Hello all,

I have a '96 XJ6 that has developed an odd issue and wanted to see if anyone has ever run into it before.

When you open the front passenger door, there is a clicking sound coming from the left rear seat. I opened the fuse panel under that seat and traced it to a blue relay that was literally dinging like a bell. I figured maybe the relay was bad so I went out and bought another and replaced it; The issue persisted after changing the relay out.

Anybody have any ideas on what is going on here?

 

Additional Information:

According to the wiring diagram, the relay in question is the "Puddle Lamp Relay"

 

I had the same problem in my '95 XJR, except that it happened only when I opened the left rear door. I have not fixed the problem yet, but pulled the relay instead (functioning puddle lamps not being extremely high on my list of priorities). However, since the clicking only occurred when one of the four doors was opened, I suspected either an intermittent contact in the switch for that particular door or a fault in the wiring (loose/dirty connection, bad ground, short) for the switch on that door. If yours only clicks when the front passenger door is opened, I would suspect a similar problem.

 

Yeah it's almost certainly the switch in the door latch. Dirty contacts. Usually the interior lights flicker as well.

I couldn't find a replacment switch....it's smaller than the typcial micro switch. Somebody out there has to sell 'em...I just haven't hit pay dirt.

I removed the latch then removed the switch. I couldn't see a way to open the switch up to clean it. So...I removed (destroyed) the little boot that seals the plunger and doused the switch with aerosol contact cleaner and exercised the plunger about a million times, hoping some clear would find its way to the actual contacts. It worked !

I used a glob of heavy grease to "reseal" the plunger since the little boot couldn't be reinstalled.

That was about 5-6 years ago...still working.

Cheers
DD

 

Yup, I had same problem which turned out to be a broken switch .It's been working fine since replacement

 

Thanks for the info guys, this has been driving me crazy! I wanted to just pull the relay to make it shut up but I wasn't sure what else was attached to it. Now I have the wiring diagram which helps tremendously.

Doug - funny that you mentioned the interior lights flickering. They used to flicker when that door was opened, but that actually stopped after I changed out the relay. Maybe it was just an odd coincidence.

I will try to see if I can clean out the switch like you did until I can track down a replacement. Depending on the price of the switch, I might just leave it if it works.

Thanks again everyone!

**Update** I ended up just removing the light bulb from the socket under the door and the clicking ceased. Quick and easy fix until I get time to track down the switch.