willsmysticcobra

Not new to jeeps by a long shot but this one has me wondering. Drove to work today in my 99' and all was well. Got nasty thunderstorms with pouring rain but I thought nothing more than a free car wash as the jeep sat.

Jumped in to go home and noticed my interior lights did not go on. Jeep started perfect yet ZERO gauge function, and the radio is black. Now everything else works as it should, the gauges illuminate, hvac, rear wiper dials, signals and brights work and light up on the dash.

So I have a few things that dont work, but most do. This gives me an inkling that a relay may be the culprit and not just random fuses. Mind you I DID NOT drive in the rain or through any puddles, the jeep just sat through them. Oh and the keyless entry remote wont work either.

Things that do not function:

1)gauges all read zero yet are illuminated and the dimmer works
2) Odometer
3) Interior lights
4) radio
5) keyfob for lock and unlock




any help is very much appreciated !

captainwoot

Check your carpet...water leak? check pass side kick panel for water in the fuse box, from there check all fuses.
Good luck!

willsmysticcobra

popping the number 17 fuse on the distribution underhood block




pulled my stereo, all looks ok, no exposed wires, nothing touching etc

willsmysticcobra

Going to mess with the under hood light, than start the crazy task of testing why number 17 is getting grounded and getting 12 v .... wish me luck :/

willsmysticcobra

Can anyone just give me one pointer..... Since I lost the above mentioned accessories( keyless entry, radio, gauge function, interior lights) Should I start testing those first and go from there or can the tripping of that number 17 fuse, the I.O.D really be ANYTHING electrical in the jeep?


Just to reiterate, I drove the truck to work and everything was a ok. I opened all four doors and the hatch through out the day, in mild rain. When I returned to the jeep hrs later is when the short made itself present with the interior lights not coming on.

rctrav

I sure hope you find the problem. So you can let no what to look for. I'm having the same thing going on but my horn isn't working as well. I can get my gauges to turn on if i turn the rear defrost on.

JJCIII

The first step i would take is to trace the wire after the fuse that is blowing and test at each connector until you get no voltage and thats how you can find a short if there is one, although if it keeps blowing fuses so you cant check voltage then you will have to put a test at where the wire starts in the fuse box and then use the other test lead to check the connectors to see where you get significantely higher resistance. Second check your grounds for that same circuit and check for excessive resistance. These 2 steps are most likely your issue. However it is also possible that what ever is being powered may have an internal issue which would probably a short to ground internally which will also blow the fuse. Hope this helps

willsmysticcobra

Appreciate your advice for sure!

Ok guys here is what went down. Buddy and I went thoroughly through testing all the culprits, ohms tests from both the PDC and the junction box, etc. Pulled the problem fuses out of the junction box, numbers 6,9,16,17 and put a fresh 15 amp back in the I.O.D spot in the PDC. Success. It finally didn't pop. Now retesting those aforementioned fuses, the only one that gave resistance issue was the number 9 fuse that had the instrument cluster listed on it.

Slowly we started adding the pulled fuses back into the junction box and regained interior lights, keyless entry, AND radio. I was feeling great and decided to try just one side of the cluster to see what would happen.... weird, no PDC pop......felt real gutsy and tried the other... NO POP and full gauge function! So at this point I am both elated and kinda afraid because I have no idea what could have caused the whole circuit to fail.


Powered the jeep on and off a few times, and drove it home 1o miles away and no issues. The only thing we could slightly come up with is that the gauge cluster wiring may have had some humidity/ water build up because the jeep took on a bit of water three days prior on the floor pan.

willsmysticcobra

some what fixed.... I am running with out dome and keyless entry and have not popped the iod in about a week now.....

how about this one....... turn the interiors on by the rotating **** ( even though I pulled both assemblies from the headliner?) and step on the brake pedal... the gauges illuminate about 40%. Step off, darkness, on -40%etc.... very weird.

Asphalt Cowboy

Wow thats strange. Could the alarm system be causing some of the issues you are haveing?

willsmysticcobra

all it has is keyless entry, no factory or aftermarket alarm.