Adapting MJ headlight harness to 97+ XJ harness

[90PioSport99]

Has anyone on here adapted a 97+ headlight harness to an MJ? Whenever I have done the 97+ conversions in the past I've just used the MJ harness and settled for just one parking light and modified the other connections. This go 'round we're doing it to one of my friends' XJs and his original connector is corroded anyway so we want to do it the proper way. Can anyone provide a MJ to 97+ color to color wiring cheat sheet for me? Greatly appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Collin

[lostissues]

*Corrections made a couple posts down*

 

I had this coppied down from somewhere:

Which wiring diagram? I have an 89 and 99 FSM and here are the headlight harness colors:

1999

Connector C106 driver's side main harness to headlight harness looking at the back of the headlight side connector with the tab on top Pin 1 is on the right top pin 8 is on the right bottom:

 

1 empty

2 red - Left headlight low beam power

3 light green - Left turn signal power

4 black - Right headlight park/turn light ground

5 empty

6 red/orange - Right headlight low beam power

7 brown - Left parking light power

8 light blue (w/ fog lights only) - Fog light power (to bulb)

9 violet - Left headlight high beam power

10 tan - Right turn signal power

11 black - Left headlight park/turn light ground

12 red (w/ fog lights only) - Fog light power out (to relay)

13 violet/red - Right headlight high beam power

14 dark green/yellow - Right parking light power

 

1989 headlight wiring. Main harness to headlight harness connector on driver's side. Looking at the back of the connector on the headlight harness side with the 'ears' on the bottom, Pin 1 is left top and pin 6 is right top.

 

1 empty

2 white - headlight high beam power

3 grey - left turn signal power

4 dark blue - parking light power

5 black - ground

6 red (w/ fog lights only) - fog lamp relay power in

7 light green - headlight low beam power

8 brown - right turn signal power

9 empty

10 light green - (w/ fog lights only) to fog light relay signal power

 

Hope this helps.

 

Later,

Joe

[lostissues]

97+ harness first, 97- harness second:

 

1 empty

2 red------------------------------7 light green

3 light green-----------------------3 grey

4 black----------------------------5 black

5 empty

6 red/orange-----------------------7 light green

7 brown---------------------------8 dark blue

8 light blue (fog lights)

9 violet----------------------------2 white

10 tan-----------------------------4 brown

11 black---------------------------5 black

12 red (fog lights)

13 violet/red ----------------------2 white

14 dark green/yellow---------------8 dark blue

 

Hopefully the colors are the same. only problem I could see running into is that on the 97+ headlight harness the headlights low and high beams are separated left and right so each function has its own wire so there are 4 wires doing the 2 functions of the headlight. you are now condensing the 4 wires into 2 wires of the same gauge.

[90PioSport99]

Joe, that is a huge help. Thanks so much man!

[lostissues]

Joe, that is a huge help. Thanks so much man!

 

Ha ha, name is Jonathan, I copied all that information and the person that posted it in the first place must have been named Joe :D

 

hope the colors all line up for ya,

 

Jonathan

[lostissues]

Hooked up mine today and realized that the high beam and low beam wires are switched on the 97+ harness list I put up here is the correct way (corrections in bold):

 

I had this coppied down from somewhere:

Which wiring diagram? I have an 89 and 99 FSM and here are the headlight harness colors:

1999

Connector C106 driver's side main harness to headlight harness looking at the back of the headlight side connector with the tab on top Pin 1 is on the right top pin 8 is on the right bottom:

 

1 empty

2 red - Left headlight HIGH beam power

3 light green - Left turn signal power

4 black - Right headlight park/turn light ground

5 empty

6 red/orange - Right headlight HIGH beam power

7 brown - Left parking light power

8 light blue (w/ fog lights only) - Fog light power (to bulb)

9 violet - Left headlight LOW beam power

10 tan - Right turn signal power

11 black - Left headlight park/turn light ground

12 red (w/ fog lights only) - Fog light power out (to relay)

13 violet/red - Right headlight LOW beam power

14 dark green/yellow - Right parking light power

 

1989 headlight wiring. Main harness to headlight harness connector on driver's side. Looking at the back of the connector on the headlight harness side with the 'ears' on the bottom, Pin 1 is left top and pin 6 is right top.

 

1 empty

2 white - headlight high beam power

3 grey - left turn signal power

4 dark blue - parking light power

5 black - ground

6 red (w/ fog lights only) - fog lamp relay power in

7 light green - headlight low beam power

8 brown - right turn signal power

9 empty

10 light green - (w/ fog lights only) to fog light relay signal power

 

Hope this helps.

 

Later,

Joe

97+ harness first, 97- harness second:

 

1 empty

2 red------------------------------2 white

3 light green-----------------------3 grey

4 black----------------------------5 black

5 empty

6 red/orange-----------------------2 white

7 brown---------------------------4 dark blue

8 light blue (fog lights)

9 violet----------------------------7 light green

10 tan-----------------------------8 brown

11 black---------------------------5 black

12 red (fog lights)

13 violet/red ----------------------7 light green

14 dark green/yellow---------------4 dark blue

 

Hopefully the colors are the same. only problem I could see running into is that on the 97+ headlight harness the headlights low and high beams are separated left and right so each function has its own wire so there are 4 wires doing the 2 functions of the headlight. you are now condensing the 4 wires into 2 wires of the same gauge.

[81Chero]

This SHOULD be a "sticky"

 

Errol

[cruiser54]

This SHOULD be a "sticky"

 

Errol

I told ya you'd get some good help!! LOL. free to boot. 

[81Chero]

You just don't know how I get 'woozy' just thinking about wiring like this..

BUT, being a glutton for punishment I just ordered a headlight "upgrade" harness and some IPF (?) headlights.

 

I figured that if I'm going to be in there, I might as well jump in.. (that came from another post you had Cruiser..)

 

I'll try and post pics after I get things all wired in

Thanks again

Errol

[cruiser54]

You just don't know how I get 'woozy' just thinking about wiring like this..

BUT, being a glutton for punishment I just ordered a headlight "upgrade" harness and some IPF (?) headlights.

 

I figured that if I'm going to be in there, I might as well jump in.. (that came from another post you had Cruiser..)

 

I'll try and post pics after I get things all wired in

Thanks again

Errol

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt. 

[81Chero]

OK printed it out and compared to the 'pig tales' that I had cut to splice in.

 

BUT, I have more wires than what is listed..??

All but 3 (i think) have a tracer line through the solid color. I'm at work righ now and can't get to give colors.

 

Cruiser, You mind if I PM you the pics of the pig tale ends?

 

 

 

p.s.  what does Bzzzzzzt mean?

[cruiser54]

I might be able to help but I have no late model wiring diagram.

 

Bzzzzt is the sound shorted out electrical stuff makes......

[Rockfrog]

I did this to my 88 a year back, luckily I also have a 2000 XJ to use for reference.

Out at work now but I'll pop the plugs and snap some pics when I get home next week.

I did run into an issue with extra ground wires, originally I followed the corrected layout, but that resulted in one of my signals not working as they are also separately grounded as well. Black with white traces are the signal grounds. I have a connector release tool and moved the lead to correct my pinouts.

Everything worked fine once I connected the extra ground.

 

From the MJ (1988). To XJ (2000) replacing the plug as well.

 

Black - black w/ white trace (there will be two of these on the XJ side.

 

Green - black with white trace AND black with orange trace

 

White - orange with black trace AND green

 

Blue - green with black trace AND green with white trace

 

Brown - blue with white trace

 

Grey w/ black trace - brown with yellow trace

 

Green w/ black trace - terminates as dead end (not used)

 

 

Single wire connections

 

Single (MJ) to paired (XJ) connections

 

If an administrative can merge those it would be great, can't from my phone for some reason.

 

I would suggest replacing the plug as well as the stock plug simply sucks, and is likely corroded to hell.

By replacing the plug you eliminate a few discrepancies in part year changes (as long as both sides of the plug come from the same vehicle - mine didn't so I reorganized the wires to match my 2000 XJ).

I will try to get the header harness side of the plug soon but it's a really bad time of year really and it's outside in the open ... I admit, pulling the header and unravelling the wiring in a downpour just isn't so appealing to me right now.

Sorry.

[Rockfrog]

OK printed it out and compared to the 'pig tales' that I had cut to splice in.

 

BUT, I have more wires than what is listed..??

All but 3 (i think) have a tracer line through the solid color. I'm at work righ now and can't get to give colors.

 

Cruiser, You mind if I PM you the pics of the pig tale ends?

 

 

 

p.s. what does Bzzzzzzt mean?

You have to remember that the donor has several trim levels and that the fog light and ambient temp sensor wiring also runs through there. Just concern yourself with the wires you need. Once the harness is in hand and untaped it will start to make sense.

I started by matching and splicing the pairs on the XJ side as the XJ runs power in parallel (separate wire for each side and each light). The MJ is far simpler and supplies power in series (so a single wire does both sides lighting).

Once you mate the pairs, you have less mess to match up.

On the XJ side, all the blacks are grounds, the traces just designate which circuit they ground. Both of the black w/ white trace need to be grounded as they are separate grounds for the signals.

When I get the other side of the plug captured, I can do a layman's diagram.

 

I am by no means an electrical professional, so take some of my terminology with a grain of salt.

I just tried to make the process as simple as I can. Having a few yards of copper spaghetti in front of you is daunting enough.

Best advice I can offer - take your time, Connect the wires by simply twisting and taping at first (hell even some marrets would work to test). Hard splice (solder is my preferred method) when it's all sorted out and working. When in doubt simply follow the wires back to the bulbs. It's only tape holding it all together.

[81Chero]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

For some reason this is like Kryptonite(?) to me.  Very embarrassing to say the least..

Heck, I'm almost 53 and can tear into an engine or trans and rebuild it or weld up and make stuff but when it comes to wiring, I just freeze up.

BUT, the goofy thing is that wiring car stereo's makes total sense(..?) I DON'T understand it, but it's the way it is..

 

It should stop raining here for a little bit and will head out and use a test light with my son and have him hit the lights/turns to see which is which, and twist them together and see what happens.

According to Cruisers thread, I did the external HEAD LIGHT only wiring upgrade and got some H4 IPF lenses with 55/100w bulbs. From what I've read, all that together REALLY lights up the night. And with the flooding around here, the deer seem to be all over the roads looking for higher ground. (I'd be PISSED if I did all this wiring work and popped a deer coming home from work at 2am) Plus, I'd kinda like to do the 'angry eyes' thing since it's black and put some gorilla tape on them but it might defeat it's patterns. 

I cleared my phone of pics and will be taking some good clear ones as I go.

What I'm struggling with is that mine being a '96 gets split between the 95 and 97's in reference to diagrams. My chiltons seems to leave out the 96 harness for the headlights but has engine harness. And 97 front chassis harness but different wiring than what I seem to have...  (also had a '99 but it's got more wires than both! so went back and got the 97 one)

 

Also, got my son for Christmas, a big light bar for his 01 cherokee, but that came with it's own harness and seemed to be easy.

The Ebay harness like Cruiser spoke of uses just ONE plug like what would be on the back of a standard bulb to use as a jumper as it were. That in turn triggers the two bulbs as one.

 

Please don't jump me, just trying to get this sorted so I can use the 96 for my daily since it's got air and most everything works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[81Chero]

....Well, everything EXCEPT THE LIGHTS!!

 

I must be some bafoon or something.. My '96 Cherokee only has 6, (SIX!) wires that need to be connected.  

And i can't get this figured out.

 

NOW, let me state that I did get a H4 adapter/upgrade harness with the ceramic plug ends for heat of the bulbs.

Also have a dual relay system built in that one only needs to plug in the supplied male end into the stock harness female plug to energise the circuitry and have lights!

Saturday I thought I had the headlights taken care of by finding the low and high beam wires, plugging them in.. PRAISE GOD, let there be light and there was, and it WAS GOOD!!  'Was' meaning that when I hit the lever for high beams.. BANG, NO lights..?

Wouldn't work for almost 15min and after messing with it again, got them back but shut off again when highs were switched..?

 

The only wire that I actually 'crimped' was the black or ground since I figured that the grounds were connected together.

Well, even with power from the '96 wires, NO lights.?

 

I did quite well by not throwing any tools, smashing testers or the like.. I just went in and made my famous Almond sugar cookies..

 

Today i went to a buds' shop who actually says he LOVES wiring 'challenges'.

I told him the situation and he said that the headlights were controlled by the computer.. and held up his hands and said that he'd pass!!

 This is NEW! It doesn't show that in the schematics.. So, Now I feel like I can't even PAY someone to fix this stupidly simple 'conversion'.

 

BUT, that does make sense that it's got a circuit breaker for the headlight delay..

So, i wonder if I take the breaker out, will that give me high beams?

 

This is VERY frustrating and testing my patients.

[cruiser54]

Your "bud" is sorely mistaken. 

[81Chero]

I just think he didn't want to work on it and was pacifying me..

 

BUT, that still doesn't tell me why that when I hit the 'high' beams it just shut them off.

ANYONE know that?

 

Cruiser, I got a H4 harness from Ebay with the two relay's, to which I assume that one is for each light instead of low and high beams..?

 

I'll try and post better pics tomorrow before work.

 

Thanks again.

Errol

[HOrnbrod]

No, one relay is for low beams; the other for high. You can pick up battery 12VDC for the relays at the battery positive post or the alternator B+ post; same point electrically.

 

[81Chero]

Had it all written out and for some reason it posted HUGE pics from Imageshack, clicked on "POST" and got this:

You are not allowed to use that image extension on this community.

 

What the heck over?

[81Chero]

Besides wiring, I hate computers too.

Just spent over two hours trying to post this crap and well, crap.

[81Chero]

http://imageshack.com/a/img907/3852/PfTnjx.jpg

 

http://imageshack.com/a/img903/4586/duEia2.jpg

 

http://imageshack.com/a/img911/7601/2UObab.jpg

 

http://imageshack.com/a/img910/4057/6ypJO2.jpg

 

 

gotta jet off to work.

 

[Basslicks]

Dadgummit... I wish I would have seen this post before I did this:

 

 

 

Oh well... it worked anyway. In reality, it was actually easier to just splice the two 97+ sockets into the old harness.

 

[Rockfrog]

 

 

Dadgummit...

 

Oh well... it worked anyway. In reality, it was actually easier to just splice the two 97+ sockets into the old harness.

 

Yeah, it was pretty straight forward to replace the plugs once I had my head wrapped around the layout. Having a matched plug would help too (I had to move some pins as mine came from two different vehicles).

It also helps get rid of the problematic, corrosion filled stock plug.

 

Looks good.

 

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

[Basslicks]

...

Yeah, it was pretty straight forward to replace the plugs once I had my head wrapped around the layout. Having a matched plug would help too (I had to move some pins as mine came from two different vehicles).

It also helps get rid of the problematic, corrosion filled stock plug.

 

Looks good.

 

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

 

Yeah, that is one thing I cringed at when I pulled the harness off. I cleaned it out real good an put some dielectric grease on the contacts while I was in there. I definitely PREFER the newer wiring of the 97+, but I didn't have the other end of it to be able to replace both sides of the harness. So I just short-cutted it. Sometimes you just can't avoid it, I guess...