interior light, does it come on with the tailgate... and questions about alarms...

Ok I having problems with my new "lazerline" alarm... most of the time when I arm it, it's give's a error message that a door is not closed properly. The guys that installed it said that the switch's on each door that turn the interior light on were corroded and didnt make the best contact. Well all four door switch's work fine, however does the tailgate have one ?, I cant find one !, is it built into the lock/release mechanizim ?

On the occasions that the alarm arms correctly, five minutes later it will go off for no reason !, i've even stood there a watched it go off and no one has been near it ?

My 88 has it in the lock mechanism. Found this out the hard way with a broken latch stud when i first got it. Wore the battery down overnight. Say Hi to Marcus if you ever run into down there.

http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/

Re: interior light, does it come on with the tailgate... and questions about alarms...

browneee said:

....... The guys that installed it said that the switch's on each door that turn the interior light on were corroded and didnt make the best contact. ......

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If that was the problem, then the corrosion would prevent the switch from closing the circuit and thereby prevent the alarm from triggering in the first place. The alarm guys may be confused.

I've had two switches fail on me -- the hatch and the right passenger --both have failed in the open position.

Try to verify that they have actually wired the trigger correctly. Do this by arming the alarm, and then try to trigger it by opening each door -- arm after each trigger. You might also want to sit in the vehicle(if you don't have a proximity sensor), arm it, then try shaking the wires that they installed to see if it triggers--due to poor insulation?

The tailgate switch is built into the latch, and tends to corrode, but as Lou points out, it would have failed in the open-circuit position, so it would indicate a closed hatch even when it's open. If you have a rear interior light, the switch in that controls whether the hatch turns the light on. That switch can sometimes get a little flakey, so try it in both positions.

Re: interior light, does it come on with the tailgate... and questions about alarms...

I´d probably remove the fuse and the bulbs and do an ohm test. A better test is to use a 9 volt battery and a volt meter in series. Partial grounds through moisture, will show up with 9 volts, often better than they will with a standard ohm meter.
Don´t really know if it´s still a problem with the 94, but on ealier models the cables under the drivers side carpet had a tendancy to corrode (at the splices) and pass current to ground through moisture and oxides in the dome lights. You could sometimes remove the dome light cover and at night see a very dim glow.

Matthew Currie said:

The tailgate switch is built into the latch, and tends to corrode, but as Lou points out, it would have failed in the open-circuit position, so it would indicate a closed hatch even when it's open. If you have a rear interior light, the switch in that controls whether the hatch turns the light on. That switch can sometimes get a little flakey, so try it in both positions.

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Yeah the switch has failed in the open-circuit postition as the light never comes on...

I do indeed have a light in the cargo area, I'l check that in the morning... I've order'd and hayne JeeP book so when it arrive's I'll sit down and have a good read...

Re: interior light, does it come on with the tailgate... and questions about alarms...

Lou said:

If that was the problem, then the corrosion would prevent the switch from closing the circuit and thereby prevent the alarm from triggering in the first place. The alarm guys may be confused.

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The alarm guys may be confused alright...

Lou said:

Try to verify that they have actually wired the trigger correctly. Do this by arming the alarm, and then try to trigger it by opening each door -- arm after each trigger. You might also want to sit in the vehicle(if you don't have a proximity sensor), arm it, then try shaking the wires that they installed to see if it triggers--due to poor insulation?

Click to expand...

Thanks mate will try this in the morning...

My rear dome light wasn't coming on in my '99 XJ when i opened the liftgate, and it would when any of the other four doors were opened. This bothered me so I took apart the dome light after determing that there was nothing wrong with the liftgate. Upon further inspection, I found that the circuitry inside the domelight was melted at the plug. (my dome light's switch didn't work either, and this melted spot was also the culprit for that problem.) So, I went to a junk yard and $1 and five minutes later I had got replacement inards for my dome light. Solved the problem.