awg

pictured dismembered item is my rear cargo light. 12V is present at all times, presumably why the PO detached it

so what is the black thing that looks like a switch, with black & white wires ?

if it is a switch, its also frozen on my spare

On my previous XJ, it worked as intended when doors opened

I do not know whether it has a hatch-operated switch

minor thing I know...whittling down the long list of electrical issues !

jordan96xj

The rear cargo light on a 96 has a button right about where that black thing is. Because you only showed one side, I can't tell. Does the item you pictured have a button on the other side? If not, I'm wondering if someone didn't replace the rear light with a front overhead light in the past. (the front overhead light does not have a button).

awg

ok, .seems like it is a switch, similar to the front binnacle round lights

weird thing is, it was seized solid..needed a vice to get it moving at all...and pliers to operate it, after soaking in wd40..its a dead parrot

even more weird, this switch is seized on all 3 of my 96 !

on the smashed XJ, the light comes on & off when doors open, (but not rear hatch).. just like the front one...is that how it is supposed to work ??

The soundbar wiring was messed with, and it needs re-covering

this XJ had more than 40 faults when I got it, have fixed more than half

I can look around for a spare switch in my XJ parts, or put an alternative in there..my preference is to restore factory operation..I have the original covers

EZEARL

The button on the cargo switch on my '96 melted a few years back. I bypassed it so now both lights are on when the front doors or hatch is open. If I remember right with the front doors open both the front and rear lights would come on unless the button on the cargo light was pushed to off. If it was the front light only came on. The mechanism that works the cargo light is in the hatch with the locking mechanism. A few years back someone posted a fix for the dead switch. Hope someone posts it or another one.

jordan96xj

When working correctly, the overhead cargo lamp will come on with front doors ajar, or the hatch ajar. The button can be used to disable it. Useful for when you want to leave the hatch open for extended periods of time (like camping). Mine started to have problems where it would stay on even when nothing was ajar. So I eventually used the button to turn it off and haven't turned it on since. Because I don't want it killing the battery while I'm out camping.

boxburn

I also had my original switch melted and would not move. All I did was snip the 2 wires going to the black switch and solder them together. All this does different to factory is you cannot turn the cargo light off when any door is open. As I don't leave any doors open for any extended period of time, I don't have any battery draining issues from it being on.

awg

thanks gents,,,mine has power all the time, so I will have to investigate why that is.

I dont really care if it is door-activated, but I do want facility to have a light.

So it will be either fix the door-active problem, or insert an alternate switch where the old one was.

@jordan96xj fit LEDs, leave your lights on all day & night, no worries..you probably already have done this

boxburn

By power all the time do you mean power to the connector or the lamp is always illuminated? I have the same unit with the same wire colours on my 95 so I'd take a guess that they run the same.

The pink wire should be a constant live, the yellow wire runs off to the door 4 switches (earth) and the violet wire runs to the boot switch (earth). If the lights are constantly on, I'd grab a multimeter and check with all doors and boot shut, whether the earth is coming from the yellow or violet wire. With any luck it'd point to the boot as there's less work to trace it back to source.

Also by rights, if this light is always on, all interior lights should also be on as they share a common grounding path, the yellow wire.

awg

the situation is the rear switch (purple wire) is working, as the front light comes on when the cargo door is opened. It shorts to earth on a multimeter

the rear dome light yellow (door switches) wire is constant 12V, which is weird, as the front dome lights operates when the doors are opened

therefore, when I do the headlining, my plan is to cut the rear yellow wire, and pull thru a tracer from the front dome light,
(unless I can readily locate the wiring problem)...hopefully that will make it work as it should...after I also replace the seized plastic on/off switch !

what an amount off effort for such a stupid little thing...wouldnt bother if the headlining & soundbar didnt need re-lining

I do prefer to restore failed items back to factory operation

boxburn

What's happening with the third wire, the pink looking one that connects to the red on the cargo light? That should be a constant 12v to feed the lamp.

Also, if I'm thinking correctly, the yellow wire would be a constant 12v if the doors are shut as the 12v feed for both the front and rear lights have no earth path to take, once a door is opened and your front lights turn on, the yellow should become 0v.

From what you've said I'm going to take a guess that your earths are working and it is that feed to the lamp. You have checked that the bulb isn't blown right . (On a side note, does anyone know what type that bulb is? Everyone I've asked has never seen one like it over here).

awg

Cargo .................................................. .....................561
Dome .................................................. .....................561
Dome/Reading........................................... ..............906

From the '95 FSM above

You can also measure the length of the bulb in mm, or put the above bulb type/number x-ref, and order LED of Ebay,
thats what I did in my last XJ, they have 9 LED, fit perfect

they are between 36-41mm, cant recall, measure carefully, they are in 1mm increments

a BIG improvement...especially as the old bulb obviously generated enough heat to burn things up

also, inside lights will never run your battery down

Finally got my wiring sorted, however the bulb terminals are burned or broken off, the speed nuts missing and the plastic switch to be replaced
will have it better than factory shortly

the front one also has the bulb terminals burned, and a PO has soldered in a 16 LED 1" square wired bulb, works well

boxburn

I don't even know why I didn't look in the FSM for the bulb type. Well, I know what it is when it finally dies. Good to hear you've got it sorted out though. I'm sure you'll get around the damaged terminals, you can't come this far and let some strips of metal get in the way.