Wiring Harness under Driver Side A Pillar Cowl

[Kulahpac]

Hello All,
I just got a set of Dee Zee A Pillar Cowl mounting brackets for fog lights on my rubicon. I popped off the driver side cowl to take a look at how I was going to wire up the lights to the aux switch wires that are on the other side of the engine compartment, and WaLaa... There is a wiring harness underneath the driver side cowl with a wire coming into the plug, and no wire coming out of the other side. It looks like it was put there so we could hook up aux lights here on the A pillars easily. am assuming this maybe attached to the aux switches. Does anyone know anything about this wiring harness? What its for and/or where it goes?

I can post some pics if necessary...

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[Kulahpac]

Here are some pics of the harness... And a pic of the other end of the plug that goes into it... It looks like there is one black and one blue/red wire going into it

 

[Kulahpac]

...

 

[Punkngladiator]

I don’t remember seeing that on mine but I guess I added the switches after the fact

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You mean the aux switches can be added later? I wish I had included that in my overland order but we sort of thought - why: And now I have thought of two or three reasons but too late.......

 

[Punkngladiator]

You bet Jeep makes a kit to add them

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Cool, thanks for the info.

As many cars I've worked on over the years, it's no surprise to see connectors and wiring in the harnesses for something a vehicle doesn't have but COULD have.
The wiring in that part of the cowl is an example. It is more cost effective to have a harness made to cover most common things, even some options if the options are not rare.
In the past some things had their own harness. When windshield wipers were usually vacuum but some cars had electric wipers - the wiper harness was a distinct harness because it didn't need to be part of anything else at all. Cruise control, rear heated glass, all had their own distinct harness and a connector that went to a specific spot in the fuse panel.
Otherwise most common options were wired as part of the main harness even if the option wasn't in that specific vehicle.
So whatever those are for - Jeep, FCA, who-ever, decided it was cost effective if there was an option that would or could use it that they sold often enough to not be rare.

Of course, I'd bet that 99% here already knew every bit of that .............. so just ignore it.

 

[B345T]

...

That is hooked to a defroster looking panel on my windshield in front of the mirror...I have the advanced safety package and adaptive cruise control so I am guessing it is keeping that eye cleared in the winter...

 

[Etoimos]

That is hooked to a defroster looking panel on my windshield in front of the mirror...I have the advanced safety package and adaptive cruise control so I am guessing it is keeping that eye cleared in the winter...

Can you post a pic of what you are talking about please?

 

[billyjk7]

That plug is for the adaptive cruise that is mounted to the rear wiew mirror on the windshield. If you dont have that option, it is just capped with a plug. Not sure if the power going to that area is alive or not on non- acc equipped jeeps

 

[Kulahpac]

That is hooked to a defroster looking panel on my windshield in front of the mirror...I have the advanced safety package and adaptive cruise control so I am guessing it is keeping that eye cleared in the winter...

OK. Awesome. thanks for the info. I thought maybe it was one of the aux switches for A pillar lighting but I checked resistance from it to all the aux wires with no luck... and also had no voltage to the wiring.... I dont have the advanced safety package so it must have something to do with that. I ended up just wiring up my lights to the aux switch 1 wire in the engine compartment... and all is well.

Thanks again.

 

[hawkijon]

Has anyone figured out how to get power to this plug for use if a 12v source with the key on/acc?

 

[Psycho Squirrel]

Has anyone figured out how to get power to this plug for use if a 12v source with the key on/acc?

I personally haven’t tried tracing that wire but I agree with you that there’s got to be a way to “re-utilize “ unused factory wire harnesses. We would need two things to correctly accomplish this. 1) A schematic showng ALL of the circuitry in the vehicle. And 2) A mechanical drawing or diagram showing where all the physical locations of these harnesses and connectors are in the vehicle.
Sounds like we have puzzle to solve!

 

[takeitsleazy]

Following, just to see the shenanigans of anyone trying to find a way to use the harness lol

 

[hawkijon]

I got with a Mopar tech… You can achieve power through this plug, but you would have to disconnect it from the source in the fuse box and apply it to a source that does not go through the computer… If you applied powered to this in its current state it would throw a fault code and possibly activate a dummy light because it was not option with the vehicle And was not programmed… It could be cleared up with a flash of your system, but that cost an unnecessary amount of money for what it’s worth…The techs suggestion was to get a fuse adapter with an accessory pigtail and utilize fuse F50 for any accessory power if you do not have the auxiliary switch block… I was looking for a 12 V source to power my ARB air compressor.. i do have the aux but can’t justify using them for just a 12v signal wire to the compressor.

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