Dome lights stay on - drains battery

I am having some problems with the electrical in my 91 Jeep Cherokee. Before I left town earlier in the week I found my car was dead. Battery had been drained, later that day I tracked it down to the dome lights so I pulled that fuse to keep the battery from draining. Which is working for now but that leaves me without power door locks, my stereo, my clock and the dome lights.

I have the chiltons manual for the thing but have gone through the electrical schemes and can't seem to figure out what would cuase it. The fuse is fine, my guess is a switch somewhere but I can't seem to track it down.

Anyone have experience with this?

First, the obvious. Make sure you don't have the light switch turned so the dome lights are on. ;)

Next, check the each door switch. They work by grounding when the doors are open so there may be a short. Use a wrench or socket and turn each one about 1/2 turn and close the door. If the lights are still on, remove the switch (careful with the wire). Once you pull the switch clear (breaking the cicuit), the light should go out. If not, try another door.

If you lose the wire off the back of the switch, you'll likely need to pull some panels off to get to it.

Saudade,

Thanks, when you say use a wrench/socket to turn them do you mean tighten or loosen? I just removed them to see how they all looked, some have some nasty corrosion on them but the wiring appears to be ok.

I know the switch is turned off, that was the first thing I checked.

Thanks!

Either direction. It was meant to repostiton the connector inside, in case it bent over and was contracting something.

When you pulled the switches, was more than 1 door open? If so, then remove the door switch, one at a time, and make sure all other doors are closed.

Thanks. Actually last night after spending a few hours I found a short in my dome light that was causing it. Right now i don't have time to really fix it but we got the lights to turn off like they should and it started right up this morning. Now its off to get the tires rotated, alignment, brakes checked and oil change.

Nice catch. Thanks for the followup.