INTERIOR LIGHTING/SPEAKER WIRING for the electronically illeterate (me)

97 sport, 4.0, AX-15...yada yada.




hello there. im going to start by saying that when it comes to wiring audio equipment (or any accesory for that matter) that i am about as dumb as they come.

BUT...

i have a 97 XJ. im going to be replacing my headliner soon. a few local yards have good liners that are priced as cheap as redoing my current liner. so i want to do something ive seen before. i want to pull the liner out of 97+ that has the molded in sound bar (which mine does not) and move my existing bar up over the passenger seat. no overhead counsil in either models.

now the wiring part... i want to maintain speakers in the liner and the sound bar being moved forward. can i simply splice the wires together so that they all draw power from the same wires or do they need to be wired into the deck seperately? the only audio component i have that is not stock is an alpine deck.

i am also wanting to use the newer style dome lights, as they appear bigger (and the ones in the 99 i had were much brighter). this im fairly confident i can just rewire the new fixtures, but there is one thing i cant figure out. the rear light on my 99 was push button, i could turn the interior lights on and off with the gate open. this option is nice for if im just funbling for something or if im leaving the gate open. now the fixture in my 97 DOES HAVE a button on the light, but honestly the button hasnt worked from the factory. and i remember (in my 99) that the interior lights would shut off when the gate was closed. is there going to be a plunger somewhere like in the doors that i need to fit into my 97? i fail to see one on my 97.

thoughts? throw some suggestions at me, im sure ill think of more questions as i get it figured out.

I wouldn't if you wire the speakers on the same output, yeah it will work but there is not enough wattage from a single output to power both speakers the will sound bad.
they will be under powered and you will loose part of the listing experience leaving out one of the outputs!

I would buy a new wire harness (10$) and rewire it with good wire and all new terminations (butt connectors not wire nuts!).

Hope that helps.

i pulled the head liner today... took all of the newer style lights, rear sound bar components, and speakers. getting the liner in wont be a problem, so im going to make sure everything is wired and works properly before doing a final install. i took all of the parts from 2 different cherokees and they appeared to be exactly the same, so im hoping that mine is as well and everything will be plug and play.

if not... i took most of the wiring harness as far back as i could trace them. better to have it and not need it i suppose. think im going to wait on the mid sound bar install until i know what im doing. haha.

I would use a multi channel amp to run the speakers.

I put lights from an 00 in my heep, and the only thing I had to do, IIRC, was swap two wires at the dome light (black, pink, and yellow are the wire colors, I think, and I had to swap pink and yellow[it's been a while, but I think that's it. I know ehall has posted the wiring and how it works, as this was discussed in one of his threads]. Different mountings/location, but same function and plugs. You'll know right away if the lights are working backwards.

Wish I could have found a donor headliner in the same colors as my interior, but finding a local part out or anything decent in a JY (nearest is just over an hour drive from me) ain't happening. It should be a very easy swap, and I like the later lights much better than the old fashioned square ones.

just finished the swap...

the new liner wasnt smooth, but looks FABULOUS. the colors wasnt exactly the same as my existing liner, but grey is grey. though this one seemed lighter. took the sun visors so it looks factory. rear molded in sound bar gained me some clearance over my 31" spare in the stock location.

BUT... the wires are deffinantly not right! i have electrical gremlins galor. ill have to find the write up in the AM. went through tons of fuses, and even fried a rear light in the process. the fact that the interior lights on the floor board stay on constantly leads me to beleive that my wiring is indeed backwards, side ways, or something retarded out of dodge. ill have to find the write up in the AM like i said, but if anyone knows the location please post up! im determined to make this work!

as for the moved sound bar, that is not a priority right now. but i have all of the components i need. ill have to do my homework for audio work.





ill post more info come tomorrow. ive been up since i went to work at 3 yesterday, went back to work at 4 am today. i need my Zs.

oh yea, picked up 4.56s today.

im happy, just got to figure out the wiring then i can focus on doing the speakers properly. i looked and looked for a write up, came up empty. i even searched through ehall's 17 pages of threads and didnt come up with anything useful. opperator error im sure...

I don't know how the 97+ wiring is setup. On my 91 the various lights are setup as follows:

pink -- constant power (battery hot) so that the interior lights can turn on when a door is opened

black -- constant ground used for map light switches (press to turn on, goes to constant ground), not used for door wiring

yellow -- switched ground from door jambs (open door, jamb switch closes ground circuit, lights come on). This is a spider web ground harness with drops to each door jamb switch, the headlight interior twist knob, and also goes to all of the interior lights that are supposed to come on when door is opened (this includes dome and cargo lights, rear map lights I think, and footwell courtesy lights). Basically when any part of this spiderweb is grounded, the whole thing is grounded, and all of the lights attached to it will come on. Test this with door opened and closed obviously.

purple/yellow -- switched ground on hatch, does same as yellow but it's a separate ground circuit. The switch is inside the latch assembly, so when latch release is opened the purple/yellow wire is grounded. Both of the switched ground circuits meet at the cargo light, so ground on one feeds ground on the other (open the hatch and the entire cabin lights up, or open side door and the cargo light will also come on). The cargo light has a switch on it that allows ground to be interrupted at that lamp, which lets you turn it off if (EG) the hatch is going to be open for a long time.

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to do but that is the wiring as I remember it. Hope it helps, give more explanation if you need more data.

well my 97 seems to be a bastard child of sorts. ive got pre-97 hinges and some other odd items. but as for the lights, they were not plug and play... now the interior floor lights stay on, the head light switch that turns on the interior lights does not work properly, main dome light does not function when the doors are open (only functions when the hatch is open and the rear light is turned off, and then it doesnt even function properly), and the rear light functions normally with the gate open, but when i press it to turn it off it and the front light turn really dim. this is when i usually blow fuses. even fried a rear light... burn it up completely.

the only things that seem to function 100% are the lights in the sun visors, and the two press button lights in the front dome.



sorry if that was a lot to gather... basically i think i need to find a FSM for my 97 and the 98 or 99 (i dont remember exactly) that i pulled the lights from and cross reference what the wires are there for. its the same connector, just different wiring i beleive. thats essentially what i was wondering ehall, is if you had that info readily available.

I've talked to other people with late model stuff and they had the same colors. Based on your problem description you've probably just got a couple of shorts--remember that all of the lights have constant power and switched ground (either a door jamb or a map light), so if you have something that bumps the body then the circuit will close and the lights will come on. Maybe tear out the fixtures and start chasing ground

the odd part is that when i plug the old lights in jus to test, everything works perfectly.

The lights, as mentioned earlier, are not "plug n play". Swap the power wires and try again.

i saved the wiring harness from the donor jeep and matched up the colors. lights work as designed now. they were the same colors, just a different orientation. iterior floor lights work when doors open/close, and so do the over head lights.

the only one giving me a fit is the rear when the gate is open. still does the super low on followed by a blown fuse. thinking i need to do the same to the rear, though i trashed that harness. looks like im going junk yard diving again soon unless someone has a 99 and can pull their rear light down and snap a picture of the colors on the connector.

hubs97xj - i need your assistance again. need the schematic for the fuse panel under the hood. thisis the third time ive asked you for something like this. haha. i tried finding your photobucket with no success. i think its about time i buy a FSM.

Right click, save as...

http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii244/AHhub/forum stuff/DSCF5572.jpg

http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii244/AHhub/forum stuff/DSCF5570.jpg

Not sure off the top of my head, but I think the hatch switch is the ground- I'd break out a DMM and go after the wiring- if the cargo light is dim or blowing fuses, something's up.

something is deffiantly up!

the rear light never worked with the gate open in the past. even from the factory. worked with the switch and when the doors were open. but i think with the new lights its simply a matter of proper power in the wrong order as with the front. im going to go diving at the junk yard tomorrow and see what i can dig up.




the front was a pretty simple fix though! i snipped my old connector off, and match the wire colors to the colors that were on the connector that the light came from. they were all there, just an improper order in my 97 for the 99 lights i installed. i had taken the whole harness all the way down to the fire wall, but only really needed the connector. im hoping the rear will be just as easy.

the light in the cab is amazing now! once i get the rear fixed, then itll get tricky. stay tuned.

everything works factory now! actually, even though they are all the same bulbs... the lenses restrict less light, and everything is simply brighter. id say BETTER than factory. so im extremely content with the swap.

***FOR FUTURE REFERENCE***
for anyone attemping this swap in the future, the fix for the wiring is simple. i forget the colors off hand, but on the connectors that plug into the front and rear lamps, the order is reversed. essentially, all you need to do is cut and reconnect the outside wires opposite to each other. the middle wire remains the same while the outside 2 get swapped. that probably sounds very uninformative...

for an EASYIER fix... snip the wiring harness from the donar jeep about 4 inches up from the light fixtures. snip your existing harness in the same manner. match the colors on the wires up front and rear to the new connectors, and its plug and play. this is what i did.

















NOW...
- what would be the best way to go about wiring in a THIRD interior light? id like to use another front dome to give the rear passengers the personal lights, and center it into the sound bar i removed from my old liner.
- as for wiring in 2 more speakers... i think someone mentioned a multi channel amp. would this be the best route for sound quality or is there another option out there?