I just picked up a 2004 new (old) 2004 Rubicon and for the life of me, I can't figure out where this wiring harness is supposed to be plugged in. I noticed it hanging under the steering wheel and after a look under I couldn't seem to find anything that is should connect to. I'm also have an issue with the courtesy lights not turning on when the door is open and wondering if its somehow related...seems like a strong likelihood. Any ideas?
If you can turn on your courtesy lights via the dashlight dimmer control by rotating it until it clicks, but not by opening the doors, the previous owner removed the 10 amp fuse #4 from behind the glove box. That fuse is there to disable the door switches to the interior lights aren't on when the doors are off.
Though I have a 2004 TJ too, that mysterious wiring harness isn't ringing a bell with me.
Its not the fuse. I replaced all of those as well because that was my first thought about the lights after I checked that the door switches were still connected...
It looks like it goes up to the underside of the steering column. When I was screwing around with it, I just realized the headlight buzzer is disconnected as well for when you leave the lights on and pull the key from the ignition - but again, that leads back to a bad #4 fuse which I know isnt the case since they're all brand new fuses.
I removed a wire harness plug that looked almost identical when I first got my jeep. It was the remnants of an alarm system the PO had partially removed. Most of the wiring went to the bundle that comes off the right side of the column and was spliced in. See if you can trace any of the wires out.
Regarding the interior lights, there are a bunch of crazy door switch defeat mods that people do. You may find an odd switch tucked up under the dash as well.
That's definitely an aftermarket alarm harness. Like a directed electronics/viper alarm. It's tied into the interior light. That way the interior light would turn on when the alarm would disarm. The light would go out after the ignition was turned on.
If it is in fact an aftermarket harness, you shouldn't need to replace anything, just disconnect and discard. Any other parts/pieces that look like add-ons? Indicator light on the dash maybe? Siren under the hood? That kinda stuff that might support the alarm harness theory?
I simply disconnected the one in mine without an issue, although I honestly don't remember if the courtesy lights were affected before I removed it. I took a few pics of the splices before I removed it, in case there were any reason to reconnect.
I would untape this harness and disconnect each splice from the factory wire. This may lead you to the problem. Be sure to tape up each joint you undo. You may find a splice where they cut into a light trigger wire and looped it thru this aftermarket harness. Take some pics as you find other splices. We can kinda analyze for you.
Wow - whoever had installed that made an absolute mess. Part of me wonders if thats the reason they pulled the alarm, that it didnt work since they'd done such a bad job. I'm thinking at this point I might just need a new harness. Thats got to be something the parts department at my local dealership would have right?
OK - after taping this back up a few days ago, I decided to get a few more pics to get the opinions of the forum. I pulled the front panel to see what everything looks like and this is what I found - its some sort of bypass I guess. I just want to back to stock and not bypassing the 4th fuse....what do you guys think?
Thats the odd thing, there is no other evidence of an aftermarket alarm. So whats going to be my best course for getting it back to stock? Mechanical I'm OK with, electrical not so much...
Those clip on splices are not factory for sure. They are not ideal as the often cut SE of the metal strands inside the wires.
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