[HeaveToo]

For the past year I have had on and off trouble with my fog lights. Sometimes they don't come on, especially when it is raining or moist outside (my top is on so it is not getting directly wet).

Today I had my lights on and I began to smell a burning smell. I was able to locate that the source of the smell was coming for the steering column area. The top the the steering column was a bit warm too.

Luckily I didn't see any smoke. I am wondering what could be causing this smell and what do I have to be looking for. I am stuck working for the next 7 days so I don't know when I will be able to take my vehicle in to be looked at either.

Any suggestions or ideas on what could be causing this? How concerned should I be?

 

[HeaveToo]

Opened up the steering column. I noticed that a wire had melted and the bottom of the wire harness had melted a little.

What do I need to do about this? How much is this going to cost me if I take it in to get repaired?

 

[HeaveToo]

I am thinking that this is the fog lights.

 

[Atthehop]

Are they stock fog lights. If they are not and the bulbs are higher wattage than factory bulbs (55W) then you should not use factory wiring to power them. You need to use relaas to power them but can use the factory wiring to trigger the relay. I run 100w driving lights and 130w Headlights all through separate relays.

 

[HeaveToo]

They are stock fog lights

 

[Atthehop]

Check the bulb wattage. Something is overloading the circuit.

 

[HeaveToo]

It is definitely the fog lights. The bad news is that my high beams will not work now (it felt like something snapped inside of the switch when I tried to move it to activate them). I need to have this place replaced.

My current theory is that the signal and switches developed a short in the fog light switch area. The short became worse until eventually there was a connection that touched metal and became really hot. This heat caused things to melt and caused the burning smell (thus the burnt wire in the picture). This caused damage inside of this switch system which caused my high beams to go out too.

The remedy is to replace the switch and put a new harness that attaches to the switch because that was melted slightly and one of the wires was melted slightly.

I will probably have Jeep or a mechanic do this....Ugh...More bills!