Electrical Question

STEPHGODBY

MEMBER
JEEP CHEROKEE

I have a 1990 Jeep Cherokee Limited with 184,000 miles that I purchased a couple of months ago. When I bought it, the rear windshield wiper did not work, the rear dome light switch did not work, the driver's side door switch did not operate the interior dome lights as well as a monotonous list of small celenoid type of problems with the locks and windows. (Those smaller issues, I chose to live with for now.) Last night, I changed the rear dome light and rear wiper motor, which both now work. However, when removing the dome light from the ceiling, I heard a pop and the lights went out as we got the fixture off of the pressure fittings. We replaced the fuse and that corrected that problem, however now the rear running lights, instrument control panel and radio are inoperative. Again, I checked fuses, and discovered that fuse # 7 was blown. Every time I replace it, it blows immediately. Before I started chasing wires, I was hoping that someone might have experienced this before and can get me started in the right direction.

4 Replies

BACKYARDMECHANIC

MECHANIC
337 POSTS

Is the dome light on the same fuse as the rear running lights? If so make sure when you replaced the dome light that you did not pinch any wires.
Good luck, BYM

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Thursday, January 5th, 2017 AT 3:27 PM

STEPHGODBY

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Actually it is not. And since I posted the question, I fixed the problem. When we took the panel off of the hatch door to replace the rear wiper motor, we noticed a wire that was disconnected. Thinking that maybe it became disconnected when we took the panel off, we reconnected it. It appeared to be speaker wire. Apparently, it was not. To retrace our steps before chasing the tangle of wire through the jeep, we took the panel back off and unplugged that wire and voila! Running lights! So, it is all better now.

Looking back through some recalls, I wonder if that wire caused a problem before and the recall fix was to disconnect it. For your reference, it is a very small male to female connection wire harness with two blue wires on one end and a black on the other located right next to the left rear speaker.

Thanks for your help.

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Thursday, January 5th, 2017 AT 3:27 PM

JEEPGUY74

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1 POST

Wow! This just happened to me. I just picked up an 1987 Cherokee two door Laredo and had a turn signal problem. I fixed the flasher, replaced a bad socket and install all new bulbs front and back. I was working on the back hatch and noticed two wires that were disconnected. I plugged them together and forgot about it. After that, I started blowing fifteen amp fuses for my park lights. I unhooked every light to rule out a short somewhere. I did not think of that hatch wire that I plugged in, until I read this. I was ready to buy a new headlight switch and start tracing wires. Phew!

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Thursday, January 5th, 2017 AT 3:27 PM

KYLEBBALL15

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1 POST

Hey, I have a 1994 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0L and when I installed my new tailgate I think I did something to the wiring. Now my interior dome lights and my radio will not turn on at all and everytime I replace the fuse, it blows immediately. If you can help I would greatly appreciate it. Also I clipped a wire that is made up of a yellow and a white wire wrapped around each other. Could this be the problem maby?
Thanks.

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Thursday, January 5th, 2017 AT 3:27 PM