wiring:door pre-switch short dome light always on! help

1987 4.0 laredo aw4 242 loaded but no power windows/locks 4dr.


hello,
I was working on my rig today and my intermittent dome light short is here for good. Its stuck on. I had my dome light pop on/off a week ago. I pulled the drivers door switch pushed it and got nothing. I wiggled it and it temporarily turned off. it just recently popped back on again while i was driving and irritated. I gave the interior panel a kick and it went off. Today it is stuck on and drained my battery 3 times. I had to pull the interior light bulbs for now. I guess thats what i deserve for kicking it. I believe the wire broke somewhere inside the body/fender?. I cant figure out how to get to these wires and trace them and find the break. The drivers side has two black wires with a white stripe.They arent getting anything so im suspecting a solid chassis short. The passenger door only has one wire on the switch which i thought was :wierd:. Does the passenger side only have one wire? IF so, then this might be my problem. If thats it, I still cant figure out how to get to the wires in that closed compartment.

Also, the rear hatch door has never turned the dome light on or off. I checked the switch inside and it does nothing.

Thanks, this is a pain having a random dead battery. Im hopefully going to be able to get to it tomorrow. Does anyone know the path of the wires on the front drivers door switch and how to get to them?

ttt anybody else have this problem?

try doing a search i seem to remember reading about the headlight switch itself being the culprit but im not sure

i did search, i just dont know how/where to get to those wires.
the other people had different problems.

for example, if you were to pull your door open switch and pull the wires off the switch and they went back through the hole in the body. you cant reach them from the interior or door jamb. i dont want to have to pull off the fender if i dont have to. plus i have no clue which route these wires take to check for a break.

my headlight switch is ok, when i turn it to activate the cabin lights the lights get brighter, so i know that whatever is making the lights stay on is taking the path of least resistance. plus the wires in the door jambs twist so this must be the culprit.

The dome light always has power and the door switches complete the circuit to *ground*. If the light stays on it is likely a switch (either door or at a lamp) or a short in the groud circuit. On my 87 I had one door switch that needed the rubber end on the plunger or it would always make contact. When the rubber end on the switch plunger would wear through, I'd steal one from another door, just that one door gave me (clearance) problems.
When removing the switch, you have to be carefull no to turn the whole switch or the wires corkscrew on you and get tangeled and possibly damaged. The two pats of the switch sometimes rust together and it takes some oil and urging for them to turn seperatly. The swithces aren't the universale type and pretty much a Jeep item, but they are relatively cheap at Quadratech or Crown, I keep a couple of spares, they screw up periodically.
Th wire bundle and splice under the drivers side carpet, get worn from stepping on them all the time (under the carpet padding) and/or the splice corrodes from the carpet padding staying moist all the time. It often turns into a green white blob, that partially shorts to ground.
The fuse for most all of the courtesy lights is fuse number 5, 10 amp.
The switch in the rear hatch can rust into a glob and depending on which posisiton the rear dome light switch is in, can short much of the system to ground.

Ya, Im going to change the switch, and check the rear hatch when i have time. I just pulled the dome lights for now as a last resort thanks for the help on all my retarded questions. LOL