Brake lights not working and funky wiring going on...

Beckon · **Joined:** Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:45 pm **Posts:** 15

i bought my 2002 Jeep Liberty in January of 2010 and noticed a green wire hanging from the bottom of my jeep. i figured it was related to towing....until i remembered that the car doesnt have a tow hitch yet...

i gave my car a check upl (oil, tranny fluid checked all lights) once i checked the brake lights they looked like they needed replacing

i replaced them. the top brake light works but the left and right do not. the running lights and signals still work though.

Here are some pics
VVV What in the F!@# happened here? that CAN'T be normally factory wiring

Random booty green wire

and you can probably see that the tape around the wiring is old and crusty

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Sat Nov 06, 2010 4:30 pm

thats not factory wiring

it appears someone was a dip and tried to wire up trailer lights using the wiring at the brake lights instead of using the routine trailer wiring, which is wired on all KJ's, but doesn't always have the harness plugged in, the factory tow harness comes out of the pass rear of the KJ through a loom hole in the rear pass wheel well above the exhaust and would snake towards the center of the rear bumper

apparently someone did not know this

only other .... "explanation"....

is that someone had LED bulbs in the tail lights and wired resistors really close to the plugs or some sort of directional light bar under the gate

my guess would be they manually wired a trailer harness

check the left side brake signal wires for a break is a good place to start

ground, and brake lights travel from front, to left rear to right rear and terminate

additionally if signal brake is broken on the left it will not activate the right

3rd brake light is separate and ties in to the harness towards the front of the vehicle so it typically will work regardless of damage to brake light / trailer harness etc in the rear

Beckon · **Joined:** Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:45 pm **Posts:** 15

Being the safe person i am. i have done quite abit of wiring in the past. should i just take it to the JEEP dealership who sold the vehicle and show them? for them to sell me a vehicle with this issue isnt right. furthermore. if the tampering of these wires has caused my brake lights to stop working that could put my life in danger.

but we have one tiny issue....and by tiny....i mean that the whole inside of my jeep (excluding trunk) is herculined. The Herculining was the end result of my girlfriend spilling about a gallon of kool aid on the carpet. now some of you might believe that the koolaid could have messed up some wiring. but after pulling out the carpet i saw very little evidence of that koolaid penetrating all the way through.

With that said. there is a huge possibility that jeep will turn me away for not only herculining the inside, but for also installing additional lighting to the vehicle saying "you've touched the elecrical stuff, you did this"

in conclusion lol...does anyone on the off chance happen to have a picture of what that harnes looks like stock?
or could you possibly by looking at the pictures tell me what wires belong and do not. i know thats much to ask but i am willing to take more pictures if needed

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Sat Nov 06, 2010 5:09 pm

the wires coming from the housing plug are stock, they've had pigtails attached to them using the blue scotch blocks, prying open and removing the scotch blocks and repairing the stock wires as necessary and taping everything back up will most likely fix your problem

if it's been more than 30 days since you bought it, the dealer will probably not do a thing to fix that particular issue and claim that you probably did it yourself

there looks to be plenty of wire to work with, if you're not comfortable repairing it yourself, take it to a car audio shop, they'll hook you up pretty quick and shouldn't charge you an arm and a leg

Beckon · **Joined:** Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:45 pm **Posts:** 15

i've removed the scotch blocks and repaired the wires that looked bad still nothing.. :furious:

now ive got another issue. im leaking engine coolant. cracked radiator

ridenby · **Posted:** Sun Nov 07, 2010 10:13 pm

Did you cut,splice the wires together after removing the scotch blocks,if not that could be the problem. Checked all fuses? Checked the bulbs?

The radiator is not super hard to swap out.

Beckon · **Joined:** Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:45 pm **Posts:** 15

yes i re-spliced the wires. i'll double check the fuses.

as far as the radiator goes. any ideas on where to get one cheap?

and will i have to take off the bumped or just the grill to swap the radiator? i havent looked that hard and its dark out

Brake lights not working and funky wiring going on...

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