Dorman Replacement Taillight Circuit Boards (Jeep Grand Cherokee WJ)

That looked painful... 😂 heatgun could soften up that adhesive probably.. very informative I'm gonna have to go convince my neighbor to pay me for this on his wj

I can assure you replacing the board will not be a forever fix, I've replaced both of mine 3 times and the entire rear light housing 4 times. I broke my LED tail lights wheeling so I just went back to factory, biggest mistake of my life... Almost lol. I still love my WJ though even with all its piss poor factory tail lights. Great vid as always brother keep it up.

Dude, I just jimmy jammed it, by prying up the tabs. Tailights are working again. Thanks Bud!

that has happened to me plenty of times on the same jeep. I went the pick and pull way each time.

“Let’s see if this works”…. Top brake light out/left license plate light out… “Works great!!” Looks like you need a couple more bulbs!! Saw a video where the guy used tin foil to increase height of pcb tabs. Holler if ya need a WJ jeep buddy! Thanks for awesome video!!

Good stuff Doug!! Thanks!!

It's easier to take it off when you heat the glue that holds the socket cap in place.👍

4:30 those contact points can lose continuity,I think they like a tiny bit of "conductive grease and anti-oxidant" (use a Q tip to spot the grease?) and where the turnable bulb holder fits in has the complementary contacts,also I think that yellow seal on the turnable bulb holder likes a bit of silicon spray or even syl-glyde slide pin lube on it so it won't be so hard to get out the next time need to clean that bulb off or even put a new 3157 bulb in as long as it is took apart,I think the contact points on the bulb tab and the metal claspers where the bulb tab pushes in could also use a bit of silicon or "bulb grease" to stop it from corroding I found that some aftermarket LED replacement lamps for the 3157 used as backup bulbs are not as bright as the plain 3157 so a waste of money. If they were brighter would be good since I would like to have backup lights that actually allow me to see where I am backing instead of just showing someone else that I am backing. I would try some attention to the contact points where the electric transfers before busting off that black part of the lamp assembly. Also you can put some silicon grease where the ball thing goes into the little rubber doughnut to help hold the lamp back in place. Any rust inside the metal cavity you could try some Fluid Film like where the Phillips screws come through.

Amazon has the taillight assemblies for pretty cheap. I just replaced mine completely.

Well done Doug!

Love the video. I did all the Jimmy-Jam stuff for a while. Then finally went to O'Reilly Auto part. Brand new tail light "with" new bulbs, $70

I ended up getting aftermarket clear lights which use 1157 bulbs, not 3157, and use old school sockets.

My brother! Now that I'm on my second WJ I definitely feel your pain. These tail lights are such crap! I ended up going with an aftermarket LED.. And of course they're made in China.. and there crap too!!!

I need this on mine!

So far I've only just added some contact paste/grease to the tabs and not had the sinking contact. Biggest electrical issue I've had with my 04 is the ground wire in the driver's door that goes thru the flexible conduit between the door and the door frame Gail I simply used two wires smaller than the existing ground wire. Connected them up using wire nuts on the inside and soldered then heat shrink inside the door.. That part you replaced looked dope to me! All the power windows did not work, so far I've replaced the motors and regulators in the two front doors, At some point I will do the rears. I got mine for a song and love my wj even tho it's just a 2wheel drive. I am a handy man and use it like a tool cribb/ material hauler! The cross bars on the ski rack were gone but I bought a complete rack assembly from eBay and took the original off redoing the nutzerts and use it mostly for a ladder rack. Bought the tool and an assortment of nutzerts from HF. I was astounded at how easy and solid that made my rack! The originals were ate up with corrosion, they were steel. I used aluminum to replace them, fortunately the roof metal was in great shape! Added some bathroom caulk to prevent water intrusion , that was 3 years back! Been watching your channel for a few months. I find it quite educational and pay attention. As I'm thrifty, lol, and don't believe in buying new automobiles! I'm subscribed as well. Being very handy helps me with things. I'm an old fart, 67 , so I suppose I'm a dinosaur in comparison. Thanks for what you do, and I appreciate your passion and obvious skills! I've watched several older blogs and again love the content!

I just really needed to hear you say, "The Jeep Grand Cherokee is one of the greatest vehicles ever made." 😂Probably the highlight of the whole video...and the truth is, you're right! My personal recommendation would be to buy a new set of LED taillights and be done with that terrible electrical contact design...but obviously they cost a little more. A new set of regular taillights is only $70some; that's another option. But I definitely can relate to your view of wanting to save money and do things cheaper where possible. Thanks for the informative video, Doug!

I owned a WJ from 2012 to 2015 when the 4.0 went out at 193k. I wish I had known half of what you had shown everyone on this channel back then. I had to learn it the hard way. the tail light issue I solved by buying some aftermarket ones that came with their own harness that just clipped into the original harness that bypassed this horrible design entirely

I could’ve use that about two years ago when we had to replace the whole light😎👍

2004 with over 300,000 miles and still going strong

There's a push and turn style fix/upgrade for wj's same way headlights install. My 02 is this way when I bought it over 10 years ago.