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headlights out

mojojojo

mojojojo

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Gresham, Oregon
so i replaced the factory fog lights along time ago with cheapo 55watt replacments. i wired them directly into the factory plugs so i can use the factory fog switch. they worked fine for over a year. i got a new bumper and decided to go with a lil nicer style (still 55watt). anyway i wired them up today tested them and everything looked normal. upon final installation and the moment of truth, i hear a small pop then some smoke from behind the passenger headlight. now i have no dash lights, no running lights, and no headlights or high beams. i checked all the fuses under the dash. tried an extra headlight i have laying around. then tested the headlight plug and there is no power. i searched but can't find anything relating to self inflicted wounds :rattle: HELP!!!!! :D
 
You better get that fixed before next weekend, I'm pulling all nighters this week to get mine ready.
 
could you have blown one of the under hood fuses? And yeah night run for the win looks like the GF is coming after all, Shes also shopping for jeeps now :D
 
check fusible links near the battery at the power distribution thing, I did the exact same thing to mine a while back and blew two of them,I lost all exterior lights except turnsignals, changed a bulb and it shorted inside the foglamp when I turned it on. Better check your wiring going to the foglamp bulb too, M positive was fused together with other wires right into the harness
 
bcmaxx said:
check fusible links near the battery at the power distribution thing, I did the exact same thing to mine a while back and blew two of them,I lost all exterior lights except turnsignals, changed a bulb and it shorted inside the foglamp when I turned it on. Better check your wiring going to the foglamp bulb too, M positive was fused together with other wires right into the harness
Click to expand...

sounds like the right track. anyone have a picture or wire scematic of which fuse / link.
 
oh and dont test them for continuity because they usually test fine, grab em and pull them,should feel like a solid wire not a peice of spaghetti. good luck
 
mojojojo said:
i don't know where they are to check them ? i am electricly illiterit.
Click to expand...

big forking black box that opens pretty much opposite the airbox
 
i don't see a big black box. i see 4 relays and a silver box with a crapload of wires going to it. i assume this is the distribution thing? are the 4 relays related to the lights at all ?
 
what year is it?
head lights should never have fuses. they will always have circuit breakers. and there 2 seperate circuits. so you either burned a wire. which should have never happened. thats what fuses and breakers are for. but i would check the relays.
 
ok i have the same year and i have the same cheap fogs wired in to the stock wiring.

i will go out tomorow and run down what could have happened.
 
Rod,
Are the fogs the only thing you changed? Start with them, and work your way inward. make sure you dont have your power and ground wires crossed up somewhere Or a power wire pinched and shorting to ground. If it let the smoke out the second you hit the switch you either have a short directly to ground, or the new lights pull too much amperage and cooked the fuse and/or wiring. It shouldnt really be that hard to find the problem. Do you have power for everything else, ( vehicle starts, runs, stereo works etc.) I dont know what all the fuse links control but I thought the were for higher load components than the lights. I cant seem to find a decent wiring schematic online, so I cant be much help there.
-Ryan

EDIT: I just found a semi decent schematic it looks like there is a single fuse link that feeds power to the headlamp switch and fog lamp switch. It does not give me a location, or color for it. Start checking those out. As was stated earlier they shoudl feel solid when you try to pull them apart, not stretchy. but make sure you dont ahve any shorts before repairing and tryign again, otherwise your back in the same boat.
 
Last edited:
the only thing i did was swapped out the old fogs for the new ones. but i did just hard wire them into the factory fog wires (no relay/fuse) everything works except the headlights, highbeams, parking lights and dashlights.. my guess is the fogs are pulling too much power. i have a haynes and a chiltons manual but i don't know how to read wire diagrams :bawl: . I looked all over the engine bay and took out the headlight to look behind it and don't see any burnt wires etc... but it's pretty tight in there to see anything. it smells and looked like it was smoking from right behind the passenger headlight near the battery.
 
here are some diagram pic's if it helps anyone point me in the right direction. i don't know how to read them except i know where the head lights and switch is.
100_0142-1.jpg


100_0137-1.jpg
 
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say something on your rig currently doesn't match that diagram.
 
do your turn signals work?
 
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