Dash Wiring Problems of Jeep Cherokee

While driving, I kept smelling melting plastic. It lasted a couple months before it went out. I looked to see several times to find it and never did. It wound up being the heater control switch and wiring harness melting. I decided to go to the junkyard to get the harness and switch and I found out from looking at 8 different Jeep Cherokees ranging from 1986 -1997 they all had the harness and switch melted in them. I then realized it was more than just my Jeep that had this issue.

See all problems of the 1996 Jeep Cherokee 🔎.

Electrical short in the passenger compartment resulted in fire that completely destroyed vehicle. Fire started behind the dashboard, passenger side. Electrical shortage, and burning smell was noted, which resulted in the driver pulling off the side of the road. After quick inspection under the hood, driver walked around the vehicle, at which point the interior dashboard burst into flames.

I purchased a used 1998 Jeep Cherokee an the turn signals don't cut off after going around corners because the multifunction switch and clock spring are bad and the dealer said that I need to fix this because they have been known to short out and deploy the airbag while driving.

See all problems of the 1998 Jeep Cherokee 🔎.

While driving at any speed most of the dashboard lights stop functioning. Also, air bag light comes on and stays on. After a few minutes everything will return to normal and work again. Dealer informed consumer that the wiring harness under dash needed to be replaced.

Instrument panel does not work properly like the speedometer. Also, gasoline/oil pressure gauge are not working, and air bag light is on. Dealer notified.

On going problem with several people I know including my son. Their 1998. 1999 Jeep Cherokee's while lose all instrument operation. At the same time the air bag light comes on. Failure may continue for a couple of minutes or several hours. The dealer says there is no reports of the problem and have found nothing wrong. My brother in law called this morning and gave me the same symptoms he is having with his Jeep. It seams to be a large scale problem. It may be temperature related but all that I know of are in Cherokees. My brother's is a 97, son's is a 98, one of his friends is a19 99 and my brother in law's is also a 99. Son's friends is also a 1998.

Erratic, intermittent instrumentation cluster, failure (shut-down) while driving, including speedometer, oil pressure gauge, amp gauge, temperature gauge, odometer,gas gauge and tachometer gauge. Isolated occurrences without warning made it difficult to explain. Because of safety concerns this equipment failure as noted in company service bulletins (081599) should have been reported to the vehicle owners and repaired at Chrysler expense.

See all problems of the 1999 Jeep Cherokee 🔎.

1. Electrical short under left side dash, main wire bundle going to fuse box rubbed against bolt and wore through wire causing a short. 2. Neutral safety switch gone bad. 3. Driver's side seat rail broke somewhere and seat rocks around. 4. Rear leaf springs have a negative arch in them causing rear to sag and wheels to rub with minimum weight in vehicle. Dt.

Complaint received via e-mail. I have had a consistent problem with my brakes since I brought it. The first failure occurred at 9012 miles. Dealership replaced the front calipers and rotors. Then at 18811 miles dealership resurfaced the front and rear rotors because they were warped. At 24,806 miles the failure recurred. Dealership replaced all 4 brake rotors. Currently, at 32,000 miles the failure recurred, but the vehicle was out of warranty. The manufacturer, dealership, and other Jeep owners informed me that this was a design flaw that occurred in the earlier and some later model Jeeps, but has been modified in 2005 model. The consumer stated that the vehicle was taken in for repair three times while under warranty. The engine light was on for one week. The low coolant light comes on when the vehicle is started (cold) and goes off when the vehicle is warm.

See all problems of the 2001 Jeep Cherokee 🔎.

Instrument cluster intermittent failure,allowed vehicle to overheat without warning cracking the engine block and cylinder head, air bag possibly affected.

The switch and harness melted from heat of the switch and burned the peice apart.

When turning on headlights, consumer has to wiggle switch to get headlights to come on. Sometimes it takes a few minutes before headlights come on, vehicle has not been examined by dealer. Consumer states at times,the instrument panel cluster fails to activate upon starting the engine.

I have had soooooo many factory repairs on this Jeep cherokke!!!! now that the warranty has run out (within 10 days) the electric window won't work. . . . It's all one unit and so the motor and all the controlling devices have to be replaced. They have a plastic componment around the whole unit. . And it breaks and so the whole unit must be replaced. Why put a piece of plastic over it, unless you hoped/planned it would break??????.

Front defrost has broken 4 times, dealer fix each time, cannot discover root of problem. Electrical system required 3 visits to dealer.

Dealer replaced instrument panel cluster module and problm has reoccurred. Taken back to the dealer, and informed consumer that a wire was founded broken and replaced it again. No problems at this time. Consumer does not feel that he should have been charged, vehicle had been worked on during a recall repair regarding the air bag on June 7th of 2000.

While driving home the instrument panel quit working on our Jeep. As soon as this happened I contacted the dealer from my cell phone. On the way home it started to work again. Dealer said in order for them to look at it the panel could not be working call if it happened again. Second time the gas gauge quit and then started working again. The brakes make a funny noise and they have been replaced one time already. We have only had this Jeep for about 6 weeks the first two weeks it was in the shop.

Intermittently vehicle would lose its power to instruments panel, causing failure to all gauges and loss of air bag. Manufacturer notified, and informed consumer that this vehicle was not covered under a recall or considered a safety concern. Please feel free to provide any further details.

While driving entire electrical system went out. Fuses were checked and replaced to repair. The next day the entire instrument panel went out other than the cruise control. The defect does not allow the consumer to have access to see speedometer and other important parts.

See all problems of the 1997 Jeep Cherokee 🔎.

All gauges and lights, including speedometer, on instrument panel quit working. Airbag light comes on. Intermittent failures.

Since Jan. 2000, the vehicle gauges have intermittingly failed ie, not registering reading to include speed, mileage, water temperature, oil pressure, tachometer and air bag light and check engine light illuminate. Sometimes, if I keep air conditioner at coolest level the gauges will resume operation.

While driving the check engine light and air bag light illuminated and all of the gauges ceased to work properly. The speedometer would go blank and all lights on the dash board would dim. The manufacturer and the dealer are aware of the problem. This would occur when the vehicle is going in different speeds. The problem begun with the airbag, followed by the odometer, tachometer, and the speedometer dropping to zero. Then the check engine light would come on and "no bus" error message would appear on the odometer. Sometimes the gas, battery, temperature, and oil pressure gauge would fail as well. The problem would last from anywhere up to forty minutes or more. Corrosion was found where the harness plugs into the cluster. The vehicle had been to the dealer four times and still has not been repaired.

All gauges stop working and airbag light comes on, dealer claims it's a dust issue with connectors.

Speedometer/odometer and tachometer went out, and airbag light came on while driving. Consumer feels this is because of a faulty switch behind the dashboard.

Vehicle caught fire behind the dash panel underneath the engine compartment. Problems with a/c units etc.

At 13,395 miles cluster gauge on dash went out. No way to tell how fast vehicle was going because instruments on dash stopped working. Consumer took vehicle to dealer. Dealer cleaned connectors/ added electro lights, and reconnected plugs. However, same problem reoccurred. Consumer felt there was problem with connector. TSB 08298 deals with problems consumer is experiencing, however on the second failure, consumer was charged for repairs. Both inner front axle seals were replaced because they were leaking.

Instrument cluster module failed.

Improper reading of fuel gauge due to faulty circut chip board for fuel control, rendering vehicle inoperative.

Computer failed.

Recall for '97 xj's regarding gas gauge. '98 now having same problem. Dt.

The vehicle has had electrical problem since may 2001. The instrument panel wiring cluster has been replaced by the dealer. The vehicle is now having the same problem again. On 7/8/2003, the dealer told the consumer to sell the vehicle or trade it in.