EMP hit my Jeep.... Or maybe it's just a bad wire?

REDLYNER

REDLYNER

Mall Crawling Race Rig
Joined
Oct 31, 2008
Location
Mountain Island
All of the sudden my jeep went crazy town with the electrical lighting.

First my blinkers went out, then my brake lights. But hazards still worked. Blown fuse was the cause of brake lights, however, the new fuse popped about 2 minutes after replacing.

While driving it home tonight all of the dash lights went out. So now I had no blinkers, no brake lights, no rear running lights, but front running lights still worked so I could get it home. I threw on the hazards, and they worked for a few seconds, then slowly died.



The TJ (2000 model), drives fine, the radio works, the front lights work, but all other lights are gone. I got home at midnight tonight, so no going over it yet. Anyone have have anything like this happen? Where should I start looking in the morning?
 
I had a chafed tail light wire give me similar issues , though I didnt lose the dash . May be dust in the main plug for the dash cluster .
 
Good thing the radio still works or it would be no mall crawling this weekend!

Sorry I have nothing useful to add. I had a wire chaffed on the frame rail years back that caused similar issues. Lost everything but headlights.
 
frankenyoter said:
Good thing the radio still works or it would be no mall crawling this weekend!

Sorry I have nothing useful to add. I had a wire chaffed on the frame rail years back that caused similar issues. Lost everything but headlights.
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I mall crawled the hell out of it last night ;-)


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frankenyoter said:
Crawling the mall with no dash lights?!? Dang Brahh that is hardest core.
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No, everything went black on the way home from the movies last night. I was having issues in the driveway, replaced a fuse, tested the brake lights (they worked), then headed out to dinner and the movies in the TJ. Brake lights quit while driving out- rear running lights, hazard lights, and dash lights went out on the way back home.

I'm headed out now with a creeper and will start following the light wires from the brakes back.
 
After a crawl around, I found 3 blown fuses: brake light fuse, blinker fuse, and parking lamp fuse. So, something is shorting them out. I saw some rubbing on the rear wires around the exhaust, could be it, but none of the wires were broken. One in particular though I could see some bare wire.
 
years ago had a similar experience with an xj-found a bare wire dead shorting to ground in the radio harness, may not be the exact location of your problem, but it does sound like you have a dead short someplace
 
REDLYNER said:
After a crawl around, I found 3 blown fuses: brake light fuse, blinker fuse, and parking lamp fuse. So, something is shorting them out. I saw some rubbing on the rear wires around the exhaust, could be it, but none of the wires were broken. One in particular though I could see some bare wire.
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If you could see some bare wire, that was likely your problem. The missing insulation allowed a short to ground on either the frame or even the exhaust and that infinite current blew the fuse.
 
I would disconnect the end connectors and pull the popped fixes and see if there was still continuity to ground? If so, there is still a short to ground. trace each wire til you find it. you will find a whole cluster if you are loosing so many options.
 
Still dealing with some electrical issues. I cut off two wires that had rubbed bare near my exhaust and replaced the section with good wire. Currently, all brake lights work, dash lights work and ONLY the passenger side running lights work (front and rear). So no drivers side running lights work. I have no clue what would cause that.

Blinkers and hazards don't work, but I believe that my EP26 flasher mod has gone out. I'll replace it tomorrow, but still need to figure out this running light deal.


Also, something is draining the battery, haven't found that one either. One thing is for sure, if standing there staring at it fixed things, all of my problems would be gone haha.
 
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