Another new (but old!) member with issues!

[Bick]

To anyone asking themsleves why "old people" are the only ones who buy Xj jags, I can say that I have owned and used Jags all my life so there we are that's cleared up nicely!

Thanks for having me here I have looked at several Jag forums but this looks good, hence I have joined.

Trouble is and this is where I would like to ask for some help with my newly acquired 2008 model x358 2.7 Sov (2 days before lockdown ! I wonder if we will start to give lockdowns names like do storms soon:-)). I had been looking for a 350 4.2 but could find nothing so I ended up with a later model Oil burner and having been a fan of V8s and V12s (Daimler double six) I love the sound, but I am blown away by this car, it handles better than my 2000 s type 3.0 nearly as ghood as a porsche 928s and goes like a rocket after a slow start!

So I have no front dipped beam or Xenons, I did have on driver side (Uk) then they failed. The car hadn't been used much and I got in one day and and it started and then when I went out and stopped and got back in and went to go engine no problem but wouldn't move from park. I had a ticker tape full of dash warnings soI got my faithful "I-Car" reader and saw more codes than GCHQ. On looking that up I deduced that the front three earthing points behind the lamps might be to blame (I had already tried to fix the pass side lights to no avail and cleaned that post) Anyway cleaned the other two posts and redid the forst one to be sure put it back together and reconnected battery and all codes cleared and the car was back to top standard, except for the lights.

I have cleaned all the connectors that I can find there is power coming into the lamp harness (fuses OK) and the fluctuation on pins to main and dipped, power on both. No Xeneons. If it iss the pcb mounted relays in the front fusebox surely there would be no power?

I'm stuck and help would be greatly appreciated.

I do apologise for a long first post but I hope you can see I am a bit of a jag enthusiast:-)

 

[Jimbov8]

Hi Bob,

Those earth points may look ok from the outside after being cleaned but they rust from the inside out. Maybe worth changing them for new bolts. Also make sure the battery is fully charged.

[Bick]

Thanks Jimbov8 I very much appreciate your swift response!

The bolts are welded onto what I guess but can't see is a back plate. I have checked the earthing and they seem to do the job. If they didn't I suspect the other issues wouldn't have been resolved as all the abs seems to be wired through them as well. When I had the other issues the abs module didn't even show up on my reader, it does now! Yes battery is fine, it's fairly new and giving 12.7 when engine off and 14.5 under power. Does make me think though as the faults and remaining lights went out after I did the pass side earth, so you could be right worth having another look at that and possibly drill through the ally into the steel behind, very awkward to get at it though.

Trouble is without knowing the cause is very difficult to find the solution!

Anyway, that earth again! I'll see if I can fins another place that side and tes your theory.

Great stuff

Best regards

Bob

[Bick]

Had another long look at the weekend taking your point Jim about the earths, (on my old Land Rovers complete with 4 fuses in a box any problem it is always the earth!) My son came over and we did every test we could think of and more and have decided the earths are fine and the problem would most likely be the ballast boxes as the dipped circuit runs through them  to both mains and HIDs. We tried some "bypassed live feeds and got the dipped beams OK. I had already suspected one ballast had failed and had just got the new box and now ordered another so hopefully that should sort it fingers crossed. Does help with another pair of eyes and looking at the circuit diagrams it seems the most likely.

So, a bumper off (apparently you can "almost" take it off saves a bit of time) job, so as soon as the other ballast box arrives that is my next task.

Thanks again and I will let you know once done. One way or the other:-)

Bob 

[Jimbov8]

Good news Bob, making progress. Look forward to the all clear in due course.😉