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Ok, my cursed Jeep is back. Old straight 6 jeep cherokee has a new issue. When turn on headlights, all lights work fine, but when turn off, fuse blows. Have not done any body or electrical work. Replaced light switch to be sure but still does it. When I bought the jeep, the switch had been moved from the hole on the plastic dash to a bracket that was part of the frame under the dash. I drove it like this for at least 5 years with no issues. Now looking back, I wonder why switch was mounted like this but now it may have been to assure ground? I have verified that the switch is grounded but still popping little plastic fuses like candy. Any ideas what or where to look?
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i would check the switch itself, check for arc marks on the contacts. maybe your running lights and off are arced together somehow? next. check for loose wires from the switch to the fuse box. lastly check for southern engineering. any splicing, cut wires, or cut off wires. ive seen alot of people splice aftermarket lights into the light switch and just change out the fuse for a bigger one that now sits in a charred puddle of plastic that used to be a fuse box.
🙂 Well, if you replaced the headlight switch with the correct type switch, I would reinstall in the dash and see if it blows a fuse after you do that. A switch just completes a circuit, when you turn off a switch, you are breaking the circuit. You may want to look at the headlight relay first and see if it has burnt or discolored terminals on it. You could have a bulb shorting out or a bulb socket or a wire that is broke in the wiring circuit.
If you are still blowing fuses, I would start with the biggest current draw, the headlights, and I would unplug the wires to the bulbs and see if you blow a fuse when you cut off the headlights. If you do blow a bulb, then I would remove the rear light bulbs from the socket and see if it blows a fuse after that and continue till you do not blow a fuse. If you don’t blow a fuse when you remove the headlight bulb connectors, then the wiring to the headlights or the bulbs themselves could be causing the short. A bulb can short internally and not show any problems. This will take some time to fix it properly. Good Luck.You can install a circuit breaker in the fuse port that blows to assist as you diagnose the problem. I suspect a short or something somewhere. Voltage drop testing can help you find it. Information on how to perform a voltage drop test along with other electrical testing techniques can be found in this article.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-electrical-problems
Good luck and keep us posted.
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