Serious electrical issues

[Cribbs74]

I need help guys. Having a problem with my 2002 Jeep liberty.

I don’t know the history behind the vehicle. It was bought for my Daughter. I didn’t buy it.

At first glance I had 7 fuses blown, replaced those. Lights, signals etc started working. Here is a list of what is still messed up.

Front and rear driver side park lamps stay on even when ignition is off.

Rear door lock solenoid constantly clicks when key is in ignition or car is running. Slowly fades to a stop about 10sec after the vehicle shuts down. Rear glass is no longer popping open, but was yesterday.

Dome lights are not working when door is opened or turned on manually. They did work yesterday, but very dim.

Rear window will not release when pulling the gate handle. Does work with the key fob.

Overhead console only works when headlights are on.

Everything else seems to function just fine. I was thinking maybe the factory tow harness was shorted, but I cannot find it behind the inner plastic panel on the passenger side. The Tow fuse under the hood blows immediately when inserted. I am at a loss on this... can anyone please help me?

Ron

 

[renegade 04]

Start by first replacing the ignition switch.

 

[Cribbs74]

Start by first replacing the ignition switch.

Thanks, but looking at the ignition schematic I don’t see how the ignition system is related to my problem.

 

[JeepJeepster]

The Tow fuse under the hood blows immediately when inserted. I am at a loss on this... can anyone please help me?

Ron

I would start with this and go from there. Im assuming you dont have the towing package since you were looking behind panels for the relays.

Unhook the connector for the tail lights thats behind the passenger side cargo panel where you were looking for the relays and see if that fuse pops then.

 

[Cribbs74]

The fuse is $5 so have to work smart. I did do as you mentioned though and it shorts to positive and ground with a Multimeter. The front light shorts to ground as well.

 

[Billwill]

First thing is to make sure you have a good battery....rear door will click open/closed if voltage is low. Likewise interior lights could be related to a bad battery.

Also check that the battery connections, negative lead going to chassis and the engine grounding straps going to chassis are clean and tight.

Then you can move onto the blowing fuses. When working in the mainframe computer industry I used to carry some DC circuit breakers with me to replace any blowing fuses until the fault was found...I know some owners in the USA have obtained these DC circuit breakers somewhere.

If you have the 2002 KJ Service Manual from Index of /manuals/Jeep/KJ

then I can give you a hand one problem at a time...I had to fix about 9 shorting wires on my 2002 Export 2.5 CRD.....lots of fun!

 

[Cribbs74]

Thanks Bill,

I suppose I could just install a hard wire in the fuse block and see where the fire starts the breaker is a good idea. I will look into that.

I have to travel for a couple weeks, but it will be waiting for me when I return. For now I just installed a battery kill switch until I can find this short. I can see evidence of a previous owner or someone looking for this short in the past.

 

[Cribbs74]

Found the short! It was located right underneath the drivers side carpet in the footwell up near the firewall. Not a place that sees a lot of action, and it’s under a plastic cover.

Roughly 20 wires in that bundle were compromised and some were completely burnt through. I spent the day with solder and heatshrink and rebuilt the harness in that area. The good news is everything now works!

 

[wheeee32]

Ah the joys of wire chasing. Glad to see you found the culprit.

 

[Cribbs74]

Ah the joys of wire chasing. Glad to see you found the culprit.

I attempted to add a picture of what I found, but it was too large for the forum.

 

[Billwill]

Chasing wires etc. in the Computer Industry for 34 years is what put food on my table and a roof above my head so do not knock it!:Insane: