97 TJ No Dash Cluster / Tail Lights

[scliffo]

Hello, this is my first post and my first Jeep. I got a 97 TJ Sport that I recently did a rust restoration on. (Tub pulled and all - great way to introduce myself to jeep life LOL). I had to disconnect all the electrical wiring to pull the tub and I'm finally at the stage of reconnecting everything.

However I'm getting the weirdest issues that I cannot track down. So after connecting the battery, the parking brake light turns on in the cluster. If I turn my headlights on, the parking brake light turns off and my 4wd light will turn on. If I turn the turn signal on, the parking brake light and the 4wd light will flash as the turn signal lights. I get no other life out of the cluster. Additionally, the rear turn signals will only work if the cluster is disconnected from the harness. Brake lights will only work if the headlights are turned off. They barely light up if the car is off but if it's running, they have more juice to light up (when they light up). I also get no ignition beeping either

I did make the swap to full LED external lights everywhere and I did get the appropriate relay that did fix hyperflashing (but that's all it fixed)

Jeep runs just fine, its just the electrical issues and I'm at my limit for electrical knowledge and patience. This is the tail end of the last 8 months of work

Things I've looked at so far:
Grounds - all clean and grounded
Fuses - none blown but still swapped out the important ones
random grounds
engine bay fuses
wiring inspected and found no kinks/breaks

I did paint the metal dash frame during my rust repair, I haven't heard of any contact grounds from it, but I wanted to include that as well. Any grounds that are attached to the metal dash frame have been wire wheeled for proper ground contact.

If anyone has any leads, that would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to have to bring this to a shop, but it's looking like that's my only other option at this point.

 

[macleanflood]

I painted my metal dash frame on my 97 and no issues.

I'd check the big block of harness connectors under the driver dash.

Have you looked at the factory service manual in the resources section?

-Mac

 

[scliffo]

I painted my metal dash frame on my 97 and no issues.

I'd check the big block of harness connectors under the driver dash.

Have you looked at the factory service manual in the resources section?

-Mac

I have checked it, but will thoroughly examine it again. Cant be too sure! I coated the whole tub in bedliner, there's a small chance it got bedliner in it

 

[Matts1226]

I have checked it, but will thoroughly examine it again. Cant be too sure! I coated the whole tub in bedliner, there's a small chance it got bedliner in it

Hello, this is my first post and my first Jeep. I got a 97 TJ Sport that I recently did a rust restoration on. (Tub pulled and all - great way to introduce myself to jeep life LOL). I had to disconnect all the electrical wiring to pull the tub and I'm finally at the stage of reconnecting everything.

However I'm getting the weirdest issues that I cannot track down. So after connecting the battery, the parking brake light turns on in the cluster. If I turn my headlights on, the parking brake light turns off and my 4wd light will turn on. If I turn the turn signal on, the parking brake light and the 4wd light will flash as the turn signal lights. I get no other life out of the cluster. Additionally, the rear turn signals will only work if the cluster is disconnected from the harness. Brake lights will only work if the headlights are turned off. They barely light up if the car is off but if it's running, they have more juice to light up (when they light up). I also get no ignition beeping either

I did make the swap to full LED external lights everywhere and I did get the appropriate relay that did fix hyperflashing (but that's all it fixed)

Jeep runs just fine, its just the electrical issues and I'm at my limit for electrical knowledge and patience. This is the tail end of the last 8 months of work

Things I've looked at so far:
Grounds - all clean and grounded
Fuses - none blown but still swapped out the important ones
random grounds
engine bay fuses
wiring inspected and found no kinks/breaks

I did paint the metal dash frame during my rust repair, I haven't heard of any contact grounds from it, but I wanted to include that as well. Any grounds that are attached to the metal dash frame have been wire wheeled for proper ground contact.

If anyone has any leads, that would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to have to bring this to a shop, but it's looking like that's my only other option at this point.

Hi, I was wondering if you ever found a solution? currently having the same issue

 

[hear]

My daughter's 97 had a very similar problem a few weeks back. I had no dash lights, and no taillights but I did have brake lights. I checked what I thought was the right fuse....once I finally checked the correct fuse I discovered it was blown. Put a new one in and I still didn't have any taillights. Turns out coincidentally I also had a pair of burned out bulbs. Moral of the story is assume nothing.

 

[BT74]

I am having a similar problem. I had two issues going on: The headlights would not stay on (2000 with the plunger light switch) and I would have to gently adjust the plunger to get them on. At the same time I had an issue where the left marker light would come on (along with the left turn indicator on the dash-solid, not blinking) when I hit the brakes. So I bought a replacement headlight switch and turn signal switch. Since I was taking the dash apart I decided to replace the dash lights with LEDs.

The headlight switch wasn't quite the same. On the original part there was a little tab on the top that a small black connector mated with. The replacement didn't have that. I swapped out the switch, minus the single connection, and the headlights worked perfectly. I then replaced the LED bulbs in the dash and almost all of them worked perfectly at first. I swapped out a few and got them working, but they would go out. I noticed that when I touched the green wire in the headlight connection the dash lights would either go on or off. Eventually they just turned off and have not come back on. I did buy a different headlight switch which HAD the tab and swapped them out, but the dash problem persists. I also noticed that the green wire will pull right out of the connector. I have checked all the fuses both behind the glove box and under the hood and they are all good. I circled the green wire plug.


Headlights, brake lights, and turn signals work fine.



Also, when I installed the turn signal switch the two bolts in the last picture were missing. Can anyone tell me what size and threads these bolts are? I can't find it in the service manual. EDIT: Found them 8-32 1/2", if anyone needed to know that.

Thanks in advance.