1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara from North America - Comments

I just bought a 97 jeep 4.0 with only 46,000 miles, it hasn't been started in a year, now it won't start, I have checked all fuses and traced lots of wires everything works but no headlights and no fire to the spark plugs, any advice...

My wife just called and said that she pulled into the garage and turned the car off like always but this time the radio stayed on. I told her to restart it and turn it off again to see if it was a fluke, but it happened again. I have not gotten to look at the problem yet. I got onto this site to check out if anyone has had any issues.

It sounds like a lot of electrical issues on this site. I have not had any of these. I did have an issue with the car randomly not starting a few years ago, and after a lot of checking on things and trying to narrow it down, it came down to an aftermarket security device that a dealership in the SF Bay area was installing on all the cars that year. The guy at the dealership informed me that he had a whole box of em that he had pulled out of a lot of cars. that was the problem - it hasn't reoccurred since. My email is brian@matangelo.com, I would love to hear anyones advice.

We have had our 98 TJ since 2003. My husband and I have only put about 20,000 miles on it in the last 6 years. He reported intermittent electrical problems where all the guages would go out. If he hit the steering column hard enough, they would come back on. Now, either I can't hit it hard enough or it's just completely fried. When I turn it on.. all the indicator lights light up, then go out like normal. But none of my manual gauges move. The shift light still comes on when you hit a certain RPM, but none of the gauges are working. I've got no tach, speedo, gas, battery gauge, etc. Also, the interior lights and radio do not work. Does anyone know where I can find a photo diagram of the wires in order to try some of the fixes that fellow jeep owners have noted? Emails with any help would be greatly appreciated thompns322@hotmail.com

I've got a 99 TJ that I've had since it was new, it now has 115k on it. The engine blew up on me on the way to work a couple of months ago, at 112k. It has a remanufactured engine in it now.

When it was very new, it had the issue where the gauges would go out and the odometer would read "NO BUS." This was fixed under recall, and hasn't recurred.

It had intermittent sputtering issues, which were fixed by replacing the throttle position sensor.

I have also replaced the crank sensor.

My issue is similar to a couple of people here... Every once in a while, either upon starting or upon turning on a signal light, I will lose the stereo, the wipers and the signals. Turning the ignition off and back on takes care of it 90% of the time, and seems to work better when I turn a signal light on (which doesn't actually work), then restart.

I've gotten so used to doing this that I don't even stop the vehicle, I just push in the clutch, flip the signal light, turn off the ignition, turn it back on, and release the clutch to pop-start. This will almost always take care of the problem. On very rare occasions, doing it a second time finishes the job. A third time has never been necessary.

I'm betting that the issue is with my signal switch. How difficult would it be to replace just this switch with a new one?

I have a 97 Wrangler with 97,000 miles, the wipers, radio and turn signals go out. The radio has been acting up for years. When I turn the key to accessories everything comes on fine, when I start the Jeep nothing comes on or everything comes on and then goes out... this happens mostly when it rains. My air bag light has been on for years and my horn hasn't worked for at least that long. There was a recall on the air bag (in 97) and I did take it in. Every once in a while my gauges go crazy. Other than that she's been a dream...

OK, I have replaced the signal light switch on my 99 TJ. It was easy, and seems to have fixed all of my electrical issues.

It was a $40 part, and I replaced it myself in about half an hour using nothing but a philips head and a torx driver. If you don't have the torx driver, you can pick up a set for less than $10. I am not normally one to even change my own oil, so that should give you an idea of how easy it is to replace this part.

Putting in the new signal light switch fixed the following issues for me:

Wipers going dead

Radio going dead

Signal lights going dead.

I previously had a stuttering issue (never stalling, just stuttering) that was fixed by replacing the throttle position sensor.

At this point, my Jeep is not experiencing any strange issues, and I could not be happier.