DavidO06

allright...heres the deal. A while back i added the footwell lights in my 3rd gen, like many of y'all. All of the sudden, my dome light quit working. The light bulb isn't burned out, becuase it works when the switch is in the "ON" position. I took the switch out and looked over it. There is nothing wrong with it. Aslo, the light on my dash still lights up telling me that the door is open. The fuse is good, but that woudn't matter anyway, because the positive is constantly connected to the light, it is just the ground which is switched. I am going to buy a voltmeter(or whatever they are called) tomorrow and try and further diagnose the problem. The only possiblilty that I can think of is that some how the ground for the door some how got broken or burned through or something. I am affraid to take it to the dealer cuz i know they will give me crap about the mod.

Bumpin' Yota

well you could have a dirty contact when you set the roof light to "door" So ya might wanna check that. Also check all connections on the dome light. The last thing I can really think of is to check the door push buttons (the buttons that are pushed in when you close the door.) However if one of them wasnt working, your red door light wouldn't come on either....

Keep us updated.

Jason B

Take a flathead screwdriver and touch it between the metal tabs in the center domelight. THis should make the light turn on. YOu won't short anything by doing this.

DavidO06

Hey, outa curiosity, how did any one else hook up the footwell lights? Maybe i just did it in retarded way and it ended up shorting something out. I am guessing that something is wrong with the ground for the door switch. I just dont know how i am going to figure out what it is. I really dont want to take everything apart trying to figure it out.

Jason B

Here is what you need to do the footwell lights. You need to buy 2
domelight housings, or 4 if you are going to do the rear footwells. Go to
Pep Boys or any other autoparts store. The domelight holders have a rubber
housing, where the bulb slides in and they have two wires coming out the
back. They have replacement ones from GM cars, Chrysler, etc. I had the
boxes to them somewhere with the part #'s, but can?t find them. Just ask
the guy at the autoparts store and he will know you what you need. I used 18
watt bulbs in the front. That is pretty darn bright, but I like it that way.
10 watt bulbs give a nice amount of light as well. Now you have to make a
bracket to hold in that rubber housing that holds the bulb in. If you make
a metal bracket and cut a circle in it, you can wedge the rubber housing
into it. I took the brackets from my Jeep before I sold it, so I already had
them.

For the driver footwell, I attached it to the bottom of the air vent cavity
below the steering wheel. I used one screw and it pretty much sealed the
hole and it doesn't leak. You could add some silicone around the screw if
you wish. This seems to be the best/only location.

For the passenger footwell, there is a bar running under the glovebox that
provides a good mounting spot. That's where I attached the passenger one, to
that bar. I used metal wire to wrap the light housing around the bar, and it
did the trick.

For the rear I bought two switchable domelights, one for each side.. They
are a small light with a plastic housing with an on/off switch. The are
about $4 a piece from any local auto parts store. I secured the lights to
the wire grid with zip ties under the front seats at the very back of the
grid. This was easy to do considering I had the seats out when doing my
stereo install.

I just thought of something else? You could buy the switchable domelights I
used for the back, and use them in the front if you don?t feel like making
your own brackets. The only reason I used the brackets was because I took
them out of my Cherokee before I traded it in.

Getting the wires to the center factory domelight in the headliner:

If you want your new footwell lights to come on when any door is opened,
then the wires need to be attached to the factory domelight. This is what I
did. If you don't do it this way, when you would open a door, they wouldn't
automatically come on.

The molding must be taken off around the headliner and below the
door, and by your feet. Also, take off the handles by the roof (pop out the
little square pieces with a toothpick or small screwdriver. You DO NOT need
to remove the whole headliner. All we need to do it pry it up on the side to
get the wires to the domelilght. Next take off
the domelight. It comes off by prying the lens off, and taking out the
screws. Now get a hangar and tie the wires to it and push it through from
the domelight to the other side. Next, do the opposite to the other side.
There will be two metal tabs around the headliner domelight where the bulb
is. Now, since you have a total of 4 wires (for two lights). Wrap the one
wire from the 1st light and the other wire from the second light around one
end of the domelight bulb, and the other two around the other. There is
already a built in ground from the factory domelight. Now the easy part, run
the wires under the molding and to the front of the vehicle on either side.
Tadaaa!!!

I'm not sure if you can add the rear footwells without taking the seats out?
As I said earlier, I had the seats out when I was doing my stereo install.
If I remember, there are four screws holding in the front seats. Some of
the bolts have a plastic shield you have to remove to get to them. Also the
bolts in the rear have the plastic snap-shield covers as well. You will need
to pry those up to get to the bolts.

I've had these lights in for about 3 years and love them. I also can't believe the 2003's still don't have them when my 89 Cherokee did.





More pics on my site.

DavidO06

errr...well, i have decided what I'm gonna have to do is replace the whole ground wire for the door switch. it is gonna be a PITA. Anyone know where the other end of it hooks up to, or am i just gonna have to follow the wire? Well, thanks for the advice. Oh, one more question, do u guys just have the ground u ran from the dome lights hooked straight up to your new footwell lights, or do u have some sort of relay?

DavidO06

damn post move down the forum fast. lol. i just wanted to see if u guys had any responses, but just didn't see the question. thanks

CBDenver

Bump, DavidO06, you ever figure this out? I've got the exact same problem in my 97. Any help or advice would be great.

Thanks,
Chris

DavidO06

hey man. i did have some success in fixing the problem. What i ended up having to do was run a new ground from the dome light to up near the harness on the driver side. it has been a really long time, so i cant remember the specifics, but i know that the line must have been damaged some where. If you have any more questions, let me know.

Jason B

I know this is very old, but was this issue with your REAR HATCH LIGHT or the domelight up front?