I have a 1998 Jeep Cherokee. Battery keeps dying. Checked voltage after jump starting and had 14V while running so it appears the alternator is OK. Heard a buzzing sound in the headlight switch while charging so thought switch was shorting out. Replaced switch, installed new battery, cleaned terminals. Interior lights come on by themselves somtimes. Defroster light won't shut off and today battery is dead again. Any suggestions?
A little more information: After replacing the headlight switch it appeared to be OK. Car started and ran fine for 4 or 5 days. Then the interior lights started coming on dim by themselves while driving and the battery was dead again after a few hours or so after shutting it off. At one point the horn started going off by itself so we disconnected the horns. I see a lot of posts pointing to the grounds. Haven't found anything loose or obvious so far but also do not know where all the grounds are. Had the battery tested and it was bad so replaced it yesterday. Last night Jeep started idling high and didn't shut off right away when taking the key out. Today the battery is dead again. Starting to get frustrated. Any help would be appreciated!

 

Find out why the interior lights are coming on by themselves. Check the door switches, for starters. IIRC, the door switches provide ground. If you have a switch going bad, or a partial ground on one of the wires between the light and the switch, you'll eat batteries.

You may have more than one problem here, too. That can be frustrating and confusing. The way to handle that is to start with the obvious - the lights.

Once you have that fixed, then see what you have to address next.

One thing at a time.

 

Regarding the lighting, is you XJ a 2 or 4 door?

More to the point, check this thread regarding dome lights:

http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/dome...-closed-24036/

 

Dome lights could be several spots. Connector to the rear door switches near the Bottom of the B-pillar. Under the plastic trim. They get wet and corrode. Connectors for front door switches in the kick panels on each side also can get wet. Or the wire to the rear hatch switch. Any of these could short to ground and turn the lights on.

another possibility is the first cut to the headlight switch that turns the domes on. Not sure if there's a common area there.

 

Thanks for all the information. It is a 4 door Cherokee Sport. l'll start checking switches today.

 

Checked the door switches and they all appear to work OK. The dome light issue is intermittent so haven't been able to check it when it happens. Please note that this is my son's car and I don't drive it daily so it is hard to diagnose. He mentioned that the windshield washers don't work also so started looking into that. Found the pumps corroded and falling apart so disconnected them. Not sure if this could be causing some of the problems? Car starts and runs as of now. No interior lights staying on. Still looking. Storm coming tonight so if it happens again it might be sitting there for a few days!

 

My sons' XJ was having a issue once it sat for a few days the battery would drain. Here is a good way to determine what circuit is causing the issue and trouble shoot from there. I ended up just pulling the fuse on the circuit because it was the dome lights shorting out. The P.O. welded the hinges with out removing the wiring so go figure?

 

Intermittents are the worst! But please tell us how you checked the dome lights. Especially because it's intermittent, they are really still the prime suspects.


Highly unlikely. I suggest you concentrate on the dome lights for now. Using the parasitic draw test as shown above is a great idea.

 

So- here I am again. Thought I found the culprit earlier this week. Found the rear defogger was staying on with the car off and doors closed. Open the door and the light on the switch would go out so I pulled the relay and it stayed off. Car was OK for a couple days so I didn't look into it further until the interior lights came on again and wouldn't go off. They finally went off so I planned on checking the light switches and the draw the next day. Next day the battery was dead so charged the battery and let it run for a while so I could plow the recent snow we got here. Moved the car and it wouldn't shut off! Disconnected the battery and it stayed running - didn't shut off until I fumbled with the key. I started again with the parasitic draw test as in the link above and found fuse 16 causing the issue which I believe is TCM, underhood lamp and interior lights. I don't have an owner's manual and there is no diagram for the fuses so had to look it up. Started checking connectors under the dash and found some wires on one of the connectors corroded and coming loose from the connector and the lights would flicker when I moved the wires. So I spliced in some wires temporarily and the flickering lights stopped and all looked OK. Ran the car for a while and it wouldn't shut off again! Saw a post about pulling the ASD relay and if it shuts off the relay is bad ( is this true?). I pulled the relay and it did shut off so is it possible that I have multiple bad relays? There is also still some type of draw from that connector and circuit but my meter is shot so I'll have to get another and try again tomorrow. Thanks for all the info.