This 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee came in with the complaint that the power windows had gotten to where they worked sometimes and sometimes did not. Now they mostly did not work. When I checked them they wore working but as part of my test I held one of the switches while I opened and closed the door. It stopped working when the door was opened about two inches and would not start working again until the door was almost shut. Diagnosis of broken wires in the driver’s door jamb wiring.
I started removing the door panel by first removing the phillips headed screw at the bottom of the pull handle.
I next went to the round trim cover at the top right of the door panel and popped it out with a pocket screwdriver. Then I could remove the screw in the recessed hole.
There was one more screw in the bezel for the interior door release handle. For some reason they had to change from using phillips headed screws to using torx screws.
After the screws were all removed it was just a matter of pulling along the lower edge to get the push pins to release and then worked my way around to the top. With the panel loose I could pull it away far enough to release the clips for the linkage.
I also had to unplug the harness connector to the power mirror and and the power window switch assembly.
Next came the removal of the speaker. Back to phillips screws.
The reason for the speaker removal was to gain easier access to the wiring going through the front edge of the door. Turns out that I probably could have just worked from the outside of the door. It did seem to give me some more angle to maneuver though.
I think by just pulling the rubber boot back I could have seen that all I really had to do was depress the two white tabs and I could have pulled the connector out of the door. With the connector pulled out I could release the clip on the black connector and then separated the inner and outer connectors.
Now to the inside. One plastic torx nut to remove.
Unsnap the running board trim cover and lift out of the way.
Then I had to remove the three phillips headed screws from the kick panel extension that ran under where the running board trim panel was.
With all of the screws removed the kick panel rolled out of the hole.
With the kick panel out of the way the next step was to remove the three torx screws from the hood release cable assembly. Then I had to disconnect the junction block connectors so that I could maneuver the wiring harness to the inside of the Jeep.
With the harness now fully inside the truck I could slide the rubber boot back and forth to find the actual wire damage.
If you click on the following picture I think you will be able to see the broken ground wire.
I know you can see that wire now.
I spliced a new piece of wire to the old wire.
Installed two pieces of heat shrink tubing and melted in place. The reason I used to pieces instead of just one is for strain relief for the spliced joint.
Then I slid the new wire through the rubber boot and bent it backwards to make the splice joint stay as far away from the center of the door jamb as possible. Ideally I would have liked to have had a new terminal and pice of wire and that way I could have only had one splice joint and it would have been in the interior of the vehicle away from all flex joints.
After splicing the other end of the new wire into place and securing the joint away from the flex points I slid the whole harness back though the body side door jamb. I made sure the white retainer was properly installed on the harness connector. Then I put the rubber boot back in place over the white retainer.
Just a matter of connecting the two harnesses and pushing the retainer back into the door. Of course I still had to put the door panel back on also. On the next one I am going to try doing without removing the door panel.
many thanks to sparky for this guide. i don’t believe i could have done the repair without it, best guide on the net for this repair imo.
am in the uk, so my jeep right hand drive, guide still good, as everything same but mirror image and on tother side.
and yes, the wire repair can be successfully achieved without taking off the door card etc, though depressing the white tabs didn’t seem to do much, as they were too flimsy to release the connector from the door. i got round this by using a short flat bladed screwdriver to depress the tabs further within the connector body releasing it from the door, obveously done after prizing the boot off of course, which is easy.
the only other thing i did different was use crimp connectors to splice in new wire, as my solder iron wasn’t man enough to solder those really thick wires.
once again sparky, thanks for a great guide.
cheers
don in uk
Thank you so much for the information. I showed my boyfriend that website and he was able to fix it with no problem. It saved me $70 bucks! This was the second time that this had happen and I took it to a repair shop and that’s what they charged me. Glad I decided to google it this time around.
You have to physically match the size of the damaged wire to the new wire. Clip off a short piece from the wire not connected to the connector and take it to the store to match up.
My son has the same issue of broken wire in a 1999 Jeep G.Cherokee. How does he determine the gauge of wire required to splice his broken back together?
Rusty W
Thank you for your detailed pictures. I followed this process and successfully replaced a damaged door on my 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I just want to add a caution to anyone attempting same.. when removing the wiring harness connector from the front edge of door you need to use a ‘star’ type screwdriver bit and back out a bolt in the center of the connector. I assume this is in place to ensure a water-tight seal for the electrical contacts. This bolt is easily missed if you don’t look for it with a flashlight.
Mike L.