Electrical short... where to start?

BigClay

BigClay

Knower of useless ZJ things
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Location
Winston-Salem
Let me start by saying, I know almost nothing about wiring, so that is why I am asking these questions.

My jeep sits for long periods of time outside, and I am afraid some wiring has gotten wet. When I crank up the jeep, the head lights and tail lights stay on no matter if the switch is off, on, or on auto. The dome lights also stay on whether the door is open or closed or whether the switch is on or off; they even even will come on and off when the jeep is off and the key is not in the ignition. I had to pull about four fuses to get everything to turn off.

So my quesiton is where do you start diagnosing a problem like this? The fuses I pulled were not blown. Any helpful tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated.
 
Start by pulling fuses until you find the circuit affected, then go back from there. I can get you copies of the wiring once you figure out what ciruit it is....
 
Clay, sounds like mice to me.
 
Everything you mentioned, I think all goes through your headlight switch. So that's where I would start. Is Floor board wet? If not, Terry may be spot on with the mice thing
 
Mouse piss in the headlight switch. BTDT
 
There is some water in the floor board, the passenger floor board, same side as the fuse box. Thats why I thought it was water damage, but mice could be another problem because I do live in the woods.

This is on my 94 in my sig and unfortunately it does have the factory security system.

I never had these problems with my 93, maybe I should never had rolled that one :(
 
We have fixed a bunch of these exact situations on the ZJs. 99% of them have been the headlight/domelight switch panel. I would get a new one and that should take care of your issues.

Hope that helps.
 
Tarheel 4WD Center said:
We have fixed a bunch of these exact situations on the ZJs. 99% of them have been the headlight/domelight switch panel. I would get a new one and that should take care of your issues.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

That is great news. Can you tell me where this panel is located?
 
Tarheel 4WD Center said:
It is the one on the dash on the left hand side of the steering wheel. Has the headlight dial switch, dome light dimmer switch and fog light switch if yours had fog lights.

One example......
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Jeep-ZJ-Grand-Cherokee-Headlight-Switch-w-Fog-96-98-/01/!B+r51CwCWk~$(KGrHqMOKjEEzOUkh9SvBN!,GeKTZw~~_35.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jeep-ZJ-Grand-Cherokee-Headlight-Switch-w-Fog-96-98-/251046628426&h=225&w=300&sz=21&tbnid=G-bNPlH-tRUzMM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=129&zoom=1&usg=__sIYOs5vcmI7VpMazCHdOskJ_FTs=&docid=r8UMsv9eQEcdbM&itg=1&sa=X&ei=2qmjUOvfFY2-9gSL_IGACA&ved=0CJgBEPUBMAY&dur=789[/quote]
Click to expand...

LOL, sorry, I thought you were referring to an electrical panel back in the dash, thanks for not flaming me :)
 
Damn noobs :flipoff2:
 
Tarheel 4WD Center said:
We have fixed a bunch of these exact situations on the ZJs. 99% of them have been the headlight/domelight switch panel. I would get a new one and that should take care of your issues.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...


Replaced the headlight/dome light switch yesterday; it was a PITA to get to but it fixed the problem! Thanks for the advice!! :D
 
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