Dome Light Issues .. Almost fixed itself ?

Ok so 2001 4door with dome light problems here , lets see if anyone has some advice for me .


So about a month ago I power washed my rig and After that my dome light was stuck on .
I disconnected the battery to let whatever it was dry and the next day checked all my fuses and hooked the batt back up .
the dome light was still stuck on and I couldn't get the lights off , but the rear passenger would cause it to briefly dim a bit right when closed .

So after searching I went around one by one and unplugged them to see if a certain one unplugged would fix it indicating a bad door sensor , including the gate .

After that didn't work I unplugged the harness to the rear dome in case that was damaged , Obviously this turned off the rear but unfortunately only the rear . this was in the rear pass fender.

Im pretty sure I unplugged the rear gate harness at one point but can't remember now .

So with the dome light still stuck on I removed all the interior trim to expose the wire thinking maybe there was a nick or obvious cut in the wire causing it to ground to the body.

This is where I remembered cutting and welding a bit to the drivers rear fender for my cut and fold bumper not long before all of this started .
It is hard to see in that area but I checked the connections and didn't find obvious damage .

So I got busy with work and some time passed while I had to unhook my battery all the time because I refused to pull the fuse .

Where I'm at Now

Anyway So this week I hook up the Battery to go some where and the dome lights magically seem to operate normally except the passenger rear door does not trigger the dome even after I replaced the sensor .


Id like to try any suggestions before It ends up at the shop

The door pin switches adjust by sliding them in and out. One might be slid in too far and is just barley making contact at times. You can unscrew the switch from the door jamb, disconnect it, slide it back out, screw it back in the gently shut the door to readjust the pin.

Just one thing to look at. Also, isn't there a timer on the newer XJ's that keep the lights on for a few seconds? That timer might be bad.

xjtrailrider said:

The door pin switches adjust by sliding them in and out. One might be slid in too far and is just barley making contact at times. You can unscrew the switch from the door jamb, disconnect it, slide it back out, screw it back in the gently shut the door to readjust the pin.

Just one thing to look at. Also, isn't there a timer on the newer XJ's that keep the lights on for a few seconds? That timer might be bad.

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O_O I never knew that! I glued two layers of cut up spongy mouse pad together to fix my door switch issue.

Alexia said:

O_O I never knew that! I glued two layers of cut up spongy mouse pad together to fix my door switch issue.

Click to expand...

I didn't either until I replaced a bad pin switch on my '00. The new switch looked "longer" but I put it in anyway. I was shutting the door slowly while watching the pin switch and I saw it self adjust. Darn good idea if you ask me:yelclap:

I don't really know if it is relevant or not for the 2001 model, but earlier models had some of the wiring for the dome lights run under the carpet. The splices would get wet, turn green and sometimes ground the circuit to the floorboards. I ended up with a constant (24/7) dim dome light.

Some models have a little rubber cap that slips over the end of the door switch plunger. If the cap falls off the door switch may not shut off.

IIRC the door switches are ~$7 from the dealer, I had to replace my drivers door one when I got my jeep.