Drilled in to wiring harness

So I goofed up yesterday. And I need some advice. My jeep is an 04 wrangler tj that has the 4.0L engine, 5 sp 4wd.

I put a ditch light bracket on and was just gonna hook up the passenger side one to try out the light.

So my first mistake (amateur move and I knew better) was not unhooking the battery and I could kick my own behind for that!

I was drilling a hole in a metal lip with a self tapping screw so I could run the wires. And I accidentally drilled in to a harness

And yes I seen sparks so I immediately back the screw out but the damage was done. And where I done this is on the passenger side of the jeep. I’m going to post pics. I had to find some pics to use that were not of my jeep but similar, just to use to stow where I drilled in to the harness.

After I unhooked the battery I took off the plastic protector and the tape stuff that was on the wires… I didn’t go all the way thru any of the wires tho.

I nicked like 3-4 wires. Unfortunately I don’t remember the colors of the wires. Like i said I just nicked in to a few of them so I just took black electrical tape and taped them up and wrapped it all back up.

So I put the battery cables back on the jeep and when I went to start it, it would only turn over but not start

I didn’t recall hearing my fuel injection so I turn the key off then on battery just to see if my fuel injection was working and it wasn’t. I tried this several times to be sure it wasn’t kicking in and it never did.

I did have headlights and I had brake lights and my radio lit up…. But I noticed that my gauges wasn’t doing any thing. My gas gauge and the three other gauges were laying down like they were just deader than a door knob

So my poor jeep is out of commission and I desperately have to have it back up and going ASAP…

I’m a single mom (no support) trying to make ends meet for my kids and my self. This is one of the main reasons I do my own mechanic work is to save money and do my own modifications cuz I enjoy doing things like that. I’m a tomboy (have been all my life) and I love doing mods on my vehicle.

I’m just stumped on what to do to fix this problem that I created by pulling an amateur move and it’s a rookie mistake and I definitely won’t do it again and I knew better……

I hope this isn’t going to be an expensive fix.

Im not 100% familiar with how to use a tester but I have an uncle that is an electrician and my cousin knows how to use the tester so I can call him to come help me test… but i need to know what to test and what numbers I’m looking for.

Could it be one of the relays or fuses (two diff kinds of fuses) under the box by the battery. I did pull the regular fuses under that box that’s by the battery and none of them were blown. But the other square fuse looking things with a clear lid/top, I’m not real familiar with those either so I left them alone. I also pulled some of the fuses behind the glove box and none of those were blown.

I’m at a loss of what to do or what to try or what to test…..

I’ll post pics to show approx where I drilled in to that harness and I’ll also label the pics as to which is my jeep

And which ones are not my jeep but they are similar to mine tho. I can look later to

See what color wires I nicked if that would be of any help…



Any help for this gal would be so very much appreciated…. Thanks in advance for those that can offer some advice… or maybe a link(s) to video(s)… I can’t thank you all enough…. I got to get my Nelly girl going… I’m missing work while she is down and I can’t afford to do that at all…. Thanks again and so sorry for the long book I posted



And from now on I WILL DO MY BEST to NOT make a ROOKIE MISTAKE!



I love This whole forum… it’s been very informative and all the ppl here seem to be super nice and helpful….

My jeep is a 2004 wrangler TJ 4.0L engine 5 sp 4x4

Thank you all so very much… I did open up the protective cover and tape and seen that a a few wires were nicked and I just black taped them but I’ll take a pic and post the wires that are damaged… I checked a bunch of fuses but going to check them all…., I didn’t see any blown last night but I’m gonna double check tho… I’ll post more pics shortly

And thank again y’all!!!

Here are the pics of the ones I cut in to… one of yellow with a red stripe… one of red with a white strip and one is just plain blue but I’m not sure that it’s cut into and I also circled another red and white wire that may have a tiny cut in it…

I checked all the fuses behind the glove box and none of those were blown and I also checked the fuses under the hood and none of those were blown but I wasn’t for sure how to get out the fuses with the clear top so I just left those alone…

03coloradowrangler said:

per the service manual for your year, https://wranglertjforum.com/attachments/2004-tj-service-manual-pdf.14043/
about 1/4 down the top (while scrolling), Page 8W - 80 - 40 gives you some information on wire colors for that area of the harness.

red with a white stripe appears to be "fused B(+)" which appears to be a constant 12 volt source of power from the battery.

yellow with a red stripe points to "fused ignition switch output" or "speed control on/off switch sense". this depends on which of the 3 harnesses that plug into the computer / powertrain control module that yellow/red wire leads to. it appears that there are two yellow/red wires in that loom.. dont know which one you nicked.

either way, not sure if its any help but thats what im seeing when looking up wire colors. maybe someone else can snowball some ideas based on what the wires service o the vehicle.

Click to expand...

I took a pic of the plug that the harness goes to … and thank you so very much for all y’all ….
I hope I can get my girl back on the road today/tonighy

NskLJ said:

Does it crank over but not start?

Click to expand...

It does turn o er but won’t crank. I’m not hearing the fuel injection kick on either