My running lights stopped working, but my headlights brake and blinkers work all fuses are good Now after my cousin worked on it something is causing the relays to pop and is killing the battery. Any ideas? I was thinking it could be the turn signal indicator/light switch malfunctioning causing the initial lack of running lights but would it cause the other issues? Any ideas on what to do would be GREATLY appreciated. Wiring and electronics aren't my strong point!!
Thanks!
Jerren

 

Start there. First and foremost, have the battery checked. It didn't cause your intial running lights problem, but let's just make sure it's good. Draining a battery is not good for it, and if your battery is on its last legs you'll be chasing your tail for a while trying to figure out what's wrong.

Now, once you've got a good battery you need to figure out what was draining it. The easiest way will be to pull suspect fuses, and I'd start with those related to the problem lights. If that doesn't work, then pull half the fuses and see if that stops the drain. If it does, put half back and check again. Repeat until you find the bad circuit. If pulling the first half of the fuses doesn't stop the drain, put all back and pull the other half. If that doesn't stop the drain, then it's something that isn't protected by a fuse. Could be something you added, could be in the starter or charging circuit, etc. You can try disconnecting wires from the battery to isolate which circuit is causing the draw. If after disconnecting every possible thing you still have a drain, then it must be the battery. But, you checked it. I guess I'm out of ideas, LOL. No, by that time you'll have found what's causing the drain.

Finally, after that, you'll need to fix your running lights (unless it magically got fixed at the same time). First, check the bulbs. I know they're probably all good, but check them anyway. Then you should do a visual inspection of the wiring bundle starting at the affected lights and see if there's anything suspicious--a loose connector, a pinched wire, etc. Finally, you can use an ohmmeter to measure the resistance of the wiring until you find the broken/shorted connection.

BTW: TIPM. You may have a bad TIPM. The TIPM is basically your fuse and relay box, along with the ECU functions of the Jeep. There's no easy way to check it that I know. Mostly you check every other possible cause, and if that wasn't it, replace the TIPM. Be warned, they are not cheap. I've seen a couple go bad, but they disabled the vehicles completely. But, if after all your troubleshooting you come up empty, you might start studying about the TIPM and reading up on other's experiences with it.

Good luck!

 

A few questions that may aid others in giving you a solution. 1) When you refer to running lights, which lights are you talking about? The tail lights, fender lights, front marker/parking/blinker, etc. I'm assuming just the tail lights while brake is not engaged. 2) When you say your cousin did something and it's now causing a "relay" to "pop" what do you mean by this statement and what did he/she do? Relays open and close. They may make a clicking noise when doing so or chatter if power is quickly energized/de-energized repeatedly, but they don't "pop". Most would say a fuse/breaker pops or blows so I'm just trying to firm up what is happening to assist you better. 3) Lastly, how fast is the battery discharging? Are we talking minutes, overnight, or days?

 

Actually we have the same problem. I already checked my battery too, but there's no problem on it. So, I decided to check it's electrical wiring using my Electrical Enclosure, then the problem is there and then I decided to fix it on my own. You must try to do the same process if you want