My 1958 Mk I had the headlamps wired wrong. So I am concerned about that other parts may be wired incorrectly.
The rear boot lid has a nice clear plastic part that says “Jaguar”.
It has two small lamps exposed to the License plate and a third small small lamp exposed to the inner boot lid that illuminates the interior. All three lamps are turned on when the lamp switch is turned on to its first position which also turns on the rear tail lights and the front small lamps.
There is a third larger bulb that illuminates the Jaguar script. It goes on when the ignition switch is turned on. Is this wiring correct? I would have thought that this larger bulb would also be controlled by the lamp switch. It does, however, have a separate wire in addition to the small lamp bulbs wire, and both go down to a
junction.
The wiring diagram that I have for the Mk I only shows one license lamp wired to the tail lamps. It does not show three small plus one large lamp.
The three small lamps are the Number Plate Lamps. Two of them illuminate
the number plate and the other one gives anyone locked in the boot the
ability to read. The large lamp in the middle is the Reverse Lamp, and
should only be illuminated when the transmission is in reverse and the
ignition is on. It sounds as if your Reverse Lamp Switch on the
transmission is either faulty or bypassed.
Mike Eck
New Jersey, USA www.jaguarclock.com
'51 XK120 OTS, '62 3.8 MK2 MOD, '72 SIII E-Type 2+2
My 1958 Mk I had the headlamps wired wrong. So I am concerned about that
other parts may be wired incorrectly.
The rear boot lid has a nice clear plastic part that says “Jaguar”.
It has two small lamps exposed to the License plate and a third small small
lamp exposed to the inner boot lid that illuminates the interior. All three
lamps are turned on when the lamp switch is turned on to its first position
which also turns on the rear tail lights and the front small lamps.
There is a third larger bulb that illuminates the Jaguar script. It goes on
when the ignition switch is turned on. Is this wiring correct? I would have
thought that this larger bulb would also be controlled by the lamp switch.
It does, however, have a separate wire in addition to the small lamp bulbs
wire, and both go down to a
junction.
The wiring diagram that I have for the Mk I only shows one license lamp
wired to the tail lamps. It does not show three small plus one large lamp.
I had to look hard at the wiring diagram to find the reverse switch.
But it there in the busy middle part.
Now all I have to do is to see if my car has the reverse switch and
find if there is a wire to it and where that wire goes.