Courtesy light ground locations

Hi, I've searched but am unable to find out this specific information. I've had to take out the bulb from the courtesy light because it burns constantly. I'm assuming it's a poor ground somewhere, and would love to get this sorted, particularly as I've got an overhead console to fit, and not being able to use the lights would reduce its usefulness somewhat!

TIA

The courtesy(lower) and dome lights are controlled by either the door jamb switches, or the headlight switch.

Power is supplied via pink, grounding via yellow.

You need to trace the YEL. The is a 16 pin connector in the left kick panel, through which these wires pass. It will allow you to break the connections in order to determine on what side YEL is getting grounded. Pull the bulb(s) out first.

Not sure I understand the question, is it the reading (map light) or the floor/roof courtesy light? What year, not sure it´s pertanant, but most of my experience is with early models.
On most I´ve seen, the power to the bulb is always hot and the switch for the (reading/vanity/cargo) lights completes the ground.
For the floor and interior cieling courtesy lights, the bulb is always under power and the door switches (or the headlight switch) makes/completes the ground.
I had a sagging door hindge, that caused a door switch to stay open (completing the circuit to ground). Had another where the rubber dust cover for the door switch had worn through, causing a door switch to stay out, completing the curcuit to ground.
Had some splices (soldered and taped) connections, under the drivers side carpet fray and complete a circuit to ground, which caused the interior ceiling light to stay on.
My best guess is you´ve got a switch hanging or a short in the after bulb wiring, before a switch.

Hmm, as I feared, it appears that it's not as simple as I first thought! I tried replacing the door jamb switches a while back, but with no effect.

In answer to your questions, it's a 93 Sport, with a single dome light in the centre of the cabin, just behind the front seats, and a feed for a rear light (not yet connected to the soundbar).

Am I right in saying that according to what Lou says, I'm looking at a bit of detective work to find where the wiring goes to?

Chancer said:

Hmm, as I feared, it appears that it's not as simple as I first thought! I tried replacing the door jamb switches a while back, but with no effect.

In answer to your questions, it's a 93 Sport, with a single dome light in the centre of the cabin, just behind the front seats, and a feed for a rear light (not yet connected to the soundbar).

Am I right in saying that according to what Lou says, I'm looking at a bit of detective work to find where the wiring goes to?

Click to expand...

Are you sure your doors switches are not setup too "deep"? My problem was a drivers side rear door switch. All I had to do was loosen it up by a few turns and the light started to turn itself off. To look for it, I opened each door (one door at a time) and pushed the switch in with my finger. This allowed me to find the culprit. Now if you have a problem with more then one switch... well, enlist some help: pop open all 4 doors and have 4 people push in the switches. If the light goes out, have people let loose one at a time and close the door. Then if the closing of the particular door doesn't turn the light off, unthread the switch a bit and try again.

Chancer --

Are you aware that the headlight switch "dimmer" function also controls the courtesy light(s)? Not the headlight dimmer -- rotate the headlight knob and it controls the brightness of the instrument lights. All the way one way (counter-clockwise, if I remember correctly) turns on the overhead light(s). Have you tried rotating the knob?

Just to make sure you understand, the door switches, etc. complete the circuit to ground to light the light. The positive is always live. This means that if any of the wires to any of the switches is chafed or shorted, or if a switch itself is shorted, it will turn on the light.

I've reaquainted myself with the symptoms, and what happens is that when you shut the doors, the light dims slightly, but continues to burn. I assume that that means it's grounding somewhere.

Eagle - yes, I found that one out, thanks though.

Did a search on "light", came up with my symptoms similar to other posts, so here goes:
Why do my courtesy lights stay on 24/7? They are slightly dimmed, but on. When I open the door, they come up to full brightness. When I close the door, they dim down slightly, right away (no delay), but stay on all night. Had to pull the fuse to save the battery.
Checked so far: Headlight switch in dash rotated all the way counterclockwise; pushbutton on the rear cargo dome light; (wish it were that easy).
Here's the weird thing: when checking each door plunger switch one at a time, the front door switches made no differnce, but the rear door switches (both) doused the lights for 1 second, and then the lights came back on! Then, no lights out, as many times as I pushed the switch!
What makes the courtesy lights turn off after a 60 second delay, when you've closed all the doors? Is this a dying light delay timer that can be replaced?
This happened 2 weeks ago, I wiggled all the little modules plugged into the fuse block under the dash, and the problem went away. Tried that this time with no luck. If this is a dying light delay timer, which little module is it? The dark blue box is the chime alarm for headlights-on-key-off, so that's not it.
Would be happy for a link to wiring diagram, also.
Hoping someone has a magic bullet, otherwise it is trace the wiring for shorts.
Thanks in advance.
1991 Cherokee
The final frontier is not Space; it's electrons