# 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Major Electrical Issue



## julesjeepin (Jun 7, 2008)

Problem started with the installation of an amplifier. When vehicle was started, it runs for 2 seconds and shuts down everytime. Then the battery is completely dead and will not take a charge. Other electrical failures include no parking lights, no instrument cluster, no power windows, no heater controls. All other electrical systems seem to be fine. There are no blown fuses (mini or max) unsure if any relays are bad. This all happened in a matter of 1 hour. What could possibly cause this many failures all at once with no sign of any electrical damage? Can a shorted battery cause partial electrical failure as described? And more importantly, why would the truck start and run for 2 seconds and stall? Please help


----------



## mack1 (Nov 27, 2007)

Hi julesjeepin and welcome to TSF:wave:

I hope your problem is as simple as this thing I would like you to try.
Remove the battery cables form the battery and clean the Lead Oxide off the posts and from inside the cable terminals. 

Without knowing for sure, I am guessing you tried to charge the battery by hooking the charger cables to the battery cables (not the battery posts). If this is true and the porblem is oxide on the battery posts, it would not charge.

Hope your problem is this simple.:smile:

Best regards,
Mack1


----------



## cardoc (Apr 15, 2007)

Blown circuit or connection powering those circuits.See what they have in common and trace back from there inspecting the new work very closely.Could even be a problem at the battery connections.Time for a test light and a multimeter.


----------



## julesjeepin (Jun 7, 2008)

Well here's what we found. Upon putting power thru the amp and turning on ignition, the remote power wire was drawn thru the radio's accessory power, which was the problem. It drew so many amps that it welded the parking light relay. Then blew the 10 amp fuse to the parking lights. The amp finished off the battery. When grand cherokee batteries are low or dead, gauge cluster and fuel pump do not function, even though headlights and starter will still operate. With a new battery, and just to be safe, removing the amp, everything worked again. Parking light problem was just fuse and relay. Why exactly the surge went thru the parking light circuit, I will never know. That's a jeep for ya! Thanks for your responses!


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Did you have the amp well grounded? 
Almost sounds like it was drawing a ground through the lighting circuit.


----------

