Need some wiring and electrical help BAD!!

pokefan · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 9:39 am

Last night I was trying to install a new Head Unit in the Jeep and for some reason couldn't get any power to it. While I was messing with things I moved the harness to the side and fried something. (note: don't be lazy and leave the neg post hooked up on the battery! ) Any way, my interior dome lights went off and I thought that was it. I could deal with that for the time being! Not so, NOTHING in the Jeep works when the car is off. No locks, interior lights, head lights, the key fob won't work, nothing! If the car is on and running everything works fine except the dome lights and I can't unlock the car through the switches. I can lock it fine but it won't unlock. I've checked all the fuses and can't seem to find anything that looks bad so I assume that there's an inline somewhere but I can't find it at all. Any ideas here would be awesome!!

pokefan · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 2:25 pm

Ok, lets start a bit smaller then! lol

Why would things work when the car was running and not while it was turned off? If it were a fuse issue it wouldn't work regardless, correct?

dgeist · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 2:42 pm

pokefan wrote:

Ok, lets start a bit smaller then! lol

Why would things work when the car was running and not while it was turned off? If it were a fuse issue it wouldn't work regardless, correct?

Sounds reasonable. You might have fried one of the accessory wires or a relay. Do you still have constant power (i.e. do you loose your radio settings when your engine is off)? I had an issue some time ago on a ford truck that ended up being a fusible link.

Dan

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 2:50 pm

Other obvious issues aside, this sounds like it could be a bad BCM.

Not a very difficult part to replace, but an expensive one if you have to buy the part new, and a cheap one(but requiring more time and effort) to buy at a pick n pull.

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 2:56 pm

You know, they make wiring harnesses for deck installs so you don't have to blindly cut up wires.
A common rookie mistake is to ground the radio to the illum wire. When the lights are off, it tests as ground. When the lights come on, there is 12V.

I recommend putting the factory harness back together and get yourself and installation harness.

pokefan · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 2:59 pm

dgeist wrote:

Sounds reasonable. You might have fried one of the accessory wires or a relay. Do you still have constant power (i.e. do you loose your radio settings when your engine is off)? I had an issue some time ago on a ford truck that ended up being a fusible link.

Dan

I'd figure I relay would be the same issue as a fuse. If it had gone bad it wouldn't ever work. The only thing working on the radio right now when plugged back into the wiring is the lights. It won't power on, I know for a fact it's still good though so it's somewhere in the wiring just don't know where.

Sir Sam wrote:

Other obvious issues aside, this sounds like it could be a bad BCM.

Not a very difficult part to replace, but an expensive one if you have to buy the part new, and a cheap one(but requiring more time and effort) to buy at a pick n pull.

Where is the BCM located and is there a way to test and see if it's gone bad or not?

pokefan · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 3:02 pm

JL Rockies wrote:

You know, they make wiring harnesses for deck installs so you don't have to blindly cut up wires.
A common rookie mistake is to ground the radio to the illum wire. When the lights are off, it tests as ground. When the lights come on, there is 12V.

I recommend putting the factory harness back together and get yourself and installation harness.

Not a newbie at installing radios, I just simply didn't unplug the neg on the battery because I was being lazy. Everything is still in tact and was done right (with a harness) It's grounded to bare metal and the illum. wire is connected to the right place as is the 12v switched power.

Regardless though a harness wouldn't have done much good if there's no power going to the unit to begin with.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 3:03 pm

What JL said. I ended up getting a wiring harness from walmart and all it did was plug into the factory harness then give me a bunch of wires to splice. At least I didnt have to cut up the stock one but I wish it was just plug and play. Everything worked out ok in the end though.

I would start by checking all the fuses. Im with you that its very odd it works when the jeep is on but doesnt when the jeep is off.

I would be worried that its a bad BCM too but you wont know till you try and replace it. Worst comes to worst you could sell it on ebay or on here if that wasnt the problem.

Im sure you know it now but, always unhook that battery.

pokefan · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 3:16 pm

Found this:

#1 Question - Is this the BCM?

#2 Question - How in the WORLD do you get these stupid fuses out!!!

Jeepster wrote:

I ended up getting a wiring harness from walmart and all it did was plug into the factory harness then give me a bunch of wires to splice. At least I didnt have to cut up the stock one but I wish it was just plug and play. Everything worked out ok in the end though.

Got a harness, hooked it all up and had no power to the Radio. I started messing with things trying to find the issue and that's when things went south!

Jeepster wrote:

Im sure you know it now but, always unhook that battery.

Yeah Yeah, Go away!! :lol:

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 3:16 pm

Did you at least verify that all of the fuses in the panel were in fact OK?

pokefan · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 3:22 pm

sleeve84028 wrote:

Did you at least verify that all of the fuses in the panel were in fact OK?

Yea, I've gone through the fuses in the dash and under the hood and can't seem to find any that are bad. Which is why I'm so confused. First glance and everything appears to be fine!

I tried to get a wiring diagram from Jeep today but they couldn't find it, go figure. I was hoping that there was an inline somewhere that I was missing.

David Jr · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 7:48 pm

check the relays under the hood. they may have gone bad. They'll be next to the battery.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 7:56 pm

To get those out, just pinch the two ends together and pull.

03CDKJ · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 8:53 pm

pokefan wrote:

Found this:

#1 Question - Is this the BCM?

#2 Question - How in the WORLD do you get these stupid fuses out!!!

Jeepster wrote:

I ended up getting a wiring harness from walmart and all it did was plug into the factory harness then give me a bunch of wires to splice. At least I didnt have to cut up the stock one but I wish it was just plug and play. Everything worked out ok in the end though.

Got a harness, hooked it all up and had no power to the Radio. I started messing with things trying to find the issue and that's when things went south!

Jeepster wrote:

Im sure you know it now but, always unhook that battery.

Yeah Yeah, Go away!! :lol:

QUESTION 2.... 1st (Take the white fuse holder out)Push the sides in, and jiggle it Horizontally..... Then you have to flip open the plastic piece and remove the fuse.... Just remember which slot the fuse came out of..... There are 2 slots in the plastic fuse holder......

EJ Husker · **Posted:** Wed May 21, 2008 10:59 pm

Sir Sam wrote:

Other obvious issues aside, this sounds like it could be a bad BCM.

Not a very difficult part to replace, but an expensive one if you have to buy the part new, and a cheap one(but requiring more time and effort) to buy at a pick n pull.

I just had a dealer replace two BCM's (Their Fault) they were reconditioned and the price they quoted me was about $180 for the part and about 2 hours labor to remove and replace the old one.

I agree with the assesment of a bad BCM. When mine went out, all the door locks, seats, sunroof, etc. would not work.

HTH.

Ethan

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Thu May 22, 2008 2:24 am

If you need a new BCM let me know what year yours is and I can check the junkyards early next week for one.

pokefan · **Posted:** Thu May 22, 2008 10:00 am

Got it Fixed!! It was the BCM Fuse. It was in the little pieces I couldn't get out. Thanks for the help everyone!

Now that it's fixed there will be pics up soon! Pics are up!

Need some wiring and electrical help BAD!!

Who is online