90 console. dome lights acting weird

[candymancan]

Today when i got in the jeep the over console didnt come on and i couldnt push the buttons to turn it on either. Then suddenly after a min it comes on.. but the buttons for the dome lights still dont work.

If i open my doors the lights work and then the buttons for the two in the front will turn them on and off ( only the two rear come on when the doors are open.)

Once i close the door i cant get any of the 4 lights to work again.. What gives lol ? Alwo when i flip on the interior lights with the wheel on the dash they come on.. I just cant get them to come on when the doors are closed.

thats really strange. any idea ?

[Stuka]

Sounds like a bad ground. The door switch works by acting as a ground. If you have a multi-meter, poke around see how the grounds are.

[candymancan]

Youre right i took the console down and looked at the wiring and my 3 way splice for the ground broke free. I habe an auto dimming rear view mirror and i spliced its ground into the console wiring ground i used butt connectors so two wire in one end and one in the other.

When it warms up in spring ill just solder it so it doesnt happen again. This time though i used a smaller butt connector and it works again.

As for the console taking forever to turn on.. That wiring runs on complutetly differently wires they arent on the same power source.

I have had two broken console computers both with the same problem the 100uf 35v caps blew and usually fry the 100nf ceramic caps.resistors next to them along with the traces on the circuit board..

aparently its the same caps on all the xj and caravan and fsj computers. I had a spare console i just sold for 250 on ebay.. But my other bad one. the ceramic caps and traces look okay it just had bad electrolyte caps. I ordered 3 sets of every electrolyte cap ima replace them all and i hope i can bring my broken one back to life.

anyway back to my console i think its powering on slowely due to these electrolyte caps charging too slowely whi h i tjink is a aign of them about to go.

So ima replace all my capacitors as well in this one. 30 years for an eletrolyte cap is a long time. especially with only 85c and 105c caps. Thays like 180f and 220f and being on the scorching roof. with an already bad design that gets hot is why they all blow.

Ill let you know what happens when i replace the capacitors.