Experience in a Book
Electrical System (continued)

Windshield Wipers

WINDSHIELD WIPER MOTOR: The housing of the wiper motor consists of a cylindrical can with covers on each end. The cylindrical can has a notch cut at one end to form a drain hole to keep water from collecting inside the motor. Unfortunately, the drain hole is not at the bottom! To correct the problem, Jaguar provides a plastic cover over the motor to keep water from getting on it.

If you have trouble with the wiper motor, proceed as follows:

1. Mark the housing before taking it apart. The parts must line up the same way when reassembled. Also, mark where the bottom is as installed in the car.

2. Clean up the internal parts, especially the brushes, which tend to jam when they've been wet for a while. Make sure the brushes slide freely.

3. Cut an additional notch in the housing, this time at the bottom.

4. After reassembly, it wouldn't hurt to cover the top of the motor with aluminum tape (available where air conditioning supplies are sold -- it's used to seal ductwork) to help prevent water from getting in.

Herman Green adds his experience: "I took the motor apart and found that one of the magnets had come loose and had jammed the armature. The magnets are glued in with what seems to be some kind of silicone. Rust had crept under the bond and it gave up. I marked the location of the magnets with a file and measured the distance from the end of the housing to the top of the magnet, so I could put them back in the correct position. I also marked the magnets as to their location and orientation. If they're put in wrong, the motor will either run backwards or lock up. I then removed the magnets and cleaned them and the inside of the motor housing with a sanding flapper wheel in a drill motor. I then mixed up some JB Weld and glued them back in place. When gluing the magnets in, use a clamp of some sorts to snuggle them in tight. If not, you may not be able to get the armature back in! Once cured, I painted it with rustoleum to prevent further rust, and put it back together. Works great and should last a long time."

Of course, providing a new plastic cover over the assembly would help for a while. Notice that the assumption was made here that the original is no longer on the job. Yes, it's junk. The aluminum tape in step no. 4 is likely to be the prime protection in the long run.

Chuck Roach says: "I went to my Jag dealer to pick up a new cover and the parts/service manager told me to forget it and just use an old one-gallon plastic bottle and cut it to fit and hold it in place with cable ties. Worked great. Will probably last as long as the original." I disagree; it's likely to last a good deal longer than the original.

By the way, if you're wondering where the original cover went, you need to read about water leaking in through the A/C system.

WINDSHIELD WIPER MOTOR DURABILITY: A design problem with the Lucas wiper motor is that the drive gears at the wiper arm shafts are plastic. Wear is a reported problem, and can be aggravated by operating the wipers on a dry windshield. It is suggested that the XJ-S owner use Rain-X or similar product on the windshield on a regular basis. This will make the water run off so the wipers need not be used as often, and it will also make the surface of the glass more slippery, so the wipers move more easily.

Note that 1987-on cars may be fitted with an Electrolux motor; this unit has metal gears at the wiper arm shafts. Stefan Schulz says "The parts guy at my local Jag dealer says that it is not a drop-in replacement for the Lucas one."

WINDSHIELD WIPER PARKING: If your wipers don't park, you may be tempted to start tearing the wiper motor apart to work on the parking contacts -- but you would be forgetting that this is Lucas you're dealing with. As Mark Roberts found out, the problem is every bit as likely to be within the stalk switch. "Because the wipers would park in intermittent mode, I was skeptical about the problem being with the parking micro switch, but checked it anyway. Micro switch was fine. The problem was traced down to the stalk switch. In the off position, pins 5 & 6 (ULG & BLG respectively) are supposed to be shorted together, to provide a ground path for the motor. They are also supposed to be shorted when in intermittent mode for the same reason. On my switch, 5 & 6 were shorted in intermittent mode, but open in the off position...no ground, no work."

WINDSHIELD WIPER PARK POSITION: For some reason, the XJ-S wiper pivots are symmetrically located, so the driver's side wiper bumps into the windshield frame when parked. To solve this, the official adjustment scheme is to adjust that wiper to park up high so it doesn't hit the frame, but it looks stupid -- and is right in the driver's face. Just to make sure you're aggravated, the wipers park on the right in countries where they drive on the left, and vice versa; it's always in the driver's face.

One workable solution is to modify the driver's side wiper arm to be shorter. This requires carefully unfolding the sheet metal where it is wrapped around the strut, and drilling out the rivet just above the spring attachment. Then the strut can be cut about an inch shorter, drilled and bent to form a new spring attachment, a new rivet hole drilled, and then the strut can be reattached with a new rivet (a pop rivet will do) and the sheet metal re-crimped around the strut. A little flat black paint, and no one will know the original design was so poor. With the shorter arm, the left wiper can be positioned much closer to the bottom of the windshield. Note that the shorter wiper will not reach as far toward the top of the windshield either, but this doesn't seem to pose a problem.

Another possible solution is to alter the wipers so they park on the passenger's side. In the case of the later Electrolux motor, Stefan Schulz says this can be done by merely opening the motor gearbox and moving the park cam 180 degrees; it might be possible to make a similar change on the earlier Lucas motor. Or, you could arrange to buy a wiper motor from another country, or even trade with somebody in that country who's trying to make the same fix! You will need to purchase Jaguar wiper arms that have the little bend the opposite direction. Of course, after all this the wipers will still be just as obtrusive, but they will be aggravating the passenger instead of the driver.

WINDSHIELD WIPER PARKING -- EARLY CARS: Mike Morrin reports at length on the early XJ-S wipers: "The wiper in question has a highly (over) engineered parking facility where on the parking stroke, the blades go an extra 5 degrees or so, which pushes them off the screen onto the chrome strip. In the parked position, the blades are on the glass for about half their length, and on the chrome strip for the other half. Definitely further out of the driver's field of view than where you would put them on a normal wiping stroke. The early cars had this feature; the pictures in the pre-HE parts book and the service manual both show the solenoid (although it is not labelled in the parts book and the service manual calls it a switch).

"I suppose this was why they designed the car with the wipers parking on the driver's side. It is nearly a good design, suffering only from the poor thermal design of the solenoid, and perhaps the parking switch should have been operated by a cam on the driven gear, rather than by a switch on the sliding link thingy.

"I should say that I am not sure when the wiper motor design changed, but I think it might have been with the introduction of the HE in 1981. I have heard that the early Lucas unit was unreliable, and many cars have had the later Lucas unit fitted.

"I found that the wipers did not park, did not run on low speed and the single wipe facility did not work. I thought it would be a simple repair, so I pulled the motor, even without a service manual or wiring diagram. It was obvious that the PO had pulled some wires off of the parking switch, and after some further disassembly, I found that the parking solenoid was fried.

"The parking solenoid was fried because it is designed to be energised all the time while the wipers are switched off and are not parked. The designer thought that this period would be only a couple of seconds, and designed the solenoid with thermal capacity for about 30 seconds. Unfortunately, a little bit of dirt or grease in the wrong place is enough to stop the solenoid pulling in all the way, which prevents the eccentric gear mechanism from pushing the wipers off the edge of the screen which means that the parking switch doesn't get activated, which means that the wipers keep going and going and..... fried solenoid.

"If you do have an early car (pre H.E.) with this facility, if the wipers ever keep running after you have turned them off, then put the switch back into the ON position, or the solenoid will burn out within a minute or so. Remove the wiper blades if it stops raining. If the solenoid has not melted, the parking function can probably be restored by carefully dismantling, cleaning and reassembling the solenoid.

"At this point the PO had pulled wires until the thing stopped, and then put them back (in the wrong place) so that the wipers at least worked with the switch in the high speed position.

"At the time I found that the parking switch is adjustable, and by trial and error found a position where the wipers would stop more or less at the bottom of the screen when switched off, even with the parking solenoid removed.

"This solution was almost perfect except that with the blades fitted so that they parked at the bottom of the screen, they did not wipe all the way to the passenger side of the windscreen. It also bugged me that the system was not working completely as intended. I lived with this secret for 12 years, until last winter the wipers decided not to stop anymore, presumably because of wear somewhere preventing the parking switch from being activated. I also found the old fried solenoid in a box in the garage, and decided to rebuild the system to original specification.

"I stripped off the old wire, and built up the melted plastic core with epoxy filler, then filing it back to shape.

"The solenoid is wound with 0.16mm (0.0063") copper transformer wire. I didn't count the turns, but it does need to be neatly layer wound, or you can not fit enough turns to get the required magnetic pull.

"Anyway it works now, and I can look forward to rainy days, safe in the knowledge that the wipers will park just as their maker intended.

"Actually, the repaired system is inferior in respect of the single wipe facility, as the system takes about half the period of a normal stroke to move the the wipers through the first 5 degrees, and you need to hold the switch for that period of time."

If you're interested in upgrading an earlier car with the later wiper motor, Scott Horner describes "the little Lucas blue box modification - This plugs into the original wiring loom and fits into any tight spot under the dashboard. This was offered by Jaguar to make the windsheild wipers park on Pre-H.E. cars, when used in conjuction with an H.E. wiper motor."

WINDSHIELD WIPER ARM MOUNT: The wiper arms are mounted on the shafts with a taper fit, held tight with a nut that is covered with a plastic clip. However, the base portion of the arm is made of aluminum, and a slight growth or wallowing of the tapered hole is an occasional problem. Contrary to expectations, this cannot be dealt with by merely tightening the nut further. The nut bottoms on a shoulder above the taper, and the arm remains loose.

This problem can be easily corrected. Cut a piece from thin sheet aluminum (old real estate signs work great!) and roll it into a conical shim. Installed between the shaft and the arm, it will provide a tight fit.

Directly under this joint is supposed to be a piece of rubber that looks like it might keep dirt and water out of the bearing. If this seal is rotten or missing, you probably won't wanna pay Jaguar for a new one. Reportedly, a visit to a hardware store should provide choices for substitutes; there are many parts shaped more or less like this, notably in the plumbing stuff - valve parts and seals, etc. You might have to do a little cutting.

WINDSHIELD WASHER: The windshield washer pump is attached to the bottom of the washer fluid tank itself. Believe it or not, it actually screws onto the tank. The opening in the tank has a rubber grommet in it, and there's a plastic nut on the inside held in place by three rubber tangs on the grommet itself. The pump has a threaded inlet end and is installed by rotating the entire pump, screwing it into that nut and compressing the grommet.

This pump isn't all that unusual. Alex Dorne says, "It is VDO part number V246 003, also found on:

Audi 100, '77-'92
BMW 3 series, '80-85
BMW 5 series, '82 - '87
Saab 99, '78 - '84
Saab 900, '78-'84
Volvo 300 Series (European) '82-'89
Volvo 400 Series (European) '87-96
VW Golf / Rabbit '81-'86

Most of these are prime wrecking yard material."

Another option: there are aftermarket washer pumps available everywhere for just a few bucks. The one sold by Wal-Mart, Wiper Mates #5101, actually has the same electrical connector layout so the connector on the Jag wiring harness will plug right on. Polarity is important, but it is correct. Perhaps there is some sort of standard here.

The only problem with these aftermarket pumps: The recommended method of plumbing is to leave the original toasted pump in place and just tee this new pump into the line from it. Fine and dandy -- except that the primary failure on my pump was the shaft seal between the pump and motor, which allowed the fluid to drain through the motor and out the electrical connectors. Leaving it in place was therefore not an option, unless I could find a way to seal it. Didn't like that option anyway, so I removed all that junk and worked on connecting a pickup hose to the opening in the tank.

A suitable grommet can be found at the auto parts store on the rack of "PCV valve grommets". The one that fits a 1970-84 Toyota fits just fine. Next challenge: something to fit into this grommet. My choice was a PCV valve! They're cheap, so I just selected a plastic one, drilled the big end open and let the guts drop out, and plugged it in; it proved watertight. A 1/2" nylon tubing fitting would probably work too. Of course, the fitting on the other end is still pretty large, so stepping the hose size down to the 1/8" for the inlet of the aftermarket pump is still necessary.

WASHER NOZZLES: According to Richard Mansell, the single-post windshield sprayer in the center of the air intake grille was replaced by two separate sprayers in mid-1987. Unfortunately, Jaguar didn't see fit to change the casting of the grille itself, so it retained a boss location in the center even though it wasn't drilled and had nothing installed in it.

Light Bulbs

LIGHT BULBS: If you have WWW browsing capability and a credit card, you can order whatever bulbs you're ever likely to need from: http://www.stelcom.com/lamptech/auto.html Thanks to Richard King for this tip.

BULB NUMBERING SCHEMES: Europe and the US use different schemes to number automotive bulbs, but a lot of the bulbs have equivalents. In Europe -- and in the Jaguar manuals -- light bulbs (and fuses) are specified by a three-digit number. Often, the manufacturer will be indicated by letters preceding the number; for example, a Unipart bulb may be number GLB 233, but it could be replaced by any bulb number 233. While the Jag manuals often indicate GLB numbers, I will endeavor to indicate only the three digit number in this book.

Here in the US, automotive light bulbs are typically packaged on cards in parts stores, clearly labelled by the US number and "12V" -- but no clue at all about what amperage or wattage they are. Sometimes, if you're real lucky, you'll find the candlepower -- but that's only loosely related to wattage. However, the parts stores will usually have a book behind the counter that gives complete data on the various bulbs available: voltage, wattage, life rating, candlepower, filament shape, etc. The only thing the books won't tell you is the European equivalent.

Of course, I try to actually be helpful in this book, so I will endeavor to give US equivalents to the European numbers where I have been able to figure them out. Note that some of the data below includes the wattage as listed on a specification sheet, often to two decimal places; rounding is definitely in order for general use, especially since the Jag bulb charts usually don't specify wattage closer than to an even watt.

The specification sheets also give rated voltages for automotive bulbs generally between 12.5V and 14.4V. On the cards, these are all called "12V".

MINIATURE BAYONET BULBS: Miniature bayonet bulbs are the flashlight-size bulbs with a cylindrical base with two pins on the sides. They are sometimes simply referred to as "bayonet" bulbs -- including in the Jaguar bulb charts -- but this is technically incorrect, since "bayonet" actually refers to the larger bulbs of similar design such as most taillight bulbs. 13-14.4V miniature bayonet bulbs available in the US include:

 

NUMBER	WATTAGE
756	1.12W
1813	1.44W
1892	1.73W
1815	2.8W
1891	3.36W
1889	3.78W
1816	4.29W
1893	4.62W

All of the above bulbs are bullet-shaped; the glass capsule is about the same diameter as the base. For places where space isn't a problem, there are also the following miniature bayonet bulbs with a larger spherical glass capsule:

 

NUMBER	WATTAGE
57	3.36W
257	3.78W
1895	3.78W
293	4.62W

The 1895's are sometimes available in colored versions.

If you visit a marine supply store, you will find an assortment of high-power miniature bayonet bulbs. In addition to reasonably-priced 12V5W bulbs, there are some atrociously high wattage bulbs with proportionately large glass capsules, up to 20 watts. There are also some halogen bulbs in 5W, 10W, 15W and 20W, some of which are a little odd-looking but they are all about the same physical size as the tiny bullet-shaped bulbs. Some of them aren't even labelled halogen, but rather labelled only for some particular application, a depth finder or something. Of course, you can tell they're halogen by the price. As a bonus, all of the bulbs sold at a marine supply store are corrosion-resistant for marine use.

FIBREOPTIC SOURCE BULB: This bulb is a miniature bayonet type. The bulb charts in the Jag manuals list a 254 or 989, depending on which book you look at, and describe it as 5 or 6 watt, again depending on which chart you believe. 254 is a festoon bulb, so that's wrong.

Note that 5 or 6 watts is high wattage indeed for a miniature bayonet; the 6 watt is higher than any in the chart above. Clearly, this particular application requires some serious light. Either the 1893 or 293 listed above probably fits the bill as 5 watts, meaning you'll get satisfactory light. If the various things lit by the fiberoptic source have always been too dim for you, though, a visit to the marine supply store may be in order; one of those 5W halogen bulbs might be just the ticket to liven up that dash. Going to much higher wattage than recommended would probably melt the fibreoptic unit housing, so don't get carried away.

SIDE MARKER BULB: The side marker is the light just forward of the front wheel on each side, and the socket takes a miniature bayonet type bulb. The bulb charts in the Jag manuals list a 207 or 233, depending on which chart you look at, and describe it as 5 watt. This author's '83 was fitted with bulbs labelled 233 and 12V4W.

Several of the bulbs listed above would make suitable substitutes. If you don't really care how bright your side markers are, you can replace these bulbs with different wattage bulbs; however, you need to be concerned about whether the bulb failure sensors work properly -- see below. These side marker lamps are monitored by the same bulb failure sensors as the front parking lamps, and reduced wattage bulbs may result in bulb failure indications on the dash. If you wish, the sensors can be adjusted for the new current level.

Judging from the typical condition of the original bulbs, the corrosion resistance of marine bulbs might be helpful in these side markers.

By the way, a piece of 5/16" hose may be helpful in getting the side marker bulbs in and out.

CIGAR LIGHTER BULB: One bulb chart in the Jaguar repair manual says the miniature bayonet bulb for the cigar lighter (643) is 22 watt. I don't think so -- it should say 2.2 watt.

TURN SIGNAL BULB REPLACEMENT: All the bulbs in the pre-1991 taillights and front turn signal housings are bayonet type, although some are single-filament and some are dual-filament. On the dual-filament bulbs, one pin on the base is positioned differently than the other to ensure you install it correctly. For the single-filament bulb 382 (rear turn signals and brake lights), use the US 1156 -- very common. For the dual-filament 380 (front turn signals), use the US 1157 -- perhaps the most common taillight bulb there is. For the taillights (smaller bulb on the outer corner of the taillight housing), use US number 89 even though it's slightly more powerful (8W) than the 5W number 207 specified in the charts.

Another common -- and very similar-looking -- dual-filament taillight bulb is the US 1034. If you try to use 1034 bulbs in the XJ-S, the indicator on the dashboard may only light the first blink, or not at all, when you operate the turn signals. This is the bulb failure indication for the turn signals. Since the 1034 bulbs are lower wattage, the reduced current causes a bulb failure indication.

If you want brighter turn signals, J. C. Whitney offers a 30/8W halogen 1157 bulb, catalog number 81xx0439B, that they claim is 50% brighter than the standard 1157.

I was unfortunate in that the turn signal bulbs in my front bumper had not burnt out in a long time. I say unfortunate because the screws that hold the lenses on had corroded and seized so badly they had to be drilled out -- four out of four, 100%. These screws were plain steel; since it is probable that Jaguar originally fitted stainless steel screws to these lenses, I may have been a victim of a previous repair. If your screws are still removable, I highly recommend you check to make sure they are stainless, and if not to purchase four 10-32 x 1-º" Phillips drive oval head stainless steel screws to replace them with. Even with stainless steel screws, be sure to apply some anti-seize compound when reinstalling -- the clip nuts are not stainless.

Here in Bubbaland, 10-32 stainless steel screws are difficult to find, so I replaced the elaborate clip nuts on the bumper with conventional #10 clip nuts (available at auto parts stores) and bought some #10 x 1º" stainless steel Phillips drive oval head sheet metal screws at a marine supply store. I never have to worry again about getting them out.

BULB FAILURE SENSORS: There are bulb failure sensors in the trunk up behind the lip on both sides, as well as under the right side dashboard. The Supplement to the Repair Operation Manual says there is only one under the dash to serve the lights on the front of the car, but it lies; there are two, one serving the front right and one serving the front left. They all look the same: a small metal box with three terminals. The current to a light goes in one terminal and out another, heating up a conductor inside. When it gets hot enough, a bimetal strip bends enough to break the third connection to the dash indicator. This is why it takes a few seconds for the indicator to go out when you turn on the lights. If a bulb burns out, the reduced current doesn't heat the bimetal strip enough, so the indicator stays on.

If your dash indicator is staying lit for unknown reasons, the first thing to do is check that all the lights on the car are of the correct wattage; a lower-current bulb can fool the units. Then, find each unit and disconnect the indicator wires (WS) one by one until you find which unit is keeping the indicator on.

If one of the units isn't working right, they can be adjusted. There is a tiny screw on the box near the terminals, sealed with a drop of glue. When you're absolutely sure all the bulbs are working right, leave the lights on for a couple minutes. Turn the screw clockwise until the dash light comes on, then counterclockwise just until it turns off. Be careful not to touch ground with the tool used to adjust the screw.

There is a different type of failure sensor on the brake lights, but it operates the same dash indicator. With the ignition on, headlights off, handbrake applied, and the brake pedal pressed, the indicator should come on; if it does not, there's a bad circuit or bulb in the brake lights.

The indication that a turn signal bulb has failed is that the turn signal dash indicator just blinks once, or not at all, while the functional bulbs on the outside of the car continue to blink properly.

FESTOON BULBS: Festoon bulbs are the tubular bulbs with a pointed connector at each end. Here in the US, they are described as "SV8.5mm", 8.5mm being the diameter of the connector at the end. In addition to the wattage, you need to pay attention to the overall length measured from point to point. There are at least two different length festoon bulbs used in the XJ-S, 1.45" and 1.75". Sometimes festoon bulbs are clamped at the ends, while other times they are held by the points; in some cases below, I mention which method is used.

BOOT LAMPS: According to the SICP catalog, the XJ-S used miniature bayonet bulb number 989 in the trunk up to 1982. From 1982 on it used festoon bulb number 239 (5W). The overall length of this bulb is 1.45". The US 11004 is a perfect replacement.

Note that the 1982-87 Hella boot lamp assemblies are not symmetrical, although they appear to be at first; the bulb itself is held closer to one side of the lens than the other. The lamp should be installed so that the bulb is held farthest away from the center of the trunk. This fixture holds the bulb by the points.

The SICP catalog also seems to indicate that from 1987 on, the same lamp assemblies were used in the boot as in the interior.

INTERIOR LAMPS: The Jag bulb charts say the interior lights are either number 272 (10W) for early cars and 254 (6W) for later cars. The SICP catalog, on the other hand, offers 265 for cars up to VIN 100349 and 239 for VIN 100350 onward, corresponding to a change in the fixture itself. 265 is apparently 1.75" long, while 239 (the same bulbs as the boot lights ë82-on) is a 5W bulb 1.45" long.

If you have an earlier car with 1.75" bulbs and want 10W replacements, you can buy GE bulb number DE7576. There are also bulb numbers 211 or 212 that will physically fit, but the wattage is unknown. 211 bulbs are also available in pretty colors, if you want to get tricky. 10W 1.75" festoon bulbs are also available in marine supply stores.

If you have the later fixtures and a 5W bulb will do, the 11004 will work. If you want to try a 10W, there is also a 11005 available -- but you might want to keep an eye on them that they don't melt the fixture.

The later lamps (all four corners of the interior use the same fixture) clamp onto the ends of the bulbs.

ROOF LAMP: The bulb in the roof lamp is supposed to be 10W, and is 1.75" long. The Jag bulb charts seem to leave the number column blank, but SICP offers number 265 here. This atrociously expensive Hella fixture holds the bulb by the points. The GE bulb number DE7576 is a perfect replacement.

BACK-UP LAMPS: The books say the bulbs in the back-up lights are number 273, 21W. You can also find similar bulbs in 18W; close enough, especially if you replace both together. These festoon bulbs have a total length of 1.75". The glass portion itself is also much larger in diameter than the connectors, giving it a bulged look.

Either the 18W or 21W bulbs are hard to find in the US; you will probably need to find a place that specializes in import light bulbs. One alternative is the marine supply stores, which carry a 15W bulb the same shape and size. Or, you could substitute the non-bulged 10W 1.75" bulbs commonly available and call it a day.

LICENSE PLATE LAMPS: The license plate lights require festoon bulbs 1.45" long. The Jag bulb charts call for a 254 (6W), but SICP offers the 239 (5W) for this application. If 5W is acceptable, the 11004 bulb will serve. You can go up to the 10W 11005, but I'm betting you'll melt the lens.

CAPLESS BULBS: What the Europeans call a capless bulb is called a wedge bulb in the US. Capless bulbs have no base at all; the bottom of the glass capsule itself is formed into a flat edge and the conductors coming out of the capsule are wrapped around the edge.

The following is a chart of some US wedge bulbs, 13-14.4V:

NUMBER	WATTAGE
658	1.12W
160	2.66W (long life)
161	2.66W
158	3.36W
184	3.46W
124	3.78W
194	3.78W
196	3.78W
558	4.29W
192	4.29W
193	4.62W
168	4.90W
175	8.12W

 

Numbers 168 and 194 seem to be the most readily available.

The auto parts stores also carry a halogen capless bulb that will fit into the same socket. The number is 2040, but as usual there's no clue about the wattage on the package.

PUDDLE LIGHTS: The door edge lamps, also known as puddle lamps, are a 5W capless. They're not even listed in the bulb charts in the Jag books, but the Haynes manual says it's number 501. US number 168 is perfect.

The access is kinda neat; you remove one screw from the bottom, then slide the lens off rearward.

DASHBOARD LIGHTING: The instrument illumination lamps are supposed to be a capless 2.2W, number 987. Finding the US 161 would be good, 160 would be better. Or, you could try something with higher wattage and hope nothing melts or burns up in there.

THIRD BRAKE LIGHT BULB REPLACEMENT: It may not be obvious at first, so John Himes sends this description for getting to the bulbs: "Feel or look on the underside of the cover; there are 2 black indentations on each side of the cover. Place your fingers on each of these, or you can also do one at a time. Press up on the indentation which is a sprung black square button that keeps the cover from rattling off. After your remove the cover, you have access to the bulbs. They are in gray plastic holders that you turn 1/2 turn to release."

INDICATOR LIGHT BULBS: The tiny bulbs used in the row of indicator lights at the top of the dashboard are "miniature capless", similar to capless but a bunch smaller. 14V versions are available at auto parts stores in the US in several different wattages:

 

NUMBER	WATTAGE
18	0.56W
73	1.12W
37	1.26W
74	1.4W
70	2.1W

Since the Jaguar bulb chart calls for a 1.2W, numbers 37 or 74 should make good substitutes -- but you also might consider varying the wattage bulb for your own preferences, like making the oil warning light real bright, less important lights dimmer, and the turn signals real bright so you can see them at all!

To get these bulbs in and out, it helps to have a pair of hemostats (a "roach clip" to you 70's potheads) with electrical tape wrapped around the jaws.

Headlights

HEADLIGHT BRIGHTNESS: Jon Jackson and others point out that dim headlights may be the result of bad grounds. "On my '87 there is a ground under the hood to the left side of the radiator. There are several ground wires that go to this same point. Cleaned it up a bit and all is great."

HEADLIGHT TYPES & BULBS: If you need to replace a headlight bulb, the Jaguar repair manual and the Haynes manual are both worthless; their bulb charts are all screwed up on headlights. So, we'll try to provide a little guidance here. First, if you have the US four-headlight system (LHD), the outer units (sealed beam 5æ" round halogen main/dip 35/35 watt) are H5006, and the inner (sealed beam 5æ" round halogen main 50 watt) are H5001. And yes, I have listed the correct wattages for these commonly available sealed beam halogen units, despite the various Jaguar literature listing the outers as 37.5/50 or 37.5/60. The non-halogen equivalents ("tungsten", number 4000) are 60/37.5 watt, but aren't recommended for anybody; you only find them in dark corners of auto parts shelves covered with dust. The corresponding tungsten inner bulbs are number 4001, 37.5 watt, also not recommended.

If you have a single oblong "composite" headlight assembly on each side of the car, you will need to identify exactly which oblong headlight assembly you have. There are at least three different oblong headlight assemblies -- not counting the fact that there may be LHD and RHD versions of each. The early non-US XJ-S has Cibie headlights with glass lenses and metal reflectors and uses two H1 halogen bulbs plus one "pilot" bulb on each side. This is the assembly shown in the Haynes manual, but John Goodman points out "The drawing of the XJ-S headlight bulb on page 198 (actually 197 in my book) looks like it was taken from a 1980 <UK> owner's handbook. But, it's been edited to fit the page and you only have half the picture!!! What you are looking at here is a 1980 or earlier headlight, the bulb shown is a main beam single filament H1. What is not shown is an identical bulb which installs in an identical hole immediately underneath for the dipped beam."

Mike Morrin calls this early unit a "biode": "It is the term (probably trademark of Cibie) for headlight units with separate reflectors and bulbs for high and low beams. I think it is a condensation of "bi-reflector iodine". The term was widely used in europe back in the 70s, but I suppose not in the US as they were illegal there then. Back in the 70s, the British always called Quartz Halogen "Quartz Iodine"."

Morrin describes the early unit in more detail: "Low beam uses the back of the headlight shell (as per the later units). The high beam reflector is in front of this in the lower half of the unit. There is actually an adjusting screw which allows the vertical angle of high beam to be adjusted relative to low beam. The glass has CIBIE IODE in the centre of the casting. Most of the bottom half of the lense is clear, with fluting only directly in front of the high beam bulb. It is interesting that Cibie used Iode in the trademark on the lamp. I am sure that their after-market dual-reflector lamps of the same vintage were known as Biodes."

"The high beam has quite a narrow vertical spread, and really needs the low beam to be simultaneously lit up for close-in lighting. The early (pre-HE?) cars came already wired this way. The wiring diagram in my manual shows a dotted link across the low beam contacts on the relay.

"These are actually very good lights, except that they are very prone to oxidising of the reflectors."

H1 bulbs are typically 55W and have a small circular metal base with one straight side at a 45† angle to the single spade terminal pointing straight off the bottom. The socket must have a suitable ground connection, since there is none on the bulb itself. H1 bulbs are readily available in auto parts stores. In Europe, the bulb number is 411. Note that the illustrations in the manuals seem to indicate that H1 bulbs have an external conductor around the outside of the capsule itself and entering in the front of the glass, but the bulbs actually for sale in the stores don't have this; all conductors are inside the glass.

Later non-US cars used Cibie headlights with a single H4 bulb and two pilot light bulbs on each side. Allan Charlton says the lights on his '78 have the circle-E symbol indicating E-code specification. "It's E2 in a circle. The E2 also appears in a smaller circle with an A above, and in a small square with an A above (Actually, the A is so small that, in the poor light in my garage, it could be an R, but I think it's an A)."

H4 bulbs have a large circular metal base with three alignment tangs, one larger than the other two, and a 3-prong plug that will fit the same socket as a US-spec sealed beam -- three large (5/16") spade terminals arranged as three sides of a square. If your lights use H4 bulbs, they are readily available -- or you can use HB2 or 9003 bulbs, which are exactly the same. In Europe, these bulbs are called 472. The French cars use a 476 for the yellow color.

Composite headlights -- as opposed to sealed beams -- were finally legalized in the US in the name of energy conservation via improved aerodynamics, but that doesn't mean the European headlights are now legal. After all, the US DOT couldn't possibly accept headlights that have proven excellent in Europe for decades. So, the 1990-on North American XJ-S has a new type of oblong headlights that say DOT on the lens. Emile A. DesRoches says the lights are made by Carello, and have plastic lenses with three little bumps for aiming. "The Carello light housings appear to be completely polycarbonate with reflectors of the same material plated and apparently epoxied to the lens in order to provide a leak free seal (no apparent O-ring, but it appears there's a ridge where the parts join). These things are very strong/resistant to scratching,etc. I've taken several stones without mishap and what appeared to be a nut or bolt at high speed (yes, I got to the track late and stupidly neglected to tape the headlights -- this from an SCCA tech inspector, yet). I expect it would be possible to separate the sections with use of the proper solvent."

According to a Sylvania application guide, these headlights are fitted with 9004 bulbs. These bulbs have a large plastic base with a fat O-ring and a D-shaped 3-terminal socket, and are 65/45W.

Keep your grimy paws off those halogen bulbs. The oil from your fingers on the surface of the quartz capsule insulates it and prevents it from dissipating heat as it should. The result is that the bulb burns out very quickly, whereas normally an H4 bulb will last considerably longer than a sealed beam. If you accidentally finger the glass, clean the surface with some alcohol before installing.

There is one significant concern of headlight assemblies with replaceable bulbs: the owner may simply replace the bulb whenever it burns out, and neglect to notice when the housing itself is deteriorating, the reflector gets all rusty, or the lens gets broken. Since the reflector and the lens are critical to proper illumination, the conscientious owner will replace the housings whenever the performance is adversely affected.

Before simply replacing burnt-out headlight bulbs, you might wanna read the suggestions on improving the headlights.

PILOT LIGHTS: "Pilot" is UK-speak for the small bulbs within the headlight assemblies that are used to make the headlights glow when the headlights are not on. In the US, old VW's used to have them, and many cars with the new composite headlamps have something similar. Daniel Stern says, "In most of the world, they're called "city lights". In the UK, they're referred to as "sidelights" (which is confusing, because they face front, not to the side.) This is the European equivalent of the US "parking" lamp. European-specs vehicles do not use amber parking lamps, but rather use white city lights."

The Jaguar repair manual variously describes their pilot bulbs as no. 15602, 4 watt, Osram miniature bayonet, or 223, or 233, depending on whose misprint you believe. This sounds the same as the side marker bulbs 233, but I haven't seen them personally and don't trust any of this literature any more, check the actual bulb itself before buying.

Vince Chrzanowski (who is using the Euro-spec Cibie headlights in North America) says "The pilot lamps I use are #1893. I use them in all my radio 12-volt applications because of their long-life rating."

PROTECTING HEADLIGHT LENSES: If you have the Cibie headlights and don't like the idea of paying Jaguar for new ones, Griot's Garage offers a way to protect them. It's a clear layer of vinyl that you peel-and-stick to the front of the lens and then trim around the edges. This is likely to be very effective, since even the slightest cushioning is likely to prevent most stones and the like from damaging the glass.

Griot's also sells a thinner version for fog lights and turn signal lenses, but claims the product is not for use on polycarbonate lenses. That leaves owners of the Carello lights out in the cold.

FOG/DRIVING LIGHT BULBS: The auxiliary lamps, either fog lamps or driving lamps, may be fitted with either H2 or H3 bulbs. H2 bulbs appear to be mounted on a metal blade while H3 bulbs have a circular metal base with two notches, one rectangular and one semicircular, and a short wire attached with spade terminal at the end. Both are typically 55W.

See the notes above on handling halogen bulbs and concerns about deteriorating or damaged housings, as well as the suggestions for boosting headlight power.

HEADLIGHT WIRING: The headlight and fog light wiring diagram in the Supplement to the Repair Operation Manual, copyright 1982, is too screwed up to follow. Figure 20 is a replacement for the diagram, based on an actual 1983 H.E.; note that if your wiring matches this schematic it is impossible to operate the fog lights (see Fog Light Wiring, below).

The headlight switch in the US-spec 1983 H.E. has five positions, three above and one below the off position. To get into the top or bottom position requires pushing the knob in while turning. The connections made in the positions are as follows:

3: 1-2-3-5
2: 1-2-3-4
1: 1-2-3
0: No connection
-1: 1-2

The -1 position, connecting only the dash lights and right side parking lights, apparently serves no intended purpose; as wired, all the parking lights come on due to backfeed through the bulb failure sensors. After a few seconds for the bulb failure sensors to warm up, the left side parking lights dim. If an owner wished, however, it would be a simple matter to rewire the right side parking lights to terminal 3 and use the -1 position to operate the dash lights only.

Other headlight switches are different, however. John Himes says that on his '88 the positions are:

Off
Parking lights only
Headlights
Headlights & fogs
Fogs only

John Goodman reports "On UK cars the fog/driving lights are operated on the rotary dash light switch.

1= side/park
2= headlights
3= head & fog/driving lights
4= side/park & only fog/driving lights

...and there is a push facility that works when in position 2-4 for the rear fog warning lights fitted in the rear bumpers."

FOG LIGHT WIRING: If your fog lights don't work, you may not be alone; some don't work because they were wired incorrectly from the factory. Apparently, in some countries Jaguars are fitted with "fog warning lamps" at the rear of the car; the top position on the headlight switch turns these rear fog lights on. The front fog lights are operated by a "fog lamp switch". The '83 XJ-S (American version) has no rear fog lights, and no fog lamp switch. The top position on the headlight switch sends power to unused connectors at the rear of the car, and there is no way to turn on the front fog lamps.

The fog light wiring can be corrected by simply reconnecting a wire from fuse 1 to fuse 6 -- see Figure 21. Be sure to leave the existing wire on fuse 6 connected to operate the dash indicator. With this system, the top position of the headlight switch will operate the fog lights and the low beams; high beams are inoperable to avoid conflict with some state laws.

If you have genuine fog lights (yellow lenses), it usually makes sense to wire them so that the fog lights can be operated without any headlights. This would optimize visibility in foggy conditions, where the headlights simply cause glare. The disconnection at the inhibit relay shown in Figure 21 causes the fog lights only to operate on the top position of the headlight switch. Although the inhibit relay is shown disconnected, it would be just as well to remove it entirely in this scheme, as it serves no function.

HEADLIGHT SWITCH KNOB REMOVAL: To remove the headlight switch knob, you must depress a button in the shaft that is behind the surface of the dashboard and points down. To reinstall, you merely need to push the knob on, because it is shaped to slide over the shaft button and snap in place.

HIGH/LOW BEAM RELAY: Also known as the main/dip relay. In some manuals, the schematics of the high/low beam relay (Jaguar part no. C38616) show the components between connections 56, 56a, and 56b to be a normal set of relay contacts. This is not actually the case. This device is an electrically-operated rocker switch; when the coil is energized, the contact is switched from one side to the other, and remains there when the coil is de-energized. Jaguar wants some serious $$$ for that relay.

Roger Homer reports that other cars use a similar relay. "The Headlight Relay is the same as the one on an early model Torana (General Motors Aust). They used the same high/low switching system, the relay I found is made by SWF (Germany?) part no stamped on relay is R200.867."

Ray Reynolds provides another report: "I found a compatible unit that dropped right in. I had to drill an extra mounting hole in the fenderwell to bolt the new relay in, but all the connectors plugged right in, and it all fit under the stock relay housing (with a little bending around of the headlight wires). The relay itself looks like a Potter & Brumfield, and was part# PBS89R from Micro Alarm (in Vernon, CA). It has 2 microswitches on top that do the actual power switching." Reynolds notes that this relay does not provide the pull-to-flash feature the stock relay does, but it would be easy enough to add a normal relay with the coils wired in parallel to provide this function. "Since the plunger is visible, you might be able to bolt another microswitch to the bottom of the relay so that it is activated when the relay is tripped for the flash feature."

If your high/low relay has given up the ghost and you can't find a reasonably-priced replacement, an alternate scheme using three conventional relays and a diode is shown in Figure 22. Note that wiring (and related contacts) indicated by heavy (red) lines must be suitable for headlight current, 30 amps or so. All other circuits are less than 3 amp. For the diode, a Radio Shack cat. no. 276-1661 will do nicely. Of course, you will need to figure out where to mount these relays; perhaps in the space behind the left headlights.

As with any such circuit, a single multi-contact relay may be replaced by multiple single-contact relays by simply wiring the coils together. This may make sense here, allowing the use of SPDT 30-amp relays along with tiny "ice cube" DPDT relays instead of trying to locate DPDT or 3PDT 30-amp relays.

The only functional difference with this circuit from the original is that your headlights will always be on low beam when you first turn them on.

DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS: There is a circuit in the mid-80's-on UK cars only that operates the low beams at reduced power to provide a running light-type illumination, apparently as a result of some law. Richard Mansell quotes "my owners manual which states: In the UK the headlamps are automatically switched ON in a dimmed dipped beam mode when the side lights are switched ON and ignition switch is in position ë2'. This prevents the vehicle being driven with side and tail lamps only." John Goodman says it is "Controlled by a relay thingy by the headlamp fusebox (this on UK cars came in around '86 '87)."

FOG LIGHT SHORTS: Jim McGuinn reports that he had an intermittent short circuit in the fog lights that he found was the rear of the bulb socket assembly arcing to the housing. A bit of electrical tape solved the problem.

DRIVING LIGHTS: If you wish to replace your fog lights with driving lights, or have destroyed your original driving lights, J. C. Whitney catalog number 14xx9739Y is a good choice. These lights look good, have a similar appearance to the originals, have a rustproof black plastic housing -- and the box they come in has an illustration of an XJ-S on it!

There are many excellent driving light kits on the market, and almost any of the rectangular style can be fitted to the XJ-S and will look proper. It's a good idea to check on the availability of replacement lenses, since they are prone to damage. You might also check to see if the lenses are thick and substantial to resist all but the most powerful impacts. And you might check the availability of covers.

You might also wanna check the quality of the light and the pattern. As with most things, you get what you pay for; a cheap light will pretty much throw light everywhere, causing considerable glare in rain and the like, while the better lights should have better focus and less "light leakage" off in oblique directions.

If cheap is what you're looking for, Wal-Mart and AutoZone offer "Blazer" driving/fog light kits. These sets are amazingly cheap -- barely more than the value of the H3 bulbs included -- and are available in either black plastic or chrome plated steel versions and with either yellow fog lenses or clear driving lenses. The housings are a little smaller than most -- "less clunky looking," according to my wife. I personally didn't care for the lack of a distinct ground wire connection, so I added one; a little screw used to retain the bulb itself proved a suitable place to attach a ground. If you break a lens -- or would like to convert your driving lights to fog lights or vice versa -- the replacement lenses are for sale right next to the light kits on the rack! If the chrome doesn't hold up, just buy a new set every coupla years.

Most driving lights sold in the US use an H3 bulb; standard wattage H3 bulbs as well as high-power bulbs are readily available.

One more note: while fog/driving lights were standard equipment on most XJ-S's, Bill Kubida reports that somewhere around '93 they became an option -- and therefore Jaguar started offering an official fog light kit. "The addition of the front fog lights requires the addition of a suitable switch to the array of existing switches. For reasons known but to God and Jaguar, the addition of the single additional switch requires the following: 

a) removal of the switch block to the left of the trip computer which has a button for the rear screen heater and another for the rear fog lights. This switch block is then replaced by a new one having a front fog light switch and a rear fog light switch;

b) removal of the switch block to the lower left of the steering column which has a button for the hazard warning lights and a blank-out plate. This is then replaced by a second switch block having a hazard warning light switch and another for the rear screen heater. 

"I am certain that if we put a Cray IV to work on it for a couple of years a more complex system could be figured out, but personally, I doubt it."

HEADLIGHT BUZZER: The XJ-S doesn't come with one! What a cheap car. To add one is easy. You need a 12 volt buzzer such as catalog no. 273-055 from Radio Shack, and a rectifier (or diode) such as catalog no. 276-1661. For the buzzer you can also use any buzzer you've ripped out of a car, such as those pesky seat belt buzzers.

Connect one of the headlight wires to one end of the rectifier. Connect the other end of the rectifier to one lead of the buzzer. Connect the other lead of the buzzer to one of the ignition wires. Both of these wires are near each other under the dashboard -- from the headlight switch and the ignition switch.

A rectifier allows current to flow in only one direction. If you have wired it correctly, when both the ignition and the headlights are on, there is no current flow because both wires are at 12 volts. When the ignition alone is on, there is no flow because the rectifier stops it from flowing that way. When the headlights are on but the ignition is off, current flows and the buzzer buzzes. If the buzzer buzzes when the ignition is on and the headlights are off, reverse the rectifier.

Jan Wikström did it a different way: "Pulling the key out also operates the switch that controls seat belt warning etc. As my car doesn't have those, I've used it to operate a "headlights on" warning buzzer."

Connie Vloutely says, "I have been wanting to do this for a long time but could not find chime element suitable for automotive use. One that works on 12 Volt DC. I hate buzzers. I found one in the local radio shack store P/N RS-273-071."

GAUGES READING LOW: Brian W. Rice writes: "All gauges in my 85 XJ-S read low by 25% when I acquired the car several years ago. I did some tests by lifting No. 4 fuse and applying a variable voltage to the dead end from a power supply, making sure not to exceed 15 volts. With precisely 12 volts applied the voltmeter showed about 9V. The fuel gauge also only indicated 3/4 with a full tank of petrol.

"Removed the instrumentation panel, quite an easy job, and investigated on the bench. All gauges showed corrosion at the rear terminal nuts and washers where they contact the flexible printed wiring assembly. I was able to repair by soldering tinned copper wire to the flexible circuit board tracks being careful not to melt the plastic flexible board and fashioning the wire into circular washers to go under the terminal nuts thus establishing good contacts again. Gauges now work as designed."

If you're not sure to trust your voltmeter, Michael Minglin suggests "Pick up a cheap cigar lighter adapter, clip the leads and connect to a voltmeter. This will allow you to monitor the voltage, with reasonable accuracy, under different driving conditions."

RADIO INTERCHANGEABILITY: Greg Meboe says, "During the 70's and 80's, the sedans and XJ-S's used the same radio, exactly. Until 1988 of course, when the radio in the sedan had a curved faceplate to match the new dashboard."

RADIO WIRING DIAGRAM: Greg Meboe adds, "On the top of my '84 cassette player which I removed to install the DIN radio, there was printed a nice wiring diagram for the color codes of the Jag radio circuit. I haven't been able to find this in the general manuals, and it's valuable information for anyone who is installing an aftermarket radio in their Jag."

RADIO REMOVAL: Steve Broady, regarding the late-80's radio: "Assuming your radio is a Blaupunkt made in Korea, you will need to cut a coat hanger into 2 pieces like a pair of U's to push into the front plate holes to remove radio from bracket. When you pull the radio out of the dash watch for ground strap on left side as bolt protrudes into bracket. Once out you will find 2 live input wires with fuses; one is for clock and code function, the other for radio, tape, antenna."

RADIO SECURITY -- REMOVABLE FACEPLATES: According to Greg Meboe: "The 86 Jags came with the removable-face tape deck, a design which has made radio repair/replacement outfits a lot of money due to its low service life. The face comes off to ward against theft, but the connectors for the face don't seem to cut the mustard."

Vince Chrzanowski, who repairs and restores old car radios, says, "The faceplates can't be repaired by ordinary mortals. The commonest failures are not in the LEDs, but in the surface-mounted integrated circuits which are hidden under mounds of epoxy. Additionally, the slide controls are among the most failure-ridden we've ever seen. But the faceplates can be purchased in repaired form. Our source for rebuilt faceplates is Southern Autotronics in Virginia (1-800-446-2880, usual disclaimers apply). The last time I purchased one, the technician indicated that they were in short supply. That was about two years ago.

"The 9500 series radio was, in my opinion, not nearly as reliable a radio as the so-called lesser 8600 series. After struggling for a few years to keep the 9500 alive in my '85 XJ-S (faceplate, tape deck and pc board failures), I opted for the 8600 and have been perfectly happy ever since. Actually, the 8600 is much easier to use and much safer to operate on the road."

RADIO SECURITY -- CODES: Somewhere around 1986, Jaguars came with a radio that had another security feature: if the power was disconnected, the radio would never work again unless the correct security code is entered. Presumably, people who steal radios won't steal one they can't use.

Of course, you can choose any repair procedure in the manual, and chances are the first step is to disconnect the battery. If you already went through this and your radio is now nonfunctional (or you have stolen such a radio), you apparently will need to contact your friendly dealer to obtain the security code. You may also need to provide a serial number that begins with "B" that is on the case of the radio.

If you would like to avoid the grief, reportedly there is a product on the market that can be plugged into the cigarette lighter. It uses a 9V battery, and will keep a small amount of power on the system while the battery is disconnected. It will supposedly keep the radio operational, stations programmed, etc.

CONDENSATION DEFLECTOR SHIELD: Apparently, either plugged condensate drains in the A/C system or leaking heater cores have a tendency to dump water on the stereo -- and some of those stereos ain't cheap! So, Technical Service Bulletin #8685 says essentially that a "condensation deflector shield" must be installed on all XJ-S vehicles prior to VIN 163790 whenever the mechanic is working in the area. The part number for the deflector is CBC 9193, and it appears to be very easy to install, requiring only 0.10 hours.

BRAKE FLUID LEVEL SWITCH: The switch in the cover for the brake fluid reservoir is supposed to light an indicator on the dashboard when the level is low. The rubber cover over the connectors has a bump in the center. Pressing the bump forces the float downwards and closes the contacts, providing a circuit and bulb test.

Unfortunately, the switch is garbage and the indicator may never come on, or may stay on all the time. The float for the switch is a piece of cork, which rots, soaks up fluid and sinks, etc. The protective metal cover over the cork float gets full of junk and jams the float. The contacts within the switch, despite evidently being silver plated, get corroded and fail to make a connection.

The cork is easily replaced with one from a wine bottle, and the metal cover's problems are solved by removing it and throwing it away. The contacts themselves can be serviced by using a tiny screwdriver to pry the switch assembly out of the top of the reservoir cover; don't lose the little metal sleeves that keep the contact screws from tightening down onto the plastic.

But this switch needs to be ultra-reliable, since it is rarely tested and failure to work when needed can be disastrous. While it's easy enough to get it working with the procedures above, there's no apparent way to get it to keep working. The switch is crap, pure and simple.

The only truly safe solution is to replace it, lock, stock, and barrel, with something reliable. Finding something reliable is no problem; most Japanese cars use a type of switch that consists of a magnetic reed switch within a vertical plastic shaft surrounded by a doughnut-shaped float with a magnet in it. This type switch is so reliable that you can pick one up in a junkyard that has been exposed to rain, sun, and hamhanded mechanics for years and you can bet that it will still work. Unfortunately, fitting such a switch to the XJ-S poses several problems.

There are two tactics that can be used to replace the fluid level switch. The first would be to replace the entire remote reservoir with one from some other type car with a reliable switch in it. Finding cars that use remote reservoirs is difficult, but if you find one that'll fit under the hood on the XJ-S make sure that the level of fluid in the reservoir that results in the warning light coming on is above the fittings on top of the master cylinder.

The other tactic would be to keep the Jaguar reservoir and cap and fit a decent switch to it. While this job is a fairly straightforward process of finding a suitable switch and improvising a way to mount it in the Jaguar reservoir, there are several issues to consider.

First, on the Japanese brake fluid reservoirs, the cap or switch itself installs with a half-turn or less. The Jaguar reservoir cap turns several complete turns when opening/closing. If a switch replacement scheme does not duplicate the original feature that the switch cover on the top can turn on the cap -- or, conversely, can remain stationary while the cap is rotated on or off -- the wires will get twisted big time. There are ways to deal with this, of course, the most obvious being providing a connector right next to the cap so you can unplug the wire before unscrewing the cap. Or you can just make the wires long enough that they can get all twisted up without hurting them.

Another concern is the venting of the reservoir. It is customary to provide a convoluted vent scheme, so that fluid won't likely be able to find its way all the way out; it will only make it part way, and then drain back into the reservoir. Also, you don't want to vent the reservoir too well, because air flowing freely in and out will introduce too much moisture into the brake fluid. The stock XJ-S cap assembly vents the reservoir through the switch assembly. There is an off-center vent hole in the cap itself, but it leads into the switch assembly, and apparently the only vent from there to outside is via the hole in the switch cover around the float shaft and then through the wire openings in the rubber boot on top. Of course, the switch cover probably leaks everywhere, so venting is not a problem with the stock assembly. It is worthy of note, however, that any fluid that makes it up into the switch housing through the vent hole will have to drain out the lower float shaft opening, the one in the cover itself. It appears they could have omitted the small off-center hole altogether. Whatever the contorted logic of the original vent scheme was, proper venting must be considered when devising a replacement switch scheme.

Yet another thing to watch for is what level will cause the sensor to turn on the warning light. The sensor found in Nissans is really neat, not being part of the cap but rather a separate snap-in assembly on top of the reservoir. It looks really tempting, except that it is remarkably short; if used on the XJ-S reservoir, the owner might have to keep the fluid level quite near full to avoid the switch giving a low-fluid signal. At the other extreme, if a switch is too long it will jam into the bottom screen within the XJ-S reservoir when the cap is screwed on.

A typical junkyard won't sell you a reservoir cap or switch by itself, you must pay for the entire master cylinder. This is especially interesting considering the fact that, if you buy a master cylinder from an auto parts store, you do not get the cap or switch. Nevertheless, their position is understandable; when you remove the cap, the rain is gonna get into the master cylinder and ruin it. Still, the cost of the whole master cylinder is usually reasonable, probably less than just the switch from a car dealer.

Note that on the typical Japanese switch, it is possible to pry off a little clip at the end of the switch assembly and slide the magnetic float off. This is important for being able to install the switch through a hole.

If you wish, you can try to configure your assembly to use the original switch cover, wiring connectors, and rubber boot to maintain a stock appearance. The bump on the center of the rubber boot will be non-functional, since the Japanese magnetic float switches do not provide for such a test -- nor do they need to be tested.

Remember that brake fluid affects some materials, so if you use rubber seals or plastic parts in your assembly it would be a good idea to soak them in brake fluid for a while to make sure they don't deteriorate. If screws are used, stainless steel is recommended; you don't want particles from rusty screws falling into the fluid.

Whatever arrangement you work out, make sure that it doesn't stick up so far above the reservoir cap that the hood hits it. And make sure that the level of fluid that causes the light to come on is above the fittings on the master cylinder.

Despite all this knowledge, there still hasn't been found a nice, easy snap-in fix for this brake fluid level switch. Although it remains an involved task to install a reliable replacement switch, it is highly recommended that every XJ-S owner do so. The Jaguar repair manuals indicate that either this switch or the pressure differential sensor will turn on the warning light, but somewhere before 1983 the differential pressure sensor was deleted and replaced with a couple of simple fittings on the brake lines, so the fluid level switch provides the only warning you are likely to get prior to complete brake failure.

BRAKE WARNING LIGHT: Mike Morrin warns of another reason the brake warning light may seem to have failed in the "on" mode: "When I got my car, the warning light was on, but the handbrake adjusters (on the rear calipers) were seized. Fixing the adjusters put some extra tension on the cable,bleod hits it. And make sure that the level of fluid that causes the light to come on is above the fittings on the master cylinder.

Despite all this knowledge, there still hasn't been found a nile light fixture at your favorite auto parts joint, and install it in the top of the compartment just behind the latch. Wire it into the interior light switch just to the left, so when the switch is operated it will turn on both the right front interior light and the glovebox light.

CIGARETTE LIGHTER: Apparently, some XJ-S's were equipped with some sort of non-standard cigarette lighter. This causes two problems: first, when the element in the lighter quits working, it's hard to find a replacement; and second, it may prove difficult to plug non-cigarette-lighter accessories into the cigarette lighter hole. If you are having either of these troubles, the easiest solution is to drop by any auto parts store and buy a generic cigarette lighter and install it, and throw that hokey Jaguar one out.

Antenna

ANTENNA: Richard Mansell says "I have a feeling the XJ40 uses the same electric aerial as the later XJ-S's. When you have a boot spoiler it's a bit if a problem as the mast goes through a small hole in the spoiler!"

John Goodman adds: "On the boot spoiler equipped cars there is an additional relay wired into the boot light switch. The idea is that when the aerial is extended, radio and ignition on, lifting the lid very slightly causes the boot light to come on and the aerial to retract (after the stupid 4 second delay)."

ANTENNA MAST LUBRICATION: Michael Minglin says, "Porsche dealers sell a small foil packet with an oil soaked swab inside. This is to lubricate the antenna shaft." Hal Rogers adds, "Jaguar also sells a similar lubricating pack as well. A number of Jaguar specialists (like myself) carry it. It is very inexpensive." Considering the wealth of information listed below on repairing the antenna, maybe this lubrication is a good idea.

ANTENNA CLUTCH ADJUSTMENT: Steve Leamy sends instructions on adjusting the drive clutch: "This repair covers ant that just won't quite make it up or down and still makes a clicking noise before stopping.

"You want to get to the side of the unit that looks like a cup and has a screw in the middle of it. Remove the screw and the cover and you will have now exposed the clutch drive for the ant. On the shaft in center you will find a locking nut which you will now back off 1 or 2 turns, now grip the metal clutch and tighten 1/2 turn. Retighten locking nut and prop unit up so you can test it. Turn key on and radio and ant will raise in 15 to 20 seconds, once ant reaches full height you should hear 3 bumps and ant motor should shut off. Turn key off and ant should go down completely and 3 bumps and motor will cut off. If ant still does not go full up or down adjust clutch in quarter turns until a full stroke is attained.

"On 88 and above XJ's I have found three different manufacturers of ant in the cars I have serviced the but all of them use some type of clutch system and can be fixed by resetting of the tension on it."

ANTENNA DRIVE WIRE REPLACEMENT: Steve Leamy continues: "Some models use a plastic drive wire instead of metal; you can repair these with weed eater line but you have to remove the motor base and ant to service it."

Dan Jensen tried using 0.080" grass cutter line, and it didn't work. "The main problem was it was stiff enough when coiled into the tight end of the coil guide that it popped out between the guides and jammed. I think having a material that (a) is reasonably flexible, (b) is tough enough to stand repeated uncoiling and coiling, and (c) has an o.d. near 0.125 are all important. I see no reason why grass cutter string would not work, but the o.d. needs to be close to 0.125 in. Note that the original extend/retract cable has a small hole in the center, i.e., it is very thick-walled tubing vs. flexible rod."

"I also tried PTFE (Teflon), but it quickly failed due to the repeated flexing. Ultimately, I used 0.125 inch flexible polyethylene rod purchased from a local valve supply company. This has worked without problems."

ANTENNA MAST REPLACEMENT: A repair kit is available for some Jaguar antennas, including the mast and the plastic gear rack. According to Hal Rogers of H. D. Rogers & Sons: "It depends on which Jaguar... i.e., which antenna assembly that you have. A replaceable mast is available for the Hirschman brand antennas...the mast is the same for some German cars. The Jaguar equivalent part number is DBC2200. Mostly late 80s-up cars...

"Next, if you have an older Jaguar, they had a Japanese manufactured antenna. It does not have a replaceable mast, never did. The unit that we sell which is a replacement unit, not exactly the original, and you may need a fitting kit as well...It replaces DAC3542 or DAC4090 Jaguar part number.

"There is not a real easy aftermarket replacement for the late Hirschman...though you can change the mast."

Also, see Jaguar All-Parts.

John Goodman suggests: "Replace the mast the easy way!!! (may only work with the older models with serrated nylon drive cable).

"1. Undo mast securing nut on top of wing/fender(leave unit intact in car).

"2. Get helper to switch radio on, while you pull up on the mast, the motor will extend the mast right out of the car complete with nylon cable.

"3. Put new mast into hole, get helper to turn radio off, motor will pull new mast into hole, tighten securing nut.

"Again, can't confirm this will work on these Hirschman types but it does on the older ones provided the mast is not seized solid."

For newer models, Richard Mansell sends the following procedure: "The following is for an '89 XJ-S:

"With the aerial on the workbench, use a screwdriver to pop all of the plastic catches. You should now be staring at the guts of the aerial.

"Retrieve the three top damping rubbers.

"You may be able to slip the drive belt off of the worm wheel and ignore the next 4 steps but I was making it up (I also like taking things apart anyway).

"Slip the c-clip off of the gear drive shaft.

"Pull off the metal mounting bracket that goes between the motor and the gear wheels.

"Undo the two screws that hold in the motor and lift it out of the way.

"You should be able to lever out the two gear wheels in one piece. If you do split them you will hear an expensive ping. This is just a spring that acts as a clutch between the two gear wheels. It is actually a good design as it takes the stress away from the gears if the mast sticks a bit. Don't worry, it is easy to put back together.

"Unscrew the retaining collar from the top of mast/wing (it helps if the mast is slightly extended to allow room for the collar to unscrew). The mast should now pull free from the aerial body.

"At this point you will either be putting in a newly purchased mast or be trying to free the old one. I found pouring 3-in-1 oil inside and down the outside of the mast along with raising and lowering the mast continuously eventually freed it up.

"To get the white mast lead back into the case you will need to remove the mast housing attached to the aerial body. Undo the small screw that holds this housing in place then simply unscrew it.

"You can now feed the white cord through this housing and back through the small hole this housing slots into on the aerial body.

"I think if you are replacing the mast then you probably can just pop it out and slip a new one in. I have only done one but because the body of the cog housing is narrower than the base of the mast housing where they meet, I found it impossible to push the old cord back in without further dismantling. I assume the cord becomes coiled due to living inside the spool for long periods of time, it therefore hits the lip and will not go any further. If the aerial is already out it takes seconds to unscrew the mast base to enable the cord to be poked through.

"The mast is certainly available in the UK for around 20 pounds but hopefully unless it is bent (or ëwashed') or the cord snapped it should be salvageable. The rest of the aerial seems well designed.

"The rest of the reassembly is very straight forward so I won't bore you with the details."

ANTENNA -- OTHER REPAIRS: Samuel J. Louw shares his experience on his '89 XJ-S with the Hirschmann antenna: "I tested it with the cover off and saw that the motor was driving the gear, but that the second gear driving the antenna was not turning. I took the two gears apart and found the plastic pin transferring the driving force from the drive gear via the internal spring to the antenna gear broken off. The first glue attempt was unsuccessful, but on second attempt I enlarged the hole, which the plastic pin already has, a bit and fitted a small selftapping screw, together with some steel epoxy. Antenna is working fine now. Glue and screw just needs to be flush with the gears."

ANTENNA REPLACEMENT: The original Jaguar antenna is incredibly expensive, even when the mail order shops put it on sale. If you're not real concerned about maintaining the appearance of the inside of the trunk, you can replace the antenna and its delay relay with any of several antennas from J. C. Whitney, such as catalog number 03-xx9579A for around $40. This antenna has the motor right on the bottom of the antenna itself rather than remotely connected, so it's in plain view within the trunk -- but it's a really small motor, not a huge mass like the original. It doesn't have that 10-second delay before going down, but nobody's ever figured out what that's for anyway.

If you are installing the antenna described above, connect the green wire from the antenna to the white/pink wire in the car. Connect the red wire from the antenna to the brown wire in the car (brown wires are the generic Jaguar 12V power wires). Make sure the housing of the antenna motor is grounded to the car, either by the mounting scheme or by connecting the black wire to it. Also, this antenna has a drain tube to dispose of rain water that runs down the antenna into the housing; route the drain tube somewhere outside the car.

The antenna installation instructions also direct you to adjust the antenna trimmer on the radio. However, if your radio has an electronic tuner (digital display instead of mechanical needle), it probably has no such adjustment.

These are not the only antennas available that can be made to fit this car, and in fact a suitable replacement can probably be found at most auto sound system shops. When selecting an antenna, always insist on one that is "fully automatic," meaning it raises or lowers automatically when the radio is switched on or off; the "semi-automatic" antennas are electric motor driven, but you must control them manually from a rocker switch installed somewhere.

Also note that the ideal extended length for an FM antenna is about 31." Any shorter or longer will give less-than-optimum FM reception.

(A part of the document is missing here -- VB) xperience on his '89 XJ-S with the Hirschmann antenna: "I tested it with the cover off and saw that the motor was driving the gear, but that the second gear driving the antenna was not turning.e delay retraction.

"As compared the Jag unit which has the telescoping tubing in the fender well and the motor in the trunk, the RS unit is all one unit. Thus it all must fit into the same fender area as the Jag's telescope unit.

"Start by taking out the Jag unit. When you pull out the Jag motor assembly it has three electrical connections. The ground strap is obvious. A blue/white wire runs to the motor relay and a blue/red wire runs to the motor relay. We will use the relay connection for the blue/red wire to control the RS antenna.

"The electrical connections are relatively easy. The RS unit has three electrical wires, one black, one orange, one red (and the antenna). The black wire is ground. The orange wire controls the antenna motor thus making the antenna go up or down. That is, when the orange wire has voltage on it, the antenna raises. When voltage drops off of the orange wire, the antenna retracts. Connect this orange wire to the original Jag antenna motor relay, where the Jag wire blue/red was. Do you remember where the blue/red wire was on the relay - it is in the middle of all the connectors (not the top outside one, that was the blue/white wire). However, my Jag "electrical schematic" shows these wires reversed. Better check yours. The Jag relay spade connector we want will have voltage (battery) on it when the radio is on. Check this with a volt meter to chassis ground. Then turn the radio off, the voltage will drop off in about 15 seconds (this is how the delay works). Connect the RS orange wire to that relay spade connector. The RS red wire is for power to the antenna motor, it comes with a 5 amp inline fuse. Connect this red wire to the (brown) wire. This completes the electrical wiring of the RS unit. You will note with pleasure that the antenna still has the delayed retracting feature of the Jag."

It appears that the Radio Shack and J. C. Whitney power antennas, and probably most of the other ones on the market, work pretty much the same way; there is a ground wire, a power wire, and a signal wire. Simply select one that will fit in the space. The major difference between the two installations described is that Graham chose to keep the original Jaguar antenna relay in the circuit to maintain the delay, and this method would probably work just as well with any other aftermarket power antenna.

Note that, for a little more money (but still a lot less than the replacement Jaguar antenna), J. C. Whitney also offers an automatic antenna with a remote motor. This could presumably be installed essentially the same way the Jaguar original antenna was.

ROLLER MICROSWITCHES: The microswitches on the throttle linkage and on the shifter look tricky with their little rollers and all. However, they are in fact a standard item, and are readily available at your local electronics store -- complete with identical rollers.

TRIP COMPUTER FUEL MILEAGE: The CATALOGUE reports that erratic fuel mileage readings can be caused by a poor connection at the fuel injector resistor pack. The fuel gauge readings are unaffected.

SPEEDOMETER/CRUISE CONTROL/TRIP COMPUTER SENDING UNIT: Peter Morris provides some suggested tests for this sending unit: "check the transducer by getting under the car and pulling the unit, spinning the drive while someone verifies speedometer movement. This is not a conclusive test, however. If the there is no movement, another check, also performed under the car, is to disconnect the transducer, and connect a pair of clip-leads to the chassis-side connections. Clip one clip-lead to a heavy screwdriver and the other to a file. Drag the screwdriver across the file while someone watches the speedo. If there is speedometer indicator movement, then you can reasonably assume the wiring and connections to the speedo (and trip computer) are good. The next logical step would be to replace the transducer."

SPEEDOMETER SENDING UNIT 90 Degree ADAPTER: John Shuck sends this report: "I've actually repaired these little expensive jobbies. Take apart the crimps and inside is a small square piece of metal that actually does the drive and is probably sheared. Now go to a speedo shop and have them square you a piece of speedo cable about 2 inches long. They put the round cable in a die.. hit it with a big hammer..bingo..square. Cut this to length with a die grinder and reassemble."

JDS: Later Jaguars are fitted with connections for an electronic diagnostic system. A knowledgeable mechanic, who shall remain nameless here, sends the following words:

"JDS stands for Jaguar Diagnostic System. Basically it is a processor that ties into the serial ports in the car wiring. However good this may sound, it is no more than a glorified wiring diagram. It sends you down the circuit you are checking and you end up more often with a car that is torn apart and not fixed. All Jaguar dealers in the US were forcibly recommended to purchase one of these $23,000 units back in the late 80's."

"The new P.D.U. diagnostic unit which is supposed to be the new JDS is a self-contained unit that can be taken on road tests. Gen Rad is the manufacturer of both of these machines. The P.D.U., already dubbed as "Pretty Damn Useless", is a very complex unit. It uses CD-ROMs instead of 3.5 floppies. The screen is about 4" square, green display. It is a very difficult unit to use. The techs that have been to school for the P.D.U. still have very little understanding of it."

SEAT HEATER: Later XJ-S's come with a seat heater, and apparently it lacks reliability. Stefan Schulz sends a description of the repair of this unit:

"The seat is connected to the car electrics through three different connectors, one for the seat belt logic (cable runs under centre console, pull carefully to expose connector), one for the lumbar pump, and one for the seat heater. The latter two are under the seat and can be accessed most easily by moving the seat as far to the rear as possible.

"Having disconnected the seat heater connector, check with a voltmeter whether it delivers power when the seat heater is switched on. If it does, the problem is somewhere in the seat. Remove seat.

"Turn seat upside down in a clean area. Locate the connector that connects the bottom seat heater in series with the one in the backrest. Pull it apart. Use an ohmmeter to figure out whether the bottom or the backrest heater is faulty.

"If the bottom heater is faulty, remove the black rubber cover from the bottom of the seat. See where the heater power supply wiring enters the bottom cushion ? Good. Carefully pull it apart at that point, exposing the top of a cheap and nasty heater element.

"Cut the top covering of the heater element to one side of the thermostat and flip it over to the other side to expose the thermostat element. Don't cut it away, you'll need to put it back later.

"There are three joints within the seat heater element. Orange/slate wire to thermostat, thermostat to heater element, heater element to black wire. Examine all three joints. Note that they get hot (hey, they're part of a heater) and are moved and flexed constantly. Solder joints should never be used in areas that get hot or which are under mechanical stress like the one these wires are experiencing. So what did the cheapskate Jaguar designers use? Exactly. The thermostat is cheap too, and its connection lugs will be badly oxidized.

"Take out the thermostat and subject it to the usual boiling water/ice water routine to test it. Check with an ohmmeter that it opens when in hot water and closes when in cold. Being more precise with a cheap part like that is a waste of time. If you find that the thermostat is faulty, you'll see that it is not a Jaguar part. Jaguar wants you to replace the entire heater and cushion assembly. But this ëstat doesn't do anything any other 45degreesC/12V/10Amp bimetallic ëstat wont do, so get a replacement from an electronics shop if necessary.

"Solder the thermostat back in, using weapons-grade solder wire with a high silver content and consequently high melting point. You did remember to dry and clean the connection lugs first, of course. Re-solder the third connection (heater to black wire) as a matter of course.

"Squeeze the thermostat back into the cushion, make sure that none of the heater wires touch it. Put back the top covering using solvent-free glue and a staple at the end. If you use glue containing solvent, you will find that that works the same way as the naturally occurring rot of the seat foam, only a lot faster - seconds instead of years. Use an ohmmeter to check the resistance offered across the seat heater connector now - it should be about 1.8 ohms.

"Refit all the other components by reversing the removal sequence. Put the seat back in the car and connect it (remember the seat belt logic connector!)"

BOOT LOCK: According to Mike Cogswell, electric boot locks were introduced in 1989 models. According to his dealer, they cannot be retrofitted to earlier models.

DOOR LOCKS: There have been a couple reports of people getting out of their Jags while leaving the engine running, and when they closed the door they could hear the click as the car locked them out. The cause is unknown, but be forewarned. Also, see "Breaking In" on page *.

KEY FOB LOCK: According to Mike Cogswell, the key fob security systems were introduced in 1989 as a dealer-installed option. Apparently these cannot be fitted to earlier models.

ALARM SYSTEM RESET: Victor Naumann provides a resetting procedure: "Each year is different; try disconnecting the battery, wait 1 minute. Reconnect the battery. If the lights flash and sounder beeps every few seconds you are halfway home. Have all your remotes, security looks for five signals. You must press each remote at least once and all of them for a total of five presses. The security should work then. If the sounder does not sound , you may need to disconnect the security backup battery next to the security ECU and the do the process."

WHERE IS LUCAS TODAY? REMANKING@aol.com "Lucas merged with the Varity corp in Sept. '96. Varity is what was left of Massey-Ferguson after it was chewed up along with Kelsey-Hays. The president of Varity is now in control of the new LucasVarity and it seems that he has no love for Lucas or the name. US automotive operations will cease in the next few months for Lucas and will only be represented by a company called AutoSpecialty which was just recently acquired and based in LA CA. which will market no Lucas product but will be owned by LucasVarity. AutoSpecialty supplies undercar and braking products. LucasVarity will continue for a while in Europe but a team is taking surveys at present for a new name for the merged company, and it won't be Lucas."

On to the Cruise Control