Help with lights

[W1ngzThinBlueLine]

Good afternoon,

 

BLUF: Removed dash, tampered with PO's wiring, no headlights, turn signals, or brake lights.

 

 

     This is my first post, and I hate starting a forum by asking for help (VS an intro) HOWEVER I am trying to get my Comanche to have lights as nothing seems to be working.

 

I purchased my Jeep about 3 weeks ago. It had headlights, turn signals, and brakes when I started. I pulled ALL INTERIOR other than the headliner from the Jeep. (Broke all passenger seat bolts smh) And began working on the rust in the floor and firewall. There was a clustermess of chopped/spliced/taped/random hot wires going nowhere that I attempted to trace and remove. SOME WIRES were twisted around fuses which may be my issue. THE fuseblock shows signs that the clutch had previously leaked on it and damaged it. 

 

I am joining the Army (25 year old volunteer law enforcement currently, have kids part time, but no other family) Anyway, my recruiter needed me to head to his office and with the Comanche being my only vehicle, I bolted in the driver seat, 4 bolts for dash, and plugged in the gauges. My headlights, tail lights, and turn signals are not working. It doesnt help that Photobucket doesn't allow third party posting anymore so the dash uninstall post on the Cherokee forum can't be followed. I currently have the dash back out, and am trying to follow the FSM to no avail. 

Thank you in advance.

[cody4359]

I am no sparky, I despise eletrical work. is this a all stock jeep or 97+ swap? all I have to offer is make sure all your grounds are connected and start tracing your wires. I haven't used photo bucket in years, I just use Tapatalk wich is an app for my phone and it loads pics easily.

 

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[W1ngzThinBlueLine]

I have cleaned the grounds and tried to follow wires, but don't even know where to begin and feel if I open the harness I'm going to be overwhelmed. It is 100% stock, other than being chopped up a little by the previous owner. I will take a picture in the daylight. 

[W1ngzThinBlueLine]

Phone is dead so waiting to take pictures.

 

Is there anything that controls the brake lights, headlights, and the turn signals? Any sort of sensor or fuse? I can't make heads or tails of the wiring diagram I have in the FSM.

[HOrnbrod]

Start by pulling and checking (with a meter) all the fuses in both the PDC under the hood first, then the fuse block.

[W1ngzThinBlueLine]

Most of the inside fuses had to be pressed firmly with the meter probe and even then went anywhere from 0-9 volts bouncing around. This was done with the key in the on position.

The fuse box under the hood only had one showing no volts. That's the 7.5 amp fuse there.

[HOrnbrod]

Those fuse boxes are some of the worst I've seen. Electrical connections must be clean, bright, and tight to reliable pass current w/o voltage loss and/or intermittent circuit interruptions. The fuse box in the cab looks too far gone to clean up, and the PDC under the hood looks like it spent some time underwater in the Gulf. That's probably why the PO had bastard circuits running all over to bypass the rotten terminals in the fuse boxes.

 

Major PITA, but to do it right they should both be replaced by splicing in clean replacement boxes from a donor, preferably a 91 XJ/MJ, so you could just match up the wire colors. Or better yet replace the complete harnesses, pull out all the foreign wiring, and start from scratch.

[W1ngzThinBlueLine]

Pretty terrible huh? I wanted to replace the entire harness and simplify it in the process, keeping only what was needed. Is there a way to get the lights working until then?

It probably did spend time in the gulf, there's water within 10 minutes any direction.

I haven't been able to locate a fuse box anywhere I've looked, any ideas on places? 

If I plan on, in the future, doing the 97+ swap am I able to use a newer harness?

My biggest concern is cost, I am underfunded, under-skilled, and overburdened.

 Thank you for the feedback. I'll take a few full size photos of my $400 Comanche.

 

I've done some work already as seen in the first picture. Unfortunately my experience is with AMC Hornets and I thought it would be about the same. 

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[HOrnbrod]

Unmolested HO (91 and 92) Eliminators are quite rare so that truck, looking at the condition it's in, is definitely worth restoring back to original stock condition. You are a world-class thief grabbing it for $400.  :yes:   http://car-part.com/ is a great way to search the junkyards in your area to find the parts you need.  

[W1ngzThinBlueLine]

So I got a little frustrated, grabbed the sledge and lightly tapped the fuses into their slots. I now have headlights. No turn signals though. I checked the provided website, some good parts near me so thank you for that.

[W1ngzThinBlueLine]

Does anyone know how to disconnect the dash harness from the rear harness? The one by the emergency brake, that runs the drivers rocker panel.

[cruiser54]

Check the 10 pin connector behind the left headlamp and also check to see if someone had the header panel off and upon reinstallation crushed the lighting harness in that area. 

 

As for the fuses, I would remove every one of them, clean and check them, and spray the sockets out with Deoxit.

[Minuit]

I bet you'll find other signs of clutch fluid leakage if you look around the fusebox on the interior. Other common signs are a trail of rust leading directly from the clutch master, and significantly worse rust on the driver side floor than the passenger side.

 

My '89 had exactly the same thing happen to it. The fusebox was a total loss, so I replaced the fusebox with one from an automatic 1990 Cherokee, and it was the same down to individual wire colors. Without fixing the fusebox you'll never see the end of random electrical problems on that truck. I agree with Don - you should find a '91 fusebox or dash harness if at all possible. 91 was a transition year and certain things are unique to that year.

 

Here's what it looked like after I was done: