Busted ZJ Trailer Wiring

Peter Pontbriand did pass the time by typing:

That's where it is in the 93, but 95 changed some of the wiring up.

The harness system had its own relays in the 93, they were located behind the cladding at the back on the passenger side. I think in 95 they moved the harness over to the left side behind the access door by the spare tire. When mine failed it was due to a corroded pin in the 6 way connector.

I'd start by tracking the harness back from the trailer connector. There are no seperate fuses for the trailer group, just relays and connectors. I'm betting it's the same burned pin.

I suppose I should have mentioned that it has the factory hitch and trailer wiring. I've cleaned all the connections I can get to from under the rear bumper to no avail.

/Peter

circumstances.

circumstances.

There's no such access door on mine anywhere in the trunk. Everything is totally sealed up with very un-jeep-like plastic with no exposed fasteners. I even removed the tail lamps hoping that that would get me access into wiring I assume is in the quarter panels, but no luck, there's just basic light wiring disappearing into a little grommet. There's no wiring accessible anywhere from underneath either. No luck lifting the trunk carpet from the back either.

Well, that's what I've been doing. I started by testing the output from the

7-way to 4-way converter, then the 7-way connector under the bumper, then the connector that connects the 7-way thingy to the wiring that comes out from behind the bumper. Testing beyond that is impossible so far, since I've no idea where the other end of that tan wire is. It's not under the rear seat like the Haynes diagram (labelled "Typical", hah) indicates it should be, and I can't seem uncover any other wiring anywhere without resorting to a zip-cut on my grinder to get through all the plastic.

/Peter

Peter Pontbriand did pass the time by typing:

Guess they got rid of the door too. :/

To get the back panels off mine you have to remove the lower sill cladding and pull down the upper cladding after removing the two screws you can see and the two hidden behind the cargo lamp lens. There are a few screws holding in the rear D panels, then removing the cargo cover mounts, the rear sides can be pulled free. Generally everything is held in by metal clips that are poorly fastened to the plastic panels. (I've had to epoxy back four of them so far)

I'd probably call a dealership and find out if they have the service book and would let you take some notes/photocopies. Most don't have a problem with this.

The farthest back I have is the '99 WJ model year but that is a different body style.

I guess so. I finally found the next connector up, and it's not getting any power on the tan wire either. According to the Haynes manual, the next thing up is a splice with one wire going off to the right rear turn signal, which works fine. I'm really stumped now.

connectors.

Thanks, that's what I did. The glue is drying now.

That's what I'm going to do next, but I'm going to get a quote on fixing the darn thing too.

/Peter

Peter Pontbriand did pass the time by typing:

Well, you found the wire then. Pay real close attention to the connectors. The ones that have died on my ZJ has very corroded out pins. One simply fell apart in my hand. A quick trip to a local boat repair place got me some nice watertight connectors.

Wiring repair is $$ just because of time and the fact they like to sell full harnesses. For the price of the quote you would probably be able to buy the service book and a good set of tools.

connectors.

There's some relays in the left rear quarter panel with were very corroded, replacing one fixed the problem. The others are cleaned up, and now everything works. The Haynes wiring diagram is as useful as teats on a bull.

/Peter