chrisl757

Hi all,
2001 XJ stock. I was trying to get my XJ through inspection and the brake light at the top of the hatch wouldn't light. So I bought a new bulb and replaced it. The light will not come on when the brake pedal is depressed. However, the Driver Side brake light DOES come on.

Then, I had a friendly driver tell me yesterday that my passenger brake light won't come on either.

So now, I only have driver side brake light that will work.

I pulled the bulbs for the high brake light and the passenger brake light and they are both good.

Is there some sort of switch upstream that could cause this?

Thanks for any advice.
Chris

freegdr

Check fuses yet ?

chrisl757

I'll try that. Where are they? Kick panel on passenger side or under the hood?

Thanks.

freegdr

Check all..Mine 1989 completely different animal.

Waynerd

Passenger kick. Also the passenger side is a separate harness from the drivers. But the 3rd brake light is on the same as the driver side iirc. The 3rd could be a broken wire in the boot between hatch and body. The connector for the right tail light is in the passenger rear quarter and commonly corrodes if dirt and water get in there which also is common.

BlueRidgeMark

Also check grounds. Behind the panels, behind the spare, for the driver side. Similar for the passenger side, I think.

Waynerd

Actually the ground fir the right side is under the passenger front seat or in that vicinity for some strange reason. One of those jeep quirks.

BlueRidgeMark

I did not know that! Thank you!

chrisl757

We checked all the fuses and they are all good. So we'll move on to the grounds next.

chrisl757

I found that connector and there is corrosion below (in fact it is open to the pavement since the rest rusted out). The connector itself *looks* intact, but there could be some corrosion in there.

I suppose the only way to check would be to take a multimeter to wires on either end and check resistance?

And if the connector is bad, what is the best way to go since I am not looking to head to JY digging for another one? Do I just cut out the connector harness and replace with new wiring?

Thanks.

Waynerd

You're welcome BRM. And yes you could try checking for continuity. If everything else works I would just cut and splice the one wire for the brake light. Just be careful if you unplug the connector. I was removing one from a parts Jeep so I could use it and one of the pins was so corroded that it pulled out.

freegdr

Good as in power confirmed in and out. Next check sockets for power and ground. Then work backward from sockets in.

chrisl757

Hi all,
I spent several days with my son on this and made some progress. The right brake light is fixed! It took a while to find this, but there was a white electrical connector plug that is in the rear passenger quarter panel. It looked fine while it was plugged into the metal bracket. But just out of curiosity, I pulled the connector off of the bracket (where those black plastic plugs hold it in). When I saw the other side of the bracket, I saw my problem! It had corroded so bad that it literally burned a hole through the plastic. I spent an hour tracing voltages through the connector, and jumpered two wires out with some extra wire I had.

I finally got the brake light fixed. I am posting this in case someone else stumbles along. There is a significant amount of rust on the right rear quarterpanel body and that opened up a spot where water (salt air) must have corroded the electrical connector. But I would have never seen it until I pulled the plug all the way out to look at the other side.

My next problem is the high 3rd brake light, which is still bad. The bulb is good, and the wiring looks brand new (there isn't even any dust on the cables which is amazing to me. The wires for the brake light run from the hatchback through the roof and down the driver side quarterpanel. So I had to pull the spare tire and remove that panel. Incidentally, there are a slew of other cables back there (I am guessing those are for the defroster.

The connectors look good, so I will keep working my way forward to figure out where the problem is. If anyone has any ideas on where to look for that 3rd brake light, let me know.

One other thought.....Couldn't I splice another wire from the driver side brake light to the third brake light? I realize that is a lazy solution, but any reason that would not work?

Thanks,
Chris