Some very weird things have been happening to my 98 with 75K. First, the front speakers are acting up. Infinity system. The driver door speaker works when the door is closed. When I open the door, it cuts off. The passenger door does the opposite. The speaker is off until the door opens, then it plays normally! How strange is that?

The other problem may or may not be related. Every once in a while, while driving, all the gauges on my dash go dead. Speedometer, tach, oil guage, gas guage, EVERYTHING! At the same time this happens, the airbag light comes on. Then, a few minutes later, the airbag light goes off and all the guages fire back up to normal. Sounds like a short somewhere, possibly related to to the speakers.

Any one out there ever experienced such strange behavior?

Thanks.

We have a 99 Cherokee Sport with 150K. Since the beginning, we have had strange electrical problems which have just gotten worse over time. It started out with a short sizzling sound randomly when you turn on the turn signal. Then the speakers would quit working and would start working when you opened the driver door or hit the driver door panel. Then lately, the gauges on the dashboard just go crazy until you pull over, shut off the vehicle and turn it on. Yesterday, the vehicle wouldn't start, then after started by jump starting, the battery gauge amped out. Had the alternator checked and it was fine. They will be looking at the computer tomorrow. Found some items of interest on the Jeep Cherokee Club on MSN about bad ground wire and another article of interest on jeepz.com.

I have the same problem, and so has my neighbor. I find that if I turn on and off my lights at that time it fixes it. Sometimes if I use the extended idle button it will mess up the instruments. I flip the head light button and it goes away. I think its a jeep thing that has to be ignored.

Took to diagnostic center, they couldn't find anything wrong and as soon as we got it home, started acting crazy again. Is to the point that it won't start back up as soon as you shut it off and the alarm keeps setting itself. I am suspecting a problem with the alarm, maybe setting the starter kill. Also, I got under the hood and tapped on the fuses, moved some wires around and voila, it started. I am going to have the alarm taken out (Black Widow-has been randomly setting itself for about a year). I have heard of another Jeep owner who had to remove their alarm due to the same problem also. Hoping this helps the problem, if not, it eliminates one option.

there is a tsb for both of those problems. the wiring harness for the speakers in the doors runs near the hinge. The wires were made to short and with not enough excess to allow for any slack. As the wires age the insulation around them gets hard and can cause them to break or not make good contact..start there by checking wires per signs of such damage. The inst. clusters had problems with differnt style connectors on the wiring harness and the cluster...there is a jumper harness that you can install ..that sounds like a strong possibility for the gauge prob. FYI...those audio units are also not the most reliable components

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

update?

I just got done ripping out the entire stereo system, I'm just going to spend a bunch of money and replace everything. It'll sound better anyway :) One of the wires was broken completely, and the passenger side was just about there. Stupid engineers!
As for the control panel, it hasn't acted up in a few days, I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

good deal, let me know if you need more info

I have a 94 JGC. I am having the EXACT problems you are describing. Esp the "won't start back up as soon as you shut it off". I assumed it was a security system problem as well because the engine does nothing. Like its locked. Can you update me on how the security system removal went. And if it helped. Im scared to drive anywhere for fear i'll be stuck. Thanks.

HAd the same prob with the speakers in my 00 cherokee. I ripped through all the wires and found that for some reason they were split. I would check that out. To let you know it is not easy there are about 20 wires to fire through before you find it. It must be that there are too many wires or they are getting snagged on something.

I'm interested to know if you solved this problem(s). I have intermittent power window and left speaker problems, and intermittently my speedo goes out as the air bag light comes on.

I will tackle the door jam wiring pass-through next week.

Mike Nicholas




Some very weird things have been happening to my 98 with 75K. First, the front speakers are acting up. Infinity system. The driver door speaker works when the door is closed. When I open the door, it cuts off. The passenger door does the opposite. The speaker is off until the door opens, then it plays normally! How strange is that?

The other problem may or may not be related. Every once in a while, while driving, all the gauges on my dash go dead. Speedometer, tach, oil guage, gas guage, EVERYTHING! At the same time this happens, the airbag light comes on. Then, a few minutes later, the airbag light goes off and all the guages fire back up to normal. Sounds like a short somewhere, possibly related to to the speakers.

Any one out there ever experienced such strange behavior?

Thanks.

I'm interested to know if you solved this problem(s). I have intermittent power window and left speaker problems, and intermittently my speedo goes out as the air bag light comes on.

I will tackle the door jam wiring pass-through next week.

Mike Nicholas

Not yet. I just have my two rear speakers working now. I'm not the most mechanical person, and I'm having all types of problems getting the doors apart. Anyone know of any good sites that can explain how to do so?

Seeing as though questions are being asked

I have one

I have a 92 cherokee 4.0 HO

My Back up lights don't work. But it starts fine everyday. Except once a month or once every two months. Then I put it in nuetral and it starts perfectly. NSS obviously.(which isn't fixed yet)

Now my question

My tach stopped working a few months back. I had no problem with it before and no problem since. I was driving along la de da de da then I noticed my tach wasn't moving. I thought the engine had shut off???

But I wasn't slowing down. So about a mile or two later I pulled over and shut the jeep off thinking it was just a glitch. Turned the jeep back on. no good. didn't work. It was still running fine so I just drove off towards my destination regardless of the tach working or not. And as soon as I pulled off it started working again. Perplexed but not worried I kept driving then the next day it did it again for about 10 minutes i didn't turn it off because I didn't care and Just as strangely as it went off it came back on.


Now would low or dirty transmission fluid cause the tach to stop working.

I ask this because I changed my oil and transmission fluid a few days after it happened and it has never ever happened again?

Seeing as though questions are being asked

I have one

I have a 92 cherokee 4.0 HO

My Back up lights don't work. But it starts fine everyday. Except once a month or once every two months. Then I put it in nuetral and it starts perfectly. NSS obviously.(which isn't fixed yet)

Now my question

My tach stopped working a few months back. I had no problem with it before and no problem since. I was driving along la de da de da then I noticed my tach wasn't moving. I thought the engine had shut off???

But I wasn't slowing down. So about a mile or two later I pulled over and shut the jeep off thinking it was just a glitch. Turned the jeep back on. no good. didn't work. It was still running fine so I just drove off towards my destination regardless of the tach working or not. And as soon as I pulled off it started working again. Perplexed but not worried I kept driving then the next day it did it again for about 10 minutes i didn't turn it off because I didn't care and Just as strangely as it went off it came back on.


Now would low or dirty transmission fluid cause the tach to stop working.

I ask this because I changed my oil and transmission fluid a few days after it happened and it has never ever happened again?


HERE IS A SITE FOR CLEANING YOUR NSS SWITCH
http://www.jeepin.com/features/nss/index.asp

SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE A SHORT IN YOUR TACH. TRANSMISSION DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOUR TACH DALE

We still had the problems, even after security system removal. (Had problems with the alarm setting itself, so not sorry about that one.) Turns out we got a bad battery. We assumed since it was a new battery it wasn't an issue. After we replaced the battery, the problems have stopped. Still had the issue with speakers cutting out. Adjusted wiring in the door and that problem is fixed for now.

We still had the problems, even after security system removal. (Had problems with the alarm setting itself, so not sorry about that one.) Turns out we got a bad battery. We assumed since it was a new battery it wasn't an issue. After we replaced the battery, the problems have stopped. Still had the issue with speakers cutting out. Adjusted wiring in the door and that problem is fixed for now.


How hard was it to replace the door wiring? I'm going to attempt to do this soon, any pointers?

How hard was it to replace the door wiring? I'm going to attempt to do this soon, any pointers?

Actually, I didn't replace or repair it. I pulled the rubber piece back and shifted the wiring and I haven't had a problem in a month.

Hey Dusk,

The problem with my Cherokee turned out to be bad battery cables. If your cables are the least bit frayed i would replace them. Pretty cheap fix, if its the problem. The elec. current from the battery was being interrupted and caused weird electrical problems. Hope this helps.

We are so used to our dash instruments going dead that we just slap the top of the dash and they start return . Our speakers did the same thing and so did my dads in his Cherokee. We just ran new wires thru the door hinge gap because of an open ciruit in the wire.

my driver side front door speaker does not work. the passenger only goes on with the door open. the power windows work but not the locks. also if i use the car lighter the gauges die. If i use the rear defrost the gauges die and a starnge beeping emits from the dash/door area. if use the dome light the rear windsheid washer goes on, stops, and the gauges die. it seems like the only thing that works is the rear windshiel washer. thanx ahead of time for anyone who knows wha tthe hell is going on.

I guess I'm fortunate to only have a finicky gas gauge so far. I had bad battery terminals cause soe problems, as well as a worn belt, not drving the alt securely I guess, must have been causing voltae flucuations maybe causing some weird issues, since the belt change the gas gauge hasn't acted up (only been 3 days tho) nor has it had trouble starting after sitting a bit.