wire would have melted. The wire will melt/burn/fail at the sight of the most resistance or at the sight of the short. To be sure though check for shorts using a multi-meter on the bad circuits.

I agree with kastein, just pull the pins on the corroded terminals and clean them and their respective plug socket. I use a small wire brush, sand paper, and some battery corrosion cleaner. If it needs replacement then just replace that one terminal, it'll save you a TON of time and unnecessary work.

Oh and when you reassemble the plug put some dielectric grease in there. I always try to pack the back end of the plug as well to the front side. Or you can use dielectric grease on the face of the plug and spray the back end with a battery terminal sealer/corrosion inhibitor

OK, Ill try that first, Ill try it tomorrow. Thanks!

oh yea, I'd wait to put the dielectric grease untill you have the problem fixed, it can get messy if you have to take it back apart again, hope it goes well

So, I have pried at this damn plug for an extended period of time, how does it come apart, I can see there are two little dare I say flaps, that I have tried to pry and slide tap. I tried pushing it out though the other side. Nothing. But I have decided to splice that wire a bit up stream, I found the wire again near the center console, and will run from there over and a new I am guessing modified plug, I am drilling it out tomorrow, then re-grouping...