Mkeelingortega

So, I purchased this jeep a few weeks ago, and driving it home, the headlights and dash lights worked. Upon arriving home, the headlights went out. I searched the forums, and figured it was a faulty switch. I changed that out, and now the headlights work, but when I pull the **** out to the full extension for the headlight function, the dash lights do not come on. It's strange though, because when in the second position(halfway extended), if I wiggle the **** around, I'm able to get the dash lights to come on and work. However, right when I pull all the way out for the headlights to turn on, the dash lights immediately turn off...

Anyone have ANY idea of what this could be? I am totally lost. Completely new to Jeeps and electrical in general, and I don't know of a mechanic or tech who is good with this in my area.

flj23

I had the same problem, just fixed it by pulling out the cluster and putting a ground wire from one of the LG contacts on cluster to the cigarette lighter ground.

You may have a bad ground on the engine block.
The 3 that are behind the dipstick.
I know I have a short somewhere on that ground but I got tired of looking for it so just did the above. Good luck.

Also fixed my speedometer/odometer by grounding the B2 wire on cluster harness to same cigarette lighter ground.

flj23

I had the same problem, just fixed it by pulling out the cluster and putting a ground wire from one of the LG contacts on cluster to the cigarette lighter ground.

You may have a bad ground on the engine block.
The 3 that are behind the dipstick.
I know I have a short somewhere on that ground but I got tired of looking for it so just did the above. Good luck.

Also fixed my speedometer/odometer by grounding the B2 wire on cluster harness to same cigarette lighter ground.

RED RIVER

Tail lights and dash lights still on the same circuit in 96 ? When my 94 lost dash lights the tail lights were grounded out.

Mkeelingortega

Awesome, thanks for the reply and advice man. Will have a look. How did you access the cluster in your jeep? Did you pull of the dash totally, or access from the bottom and just take the lower dash out?

RED RIVER

I only had the fuse to replace and a twilight wire to repair but to answer your question, you just pull the dash bezel and remove some screws to remove the cluster. Check fuses first.

Mkeelingortega

Awesome. And could you point me to where the fuse box is at? Been looking, thought I saw it inside the car but wasn't sure.

RED RIVER

Under the dash. Above and to the left of the brake pedal

Mkeelingortega

Great, thanks!

Mkeelingortega

So I'm really electrically challenged here... I have the cluster out now, and I'm basically lost. Can you describe in more detail exactly what to do? I'm just barely learning about what a ground wire is! Thanks a ton guys.

flj23

Check these grounds first. I'm putting my dash back together and I'll try and snap a few pics this week.

limproved

I used a circuit tester to determine that I was indeed getting hot to one of the terminals in the gauge cluster (96) Mine turned out to be bulbs, but yours are intermittent, so ground or faulty switch. Invest in
a cheap circuit tester, it is a bulb in a screwdriver looking device with a ground wire and clip. In many instances it is faster to use than the multi-meter. In this case you will clip it to a good ground under dash and probe each connection from the harness to the removed gauge cluster until you find the one that lights when you pull the headlight switch out. Then perform your wiggle test on ground and switch to narrow your search down

flj23

In back of the cluster on the LG screw behind speedometer I put a wire and ran it to black ground wire for cigarette lighter.
I used wire strippers cut a bit into the wire peeled it back and then put some electrical tape. Eventually I'll solder it.

limproved

Did this solve your problem?