Headlights Blink/Go out

I've had an issue with my headlights going dim and flicker and then return to normal. It has done this previously but they have always continued to work. It cleared up and stopped for a few months.

Last night is started again. This time they would totally go out and not come back on. In an effort to see if the high beams would work, I pulled the stalk and the lights would come back on. When I released the stalk they would go off. Luckily I was about 2 miles from home so I just held the stalk back until I pulled in the driveway.

Anyone else have this happen? Where should I look first? I'm dumb when it comes to electrical stuff.

It is a 1994 Jeep Cherokee Sport.

Sounds like your connections are nasty. Take a look at the plugs that go into the bulbs and see if they're corroded.

When was the last time you were in the buckets or changed a bulb?

I haven't ever messed with any of the headlights yet. I wasn't sure if it would be a relay, harness, headlight switch, or the turn signal stalk.

It is strange that the turn signal stalk, when pulled back, let the headlights work. If it was a connection issue up front, you would think that it would be happening no matter what until it was addressed.

I'll check all the connections this weekend and throw a little dielectric grease on them for good measure to rule them out.

Do you mean it lights the high beams or it turns the low beams back on?

If the low beams are intermittent, but you can actuate the high beams when you pull the stalk back, that's because those two wires are separate on the plug. You might have enough junk in the low beam pin to stop them from working.

I'm not sure where the factory harness grounds to, but one gunked up connector might be forcing the other headlight to act similar. In either case, the plugs would be the first place I would start.

When I pull the stalk back, only the high beams come on.

I played with the headlight in both the high and low beams and the flickering/blinking/going out happens in either selection.

I would wonder if the stalk somehow bypasses the thermal overload in the headlight switch. Just a guess.

I had a similar issue. Never thought to try the stalk to see if the lights would stay on that way. Just figured my XJ wanted to be British.

I solved my problem with the addition of relays. Now my headlight switch only carries current enough to switch the relays. I got pieces from Daniel Stearn. Others go for pre-built harnesses. I think Putco is a popular option. If you search around you can find a few different routes to take to compensate for the inadequate and aging wiring. The resistance on old connections only goes up. At some point it starts to generate more heat than the system will tolerate and you then begin to have Lucas-like features.

I assume the dash/other lights remained on? I had a 95 with a bad headlight switch, and everything would cut off.

Ronbo said:

I assume the dash/other lights remained on? I had a 95 with a bad headlight switch, and everything would cut off.

Click to expand...

This sounds dumb, but I don't remember. I think they stayed on but I was looking out the windshield into darkness. I think they stayed on. I might try to recreate the issue soon.

You might check your body grounds.

I had a similar issue, with those symptoms. Low beams flicker; high beams only when pulling back on the stalk. I first thought it was the headlight switch. Replaced it twice, each time it worked for a while, so I thought it was fixed. I had already run new 12 ga wire to the headlights, and relays to drive them, so it wasn't headlight wiring.

Turned out to be the column multi-function switch (turn signal, high beams, etc).

Ed, what year is yours? Intermittent or fixed wipers? I have a brand new (installed for 1 hour of run time) switch for a '95 with fied wipers I'd make you a real decent deal on. I misordered - mine has intermittent wipers, and the two don't interchange.

David Bricker / SYR

David,

My XJ is a '94. It has the intermittent wipers but sometimes when you turn them on, they just run at slow speed. After a while they go intermittent. The guy before me swapped in a different column so maybe there is something going on with the stalk.

OK, so the extra switch I have won't work for you. I would replace the column switch as the next part in determining the problem. Mine has been solid after that replacement. Rockauto carries them fro about $60.

David Bricker / SYR

Your headlight switch has a circuit breaker in it. The wiring is under engineered in the Jeep. There's excessive resistance now with age.

Add a supplemental harness, take the load off the switch, and have 35% brighter headlamps.

http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/hd-headlight-harness-write-up-11306/

Could be any number of things. The circuit breaker built into the headlight switch only shuts down the low beams and parking lights on the later models.

Separate fuse for the high beams,

It all comes together at the dimmer switch. Maybe your rod/switch is out of adjustment? Maybe the dimmer switch is on it's last legs.

My dimmer switch was toasted inside, contact would be an iffy thing. If i switched it to high beams and back to low beams a few times the low beams would come back on. Sometimes the low beams would just go out while I was driving. I'm not sure if the dimmer switch was overheating and acting like a bi-metal (heat up/cool down flex and break/or make contact) or the circuit breaker was tripping, whatever it was it seemed to be heat generated as it would happen at about the same point (time) in my early morning drive to work.

My headlight connector under the airbox looked OK, no obvious overheating telltales, like discoloration or melting. I cleaned the connector pins anyway.

My headlight connectors were badly corroded, I also cleaned them up.

If excessive heat is being generated, for whatever reason, or even from a combination of reasons, the headlight switch circuit breaker may trip or as in my case the dimmer switch may overheat and act up.

Clean up the connectors, check your grounds, try working the dimmer switch and listening for the click. Try adjusting the dimmer switch actuator rod.

Cruisers recommendation of adding relays to take the load off of the stock wiring is likely to make the system more reliable and less prone to heat damage.

If all else fails, look at the headlight switch connector. I've found varying degrees of heat damage to this connector on every XJ I've ever owned. When I say varying degrees it was everything from a slight discoloration (brown patches) to partial meltdown (looked like melted candle wax). The headlight connector damage usually traced back to a faulty (overheating) instrument cluster dimmer (built into the headlight switch). Not likely but possible, not the first thing I'd look at. Have you had any issues with the instrument light or parking light fuse blowing (fuse 15 or fuse 19)?

The other day my headlights went out. In the process of getting home I managed to loose the marker and dash lights too. When I pulled over to mess with the headlight switch, the headlights came back on.

Since everything seemed to point to the headlight switch, I bought another and replaced it. Still nothing was working. We then started checking fuses and found #15 was blown. This fuse controls the marker lights and dash lights. We solved this issue but still no headlights.

We kept messing with stuff, looking at leads we found online and trying to use the Hayes manual wiring harness but it seemed to be lacking in several details. Online searches for a more accurate diagram proved futile.

Today my Father-In-Law's nephew came over and he had access to an online wiring diagram through the an auto repair site for the '94. This is what we needed. Come to find out, there is a tan wire that feeds between the dimmer switch and headlight switch that Larry (FIL) found didn't have resistance. He then pulled the plug from the headlight switch and sought out the tan wire. Sure enough the connector and wire had separated. This connection must have been lose and finally gave way, losing power completely.

We repaired the main power feed wire and now have low and high beams. It took a lot of investigation but a good multimeter and an accurate wiring harness made all the difference.

I hope with helps somebody that has the same issues.

You ever need the FSM wiring diagrams for a 94 I have them. Glad you got it worked out.