Questions and Answers
Cherokee Electrical Problems
Q. Hi, I'm an auto repair "do-it-yourselfer" and I've got a problem with my 1989 Jeep Cherokee 4x4 that's got me stumped. I turned on the A/C for the first time this summer and had my usual tunes playing on the radio when they both just stopped dead. The engine continued to run fine, but then I noticed that the blinkers didn't work.
I immediately thought that the alternator must have went bad and then drained my battery until nothing electrical was working. I figured that as soon as I shut off the jeep that it wouldn't start back up. But to my surprise it turned over fine and started right up. So I've got the blower motor, the radio, and the blinkers not working. All three have different fuses, I checked them first and they are fine. I'm not very electronically inclined, but I did check the wiring harness for breaks, burns or shorts and didn't find anything there either.
I'm very mind boggled at this, I can't figure out what those three would have in common. The only thing that I've found similar is that they are right next to one another on the fuse block. Two other things that I've noticed that may or may not be related are the horn won't blow and the digital clock has dimmed. Maybe this is out of my league, buy I just can't stand the thought of paying an outlandish price for something that is probably really simple.
A. The one thing the blower motor, radio, turn signals, horn and the radio/clock illumination have in common is that they all get power from the same terminal of the ignition switch. So to trace out the problem, I would start there. The brown wire at the ignition switch connector is the wire that sends power to the fuse box. Check for power there with the key on and if there is power, then there is a break in the wire between there and the fuse box. At this point I would take out the fuse box and check the connections in back of it.
If there is no power, then you have a bad ignition switch or fusible link at the battery.
Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA
