Is this normal on xjs’…open driver’s door the lights under dash come on…just open passenger door none come on
On my '90 XJ-S convertible, opening either door turns on the footwell lights and the puddle lights at the rear bottom of the doors. Same behaviour for both doors.
You guys have footwell lights? I don’t recall those on my '83!
Well, they’re on the bottom of the dash - the part below the instruments and switches which slopes down and forward. One light at each end by the door. The lights light up the seat bottoms and the carpet in front of the seats.
Oh, yeah, I had those. It’s been a long time, sorry.
As to the original question, I recall some oddities about how they worked, like sometimes only one would light, sometimes only the lower things would light, and sometimes the lights on the C pillars would light, and I couldn’t figure out the logic.
More than likely either your door switch on the passenger side is either broken, disconnected, or has just been removed by a previous owner
Kirby,
The stock prefacelift XJ-S cars didn’t have footwell lights, but I added them to my wife’s 1990 XJ-S convertible a year or two ago after I saw them in some more modern cars. Attached are pictures of how the footwell lights look during the daytime and at night. They add a welcome look to the interior when getting in and assist in getting out as well. I also swapped out the interior dash light bulbs with LED bulbs at the same time and I am still evaluating the results. I like the incandescent footwell lights, but the white LED interior lights are a bit too harsh for my taste. I may reinstall the original incandescent bulbs.
I harvested the footwell bulb holders from my Series III XJ6 parts cars and installed them using bullet connectors so that I can return the car to the original configuration should I want to. My wife likes the footwell lights, so it is unlikely that I will remove them. We are still evaluating the LED interior lights.
Paul
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I couldn’t figure out the logic
To quote the well-known Jaguar expert and author, “if you can’t figure out the logic, that means it’s working correctly”
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It was the switch… pulled it out and jumped it and voila!..why it doesn’t work… doesn’t matter…just going to replace it. There is a xj6 in junkyard… might have same one.
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The only place I wanted LEDS is the turn signal arrows on instrument panel
I want them in my instrument cluster to relieve the heat. My trip computer would get HOT until I switched those to LEDs as well.
Scrimbo,
Yes, the same door light switches were used in the Series III XJ6 and XJ12. I have a box of known good spare ones from my three XJ6 parts cats. If you are interested in buying one from me just send me a Personal Message.
One usual switch failure mode that I have seen is hardening of the grease inside the switch to where the grease and dirt prevent the contacts from meeting. I restored several lazy switches to proper functioning by disassembling them, cleaning up all the old grease, applying some new dielectric grease and reassembling them. It takes about 5 minutes to do and this method has worked for me about 9 out of 10 times over the past 20 years.
Paul
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Years ago, i discovered that the switch can wear and not make the connection upon opening the door… but that tuching the punger and exerting side force makes the connection and th lights come on. I opened one and tried to figure out a way to tighten the fit of the plunger. No luck…
Now, I lost the wire in teh side pane. No longer supple enought toremove the paneland fix the wires…
teh sweitches complete the groud leg of the circuit…
Carlr
Hot!..only at night…none are on during the day are they
Get a 12 year old to do it
I have memories of being that age, working with my father on his Daimler 250 and later a SI XJ6. He would encourage me to crawl under the car to work on small difficult to get to items. I thought he was teaching me valuable skills. In fact it was - “I can’t reach that %$ thing with my fat hands, where’s the boy?”
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