terrawombat Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 The MJ in my sig just had the instrument lights go out, which also conveniently took out my tail lights so I'll likely be getting a ticket tomorrow morning when I drive to work. Happened as soon as I hit a bump in the road and it blew the 5A fuse under the dash. Replaced it with a good one, turned the lights on and that one immediately blew so I knew I had a short. Looked at it again this morning looking for anything obvious. Couple of relays under the dash (which I think are related to the headlights) were dangling on a bracket. Thought maybe one of the hot wires touched some metal, so I zip-tied the bracket and relays to a safe location. Replaced the 5A fuse and this time it doesn't blow, but the lights still don't come on. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy in Maine Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Check the wiring connection under the truck behind the driver. Sort of a weak spot there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted February 6, 2011 Author Share Posted February 6, 2011 Check the wiring connection under the truck behind the driver. Sort of a weak spot there. Are you speaking of the connector for the taillight harness? Would that take out my instrument cluster lights if that was unplugged or loose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy in Maine Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 I am pretty sure it would take them out if it was shorting out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geonovast Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Isn't the tail light/dash light fuse supposed to be a 10A? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Isn't the tail light/dash light fuse supposed to be a 10A? I'm pretty sure mine has a 5 stamped in the plastic casing. Regardless, it's no longer an issue of the fuse continually blowing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 It's not shorting out anymore. Put a new fuse in this morning and it hasn't blown yet, but none of the instrument lights work or taillights or the license plate lights. I did crawl under the truck and check the connection at the rear of the bed and it looked fine. I did see some questionable wire splices from what looks like old trailer wiring, however, none of the wires seemed to be shorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Isn't the tail light/dash light fuse supposed to be a 10A? I'm pretty sure mine has a 5 stamped in the plastic casing. Regardless, it's no longer an issue of the fuse continually blowing. Actually, the FSM says it's supposed to be a 15A fuse. I'm going to go check this after the halftime show... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geonovast Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Isn't the tail light/dash light fuse supposed to be a 10A? I'm pretty sure mine has a 5 stamped in the plastic casing. Regardless, it's no longer an issue of the fuse continually blowing. All that means is that someone could have put an incorrect fuse in it. I'm not saying that's definitely the problem, just suggesting that someone (I can't because I don't have a user manual handy) should check and see what fuse should be in there. Last time I dealt with it, I remember it being a 10A, just sayin'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Isn't the tail light/dash light fuse supposed to be a 10A? I'm pretty sure mine has a 5 stamped in the plastic casing. Regardless, it's no longer an issue of the fuse continually blowing. All that means is that someone could have put an incorrect fuse in it. I'm not saying that's definitely the problem, just suggesting that someone (I can't because I don't have a user manual handy) should check and see what fuse should be in there. Last time I dealt with it, I remember it being a 10A, just sayin'. Sorry - I meant the plastic casing of the black fuse holder under the dash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Yea it definitely has a 5 stamped right into the plastic fuse holder panel. Top right fuse under one of the turn signal relays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Fixed it. So there are two fuses for the instrument cluster lamps...dunno why. I was replacing the 5A one, but there is also a 15A one that was blown - labeled PARK on the fuse block. It was pretty blown...replaced it and all is well. Now I need to figure out why it blew... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geonovast Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Fixed it. So there are two fuses for the instrument cluster lamps...dunno why. I was replacing the 5A one, but there is also a 15A one that was blown - labeled PARK on the fuse block. It was pretty blown...replaced it and all is well. Now I need to figure out why it blew... :hmm: Any chance you could grab a pic of your fuse box? I'm lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Fixed it. So there are two fuses for the instrument cluster lamps...dunno why. I was replacing the 5A one, but there is also a 15A one that was blown - labeled PARK on the fuse block. It was pretty blown...replaced it and all is well. Now I need to figure out why it blew... :hmm: Any chance you could grab a pic of your fuse box? I'm lost. Yea, I tried, but the darkness + crappy flash from my cell phone made it come out extremely blurry. I'll snap a picture in the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
64 Cheyenne Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 What about rotten/shorted front turn signal sockets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Could be. If I remember correctly from when I swapped my chrome front end on the turn signal sockets were different than the ones on my 88 MJs that always have problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJRemi Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 IIRC , the dash lights will also go out to let you know a tail bulb is burned out. I didn't see that mentioned above. On my 89 that's all it was. Fuses were fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Fixed it. So there are two fuses for the instrument cluster lamps...dunno why. I was replacing the 5A one, but there is also a 15A one that was blown - labeled PARK on the fuse block. It was pretty blown...replaced it and all is well. Now I need to figure out why it blew... :hmm: Any chance you could grab a pic of your fuse box? I'm lost. The initial fuse that I noticed that was blown was the top right 5A fuse labeled "INST LPS.' Replaced it and it blew right away so I just said fug it and just drove to where I needed to go with no cluster lights on and used a GPS speedo app on my phone to let me know how fast I was going. The next morning I started fidgeting with the wiring under the steering column and noticed a pair of relays on a metal bracket that were loosely hanging underneath that may or may not have been causing a short. Bracket was zip-tied so that it can't bounce around anymore, but the instrument lights still didn't work. Took a look at the FSM and realized that the 15A fuse labeled 'PARK LPS' ALSO includes the instrument lamps. It was then that I realized my tail lights were out and my front parking lights were dead. That fuse was also blown so I replaced it and all is well now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wannabeMJ Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 well you have found a temporary solution to your prob but didn't find the cause I'm pretty sure that you have a loose wire somewhere that is grounding the circuit even tought the fuse is not blowing no more I would still check your wires (and keep a couple fuses in hand just in case) :smart: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 well you have found a temporary solution to your prob but didn't find the cause I'm pretty sure that you have a loose wire somewhere that is grounding the circuit even tought the fuse is not blowing no more I would still check your wires (and keep a couple fuses in hand just in case) :smart: Spare fuses in the glove box. I'm going to try and replicate the problem when I get a chance. I agree, it's only a band aid to get me by. It happened the second I hit a large pothole in the road, so a hot wire hit ground somewhere on my vehicle. This is why I suspect it was the two relays that were just hanging down. There are exposed metal crimp connectors on the plugs for the relays and I think the bump may have moved one of the hot leads on the relay to something grounded. With the zip-tie firmly holding those relays, if the fuse pops again, I'll know to look elsewhere. I also found some exposed wires at the back of the truck where a PO attached trailer lighting. I'm going to need to revisit that and make sure it's taped up better than it currently is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wannabeMJ Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 when I redid my MJ I went trought the electrical and made sure there wasn't any tape I took all the connection, cut and splice everything with connectors and then retaped them there isn't a lot of wires in an MJ so on and off I think it took me half a day total mind you I did every part by bits and pieces as I was working on the truck 5 min here and there but made sure there was no naked wire good luck finding it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jons87mj Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 when i got my mj i had the same problem. took me two days to find it. The wires that you license plate lights plug into on the truck someone took and pluged the hot and ground togather. unpluged all is fine again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now