Kolak Harness on '99 XJ - High Beams Stuck on w/ Low Beams

Hey everyone. Like the title says - I have a '99 XJ that I'm currently building. A few days ago I installed a new Kolak wiring harness w/ Hella H4 lenses and Hella H4 55/100w bulbs. The problem is this:

When I turn on my headlights, the low beams activate as they should. When I hit high beams, the high beams activate as they should. BUT, when I try to turn off high beams and go back to just low, BOTH high and low activate at the same time. The only way I can get it "fixed" is to shutoff the lights (ie go to parking lights only) and then back on. Then, only the low beams reactivate. I've switched the relays, no difference in how they react.

My XJ DOES NOT have factory (any) fog lights. Most of the posts I'm finding are people who are having this issue w/ the factory fogs. Thoughts on this?

I verified that my XJ does NOT have the fog relays (even though it doesn't have the factory fogs) and replaced the cheap relays that were included in the harness with quality Pilot relays. No change. Any ideas?

hmmm. yeah I had the same issues and it was the fog relay removed fixed it....

Push the high beam lever forward.

But the fog relay will cause it too.

Known issue. Do some research. There has got to e quite a few threads on this one.

Usually it's the relay that causes problems. when pulled out, everything works fine, but you have no fogs. The solution is to run the fogs on a separate harness (and relay) and just use the factory switch to turn them off and on.

If you have no fogs, the issue might be different but still related to the relay or ground...

As I said in the original post - my XJ DOES NOT HAVE FACTORY FOGS, or any for that matter. In the PDC, there are no relays for the fogs nor the 15A switch for the OEM fog switch.

If the headlights are off, I can pull back on the high beam lever to flash the high beams. If the lights are on (low beam) and I pull it back to flash the high beams, when I let it loose both the highs and lows stay on. If the lights are on (low beams) and I push the lever forward to activate the high beams, it works fine. But, when I pull the lever back to turn the high beams off, the low beams activate WITH the high beams.

Well, got the multimeter out tonight & went to work on things. It is a problem with the new harness. There is a plug that plugs into the factory headlight plug on the passenger side. The new harness has 3 wires in this plug, black/green/red. When the low beams are turned on, the black wire gets 3.7v to it and the green wire gets 12v. When high beams are turned on, both the black and green have 12v/each. Switch back to low beams and the black has 3.7v again and the green has 12v.

W/o ripping the harness apart (ran out of time tonight), I have no idea where the 3.7v is coming from. But, I know now why the relay for highs is not deactivating. Progress.

you sure you don't have the *wiring* for the factory fogs? I believe that there is a small wire that grounds the coil for one of the fog light relays through the high beam filaments, the connection is supposedly behind the DS headlight. Solution is to snip that wire and then connect to high beam feed on new relay harness. Pulling the fog light relays will also do it, but disable the fogs.

Well, I suppose that wire could be behind there. Any idea what color it is? I definitely don't have the relays/fuses/switch for factory fogs but I guess the wiring harness could be the same since my XJ is more of a "loaded" one. I'll pull the headlight/grill & look behind there.

I read a few places that the wire in question is a second small (20ga) wire coming out of the drivers side plug. I just checked my harness - my drivers (and passenger) side plug only have the normal 3 wires each. And, I disconnected the new harness from the OEM harness and turned on the lights (w/ no lights connected). As I thought, only the low beam wire was hot on each harness. This phantom 3.7v was NOT coming from the OEM harness. It is coming back through the new harness somehow. I'm guessing there is a bad connection, scraped insulation or something in the new harness. I'm just going to have Kolak ship me a new harness. This is a real PITA.

Yeah, without factory fogs, you shouldn't have issues related to the factory fogs. I would make some jumper wires and connect the harness directly to the battery, and check it again. If you still have voltage where you shouldn't, you know the problem is the harness.