Headlights On & Off problem

bisjoe · **Posted:** Sun Jan 01, 2006 4:01 pm

After 5-10 minutes with the headlights on the start to go on and off randomly, with an audible click sound each time. I thought relay, and there's one listed at parts suppliers, but none labeled for headlights in the relay box next to the battery. Is it shared with the blower relay?? Or somewhere else?? :?:

Taz · **Posted:** Sun Jan 01, 2006 5:47 pm

Most headlights do not have fuses anymore but circuit breakers, sounds like yours in tripping and resetting, do you have an extra load on the lighting circuit that is overheating the circuit breaker?

bisjoe · **Posted:** Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:52 pm

No extra load, all stock. The driving lights are not affected, they stay on the whole time (luckily or it would be really hard to see). On our '02 the is no sign of any breakers, the fuse panel has all fuses except for what looks like a relay in the upper left that says "high beam".

Taz · **Posted:** Sun Jan 01, 2006 9:48 pm

Could be an intermittent short or a bad connection causing the breaker to trip. The Running lights should be on a separate fuse, so they should stay lit. Check under the hood for an additional electrical box, It will probbably be up on top of one of the fenders or along the firewall someplace that is easy to get to, don't know if the liberty has one or not but many newer vehicles have an interior and under hood box.

FreedomKJ · **Posted:** Sun Jan 01, 2006 10:16 pm

Taz wrote:

Check under the hood for an additional electrical box, It will probbably be up on top of one of the fenders or along the firewall someplace that is easy to get to, don't know if the liberty has one or not but many newer vehicles have an interior and under hood box.

It's right in front of the battery.

waddy whiteguts · **Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:17 pm

There are many more relays up under the dash on the backside of the fuse panel. I know for a fact that the parking lights relay is on this panel. The low beam relay is also in this panel in a slot kind of by itself. The high beam relay is in the fuse panel at the end of your dash as you've located it. Your DRL relay if you have DRLs is in the dash end panel. High beams are fused independently on fuses 26(right) and 27(left) in the dash end panel. Low beams are fused independently on fuses 4(right) and 5(left) in the dash end panel.

To further complicate things, the junction block that feeds the low beam circuit is fused by a 50A main fuse under the hood (fuse 15), and the high beams are on 50A fuse 3 in the under hood box. Check these fuses for clean tight connections but be careful there is high current in this box. If either of the 50A fuses are loose or bad you will likely have other wierd issues with lights and accessories as the BCM logic will be screwy with only partial power. For example I accidentally blew one of those 50A fuses and my headlights and seats wouldn't work but the high beam indicator would come on and not go off unless I held in the passing lights switch.

Check for loose connections at the relay and fuse sockets. Also check for loose connections at the stalk switch if possible or a bad switch by fiddling with the switch with the lights on. The electrical circuits on the KJ are pretty complicated as with any modern BCM vehicle. All my info came out of the factory manual for the 02 KJ.

If I were to start replacing things to try and fix it I'd start with the relays as it sounds like a defective one to me. The dealer can test the BCM if need be. Is the problem with your highs, lows, or both??

FWIW there are a couple circuit breakers in the KJ but not for lighting. One of them is for the power seats and one is for the wiper delay of all things.

bisjoe · **Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:31 pm

Thanks, I knew they had to have hidden that low beam relay somewhere. I wanted to check the relays to make sure nothing was loose to start,
before throwing parts at it. Unfortunately it may well be the switch though, because the brights wouldn't stay on either last time it messed up,
just the driving lights worked. I would have to take it in to the dealer for that, with the airbag, and unfortunately I've run out of local dealers
with bad service from all of them in the past and sworn not to go back, so I'd have to drive a ways.

Taz · **Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:23 pm

I go to the local Chrysler/Dodge dealer, instead of the Jeep dealer. More convenient and better service, They know more about Diesels.

dkcase · **Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2006 10:55 pm

bisjoe........ the brights wouldn't stay on either last time it messed up,
just the driving lights worked.

When you say driving lights, do you mean the fog lights ? If not, I'm not sure what you are referring to on the '02.

bisjoe · **Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:06 am

Yes, fog lights, though they are clear so I call them driving lights. The switch
on the end that you pull out.

bisjoe · **Posted:** Fri Jan 06, 2006 11:33 am

Here's an update. Since my last post it got worse. Last night while sitting in the garage
the low beams would go in and out, highs could not be made to come on for more than a second and now the fogs will not stay on. In order to make any of those come on I can push forward slightly on the stem switch and if I held it there they would stay on (hard to drive that way).
That made me think switch, not relay. This morning I called a dealer and they told me pretty sure it is the switch, $135 to replace, so I will take it in Saturday when it's light and they will work on it Monday. I could buy and replace it myself but with the airbag in there and the cost being so low I'll let them handle it and I'll stick to working on my '72 El Camino that has none of this electronic junk.

bisjoe · **Posted:** Mon Jan 09, 2006 6:26 pm

Just got a call, the Liberty is ready to pick up. It was the multi-function switch, apparent
broken or loose wire internally. They fixed it for what they quoted ($135).

waddy whiteguts · **Posted:** Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:21 pm

That sounds pretty reasonable for the job. I had a stalk replaced in my VW Jetta recently for $200. It was the wiper control and had the trip computer switches in it too. I would have lost a half a dozen tiny parts trying to do that one myself :lol:

Headlights On & Off problem

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