Ted, humor me and pull all the bulb out of the rear tail lights. Lets see what you get at that point. From what you are describing, you have either a bad ground on the tail lights or there are wrong bulbs in the tail lights. That would explain atleast part of what you are seeing. The headlights do not go through the ECU. They are directly powering some relays that then power the headlights. So, no computer there. The running lights are directly powered, so, no ECU there. The stop lights are directly powered. So, no ECU there. Only the turn signals have a computer associated with them (the GEM module).

So, I go back to thinking that the source of these problems stems from either a bad plug on the tail lights or there are wrong bulbs in the tail lights.

 

I've made some "progress" or maybe you could call it a setback. I disconnected wiring plug from driver's side tail light and could tell the plug has a burn mark on it and the pin on the tail light was all burned up too. I removed passenger side tail light and disconnected plug and it too had the same burn hole and the same burned pin on the tail light. (SEE PICS)

I pulled the bulbs out of each assembly and they were all good. I think they are the correct bulbs. So, I did some tests. I put back in just the turn signal bulbs. I tried the hazard lights button. Front yellow lights work but nothing in the back. Tried turn signals and nothing at all, not even a tick tock noise. Now for the all important 3rd brake light up on top of the window. If I leave both of the tail lights unplugged, it works just as it should. Headlight switch turned on and pulled out and it still isn't lit but it does light up when you press on the brake pedal. As soon as I plug the tail lights back in and turn the headlight switch to ON and pulled out for fog lights, the 3rd brake light comes on bright and stays on.

A couple other odd things I've noticed today.....when the door chime sound is going on and the hazard light sound is on they seems to cut out and fight each other like a short is happening. When I locked the doors tonight, for the first time ever when I locked the doors with the key the horn sounded. I tried to do it again but it would not honk again. And sometimes the door open lights on chime sound is on all the time even after all the lights are turned off. Other times it chimes with all lights off until door is closed even if key is out of ignition. Bad headlight switch? Both of the burn marks on the tail light plugs are from the black wire. See pics and hopefully someone can guide me from here? Thank you in advance!

 

Ted, based on what I can tell based on your pics, the pin that is burned is the ground pin. So, yes, with that like it is, you are going to have major issues with the lights and them doing really funny things. In short, what you are having is power applied to where it should, then then it is getting to the ground line inside the tail light assembly and then finding a different way back to ground. Keep in mind that some of the lights are grounded when they are off to help shunt any stray voltage induced away from key components. In this case, it is resulting in a ground path and causing the lights to act funny. In the case of your stop lights, because they are a high wattage bulb (relatively speaking here), they have a very low resistance to them. Now, when you compare it to the running lights, what is happening is the stop lights are dropping very little voltage (due to the low resistance) and the running lights are dropping most of the voltage (due to their high resistance) and this is making it appear that your running lights are on and your stop lights never work.

As for the fix, you can start cussing my name now. In short, you are going to need to get 2 new plates for the rear of the tail lights (see if you can find some cheap cracked tail lights on e-bay as you only need the plastic piece that holds the bulbs) and then you are going to need to find a scrap plug to steal the pins out of and then hopefully you can fit the new pins in there solid enough to make good electrical connection.

Lets see what you have at that point and we can sort the remaining problems out from there.

 

What about the cause Thermo, any idea? It seems like you really know your x-type. Do you think if he buys a bunch of stuff it could do the same thing to the new parts. High or low probability of it reoccurring?

You can try this forum for used tail lights, I am sure a few have added aftermarket ones to their x and have the og's shelved.

I am headed to the yard soon to buy a replacement seatbelt latch. I know the car they have has no taillights, but the harness is there with the connectors. Let me know if you want me to grab the connectors. I can get them free or cheap, I am the only one who buys any parts off the car.

 

Hi ted. Got to agree with the battery and ground connections mate but something similar happened to me, the lights on the cluster were going crazy, airbag lights on, no indicators, horn and central locking going mad ect. My mate and I spent hours going through fuses and relays and wires and in the end it turned out to be one of the electrical plugs under the drivers side dash just above the accelorator pedal. There are four or five large electrical plugs in a row and I had knocked one loose with my foot. Plugged it back in and hey presto everything back to normal. Not saying this is your problem but worth a look mate. Still having my problems with false temp gauge readings though, bummer. Good luck mate!!!

 

innzane, as for the cause, it can be a few things. I have seen a few cars suffer from this very problem, so, I would be betting that it is more of a manufacturing issue than anything else. But, this can also be caused by simply wanting to install brighter bulbs which really means that you are pulling more power (aka, current) through the single ground wire. This can lead to overheating which then only makes the problem worse as the heat causes the resistance to go up and generate more heat. I can tell by the pictures that the one pin got really warm and was what was leading to the issues (maybe not all, but a majority).

As for the problem reoccurring, it can always occur again. The question becomes what caused it initially. You have to fix that first and then the rest will fix itself. If it is a manufacturing issue, something as simple as putting a new connector in there will fix the problem most likely. I need to think about what sort of power could be potentially running through the ground wire. I am thinking it will be in the neighborhood of about 8 amps worst case (35W(3A)) reverse lights, Stop lights (35W(3A)), running lights (20W(1.5A)), plus a little bit for error. This may be simply too much to pass through the single connector. It may be also be something as silly as when they manufactured the plug, the machine that held the connector just happen to slide into the #6 spot and mushroomed out the connector which resulted in a less than idea connection which then allowed for a high resistance connection.

There are lots of things running through my head right now about what could be causing this problem. This is one of those times where putting my hands on the problem would help me out greatly as I can play with things a little bit and also see the fine details that can point to ultimate cause.

 

Thanks thermo for the help and no I'm not cussing your name, I'm cussing at myself for buying another Jaguar. I was in shock at the amount of wiring all over when I pulled the trunk sides off. And they are all taped together every foot or so with crappy electrical tape. What a joke! This car has the single disc cd in dash and didn't have a cd player in the trunk so what's with all the wires? I really thought when I was buying this car that I was buying a Ford Taurus with a Jaguar "shell" put on it. I had a Taurus with the 24V Duratec and it was a 1998 and I drove it until 280,000 miles and never had one electrical problem with it.

Couple questions, I know the connector plugs are bad with the burn mark but are you sure I need the actual tail lights? I do know that all the bulbs work, just not correctly due to the ground wires being bad. If I fix the ground wires and clean up the pin on the back of my tail lights is there a chance they will be ok? On the burned up connectors that I'll need to replace, are we talking about a cut off and splice fix? And my most important question is, if I get the connectors and install them won't they just burn up as well? Don't I need to find the root cause of what is screwing up? Even with the tail lights unplugged I noticed a fender signal light flickering. I know the brake pedal makes interior lights come on and off. Still have many other weird issues with the car not associated with the tail lights but could definitely be associated with a grounding issue. I know not all my problems are ground issues. I'm just hating the fact the every time I open the door to that car, it keeps doing weird things probably causing more damage to itself.

Innzane if you could grab the wires I'd gladly pay you for them plus shipping them to me. That would be awesome! There are no Jaguars in the junkyards anywhere locally. We don't have a Jaguar dealership even in the state. Never did as far as I'm aware. I'm starting to understand why. I got rid of my old 1988 XJ6 because of all the electrical issues. It had a digital display that literally told you every single problem in the world yet all those things worked fine! I seem to remember most people unplugging that part of their Jag! Many years later and still awful wiring issues?

 

OMG, what a read ! I will pray for you. I was looking to add a 2002 X Type (with DSC ) and BRG color, ....I've seen quite a few at about $2000 or so...all seem to have some electrical/computer faults....not my strong point....good '02's seem to be around 4 to 5K.

I know how you feel about your old XJ40. Reports when they came out in the UK were very iffy.

Get a '85 to'87 XJ6 Series III, many good rust free examples around for 2 to 4K. Lots of reasonably priced parts around, easy to fix, classic Jag looks. So only 18 to 20 MPG but I come out even compared to the running costs (to keep in first rate condition...shocks and control arms next) of my X Type.

Rob,
2006 X Type Sport Wagon.
1987 XJ6. Daily driver.

 

ted, if it was me, I would be getting my hands on a new set of plugs and then pulling the wires out of the old plug and sliding them into the plastic of the new plug. If you can avoid doing a splice job, by all means do so. You will be better off in the long run. What you may end up doing is simply cutting the metal tab off of the end of the ground wire and then soldering the ground wire to the new metal tab. This will get your connection inside the plug and be better in the long run. Just make sure to get the correct wire in the correct hole.

To pull the wires out, get your hands on a set of jeweler's screw drivers. Remove the red tab from the plug. Look inside the plug and you should see what appears to be a little sliver of metal sticking out of the metal tab. You want to slide the screw driver in next to the metal tab and depress that sliver. With the sliver depressed, you should be able to pull the wire out of the connector. Transfer it over to the new plug. Do not forget to gently pry the sliver back up so it will lock back in once in the new connector.

As for finding the cause, I highly recommend doing this or else like you mentioned, you can experience this again. The question is what you are going to find if you find anything at all. It could have been something as simple as the metal tab not made up properly which due to the nature of the problem has destroyed all evidence. Or, it could be something as obvious as someone installing high power bulbs into the tail lights with the intention of making it more obvious that their car is there. A little bit of detective work will be needed to see what you can find.

As for the remaining problems, it can be that your tail light plugs are shorted internally and that is causing your problems. Fix the tail lights and then see what you have. It is possible that you have multiple problems.

When it comes to extra wiring, this is a cost saving thing for Jaguar believe it or not. For the back half of the car, they pretty much use a universal wiring harness that has the plugs for every possible option. That way, they only have to play with 1 wiring harness vice having to choose from say 4 different harnesses. Hence why you have all this extra wiring that can potentially be an issue.

 

Thermo, I noticed you've helped SFlip with a similar issue, actually the same issue I think. Is there a way for me to replace the tail light wiring harness as a whole wiring unit? I'm not experienced with jeweler's tools or doing what you said so for me it would be a cut and splice thing. But if I knew where the starting point of the wiring harness is, I could disconnect it and replace all of it. I've looked on eBay but can't seem to find that wiring harness and it sounds like its not available at the dealership surprise surprise. Do you know of a part number for the harness?

Innzane, if you could get the entire rear wiring harness I'd definitely pay you for your time and more. Just let me know.

 

God please tell me this is not what I need................

Jaguar X Type 02-08 Interior Cabin M.telephone Boot Lid Fuel Pump Wire Harness - Buy |oem|4x43-14a005tf|4x43-19a442 Gg Used Product on Alibaba.com

I've gutted the trunk and the only two part number tags I can find are:

1X43-14B242-FHB
1X43-19A442

I don't believe either of the above part numbers are what I need though. The wires run from the trunk to behind and under the rear seat. I have no idea how to put the rear seat down or remove it or remove the bottom portion of the seat. It's a new car to me and I'm puzzled.

 

ted, I don't have a part number for you. But, what I would do is to go on e-bay and talk to some of the auto recyclers and tell them that you are interested in the rear wiring harness for one of their cars and to see what they will quote you for the part.

From what I can tell by my diagrams, you are going to have to remove the harness out of the back of the car and then also remove all the floor trim running up the driver's side of the car. The harness runs between the seats and the door sill. The plug is up under the dash/behind the kick panel. You may find that you will need to remove the bottom half of the rear seat to get easy access to the wiring harness.

 

I can't figure out how to remove the back seat. Remember it's a totally new car to me. I don't even have an owners manual. It appears it is not a fold down seat and I can't figure out how to remove the lower section that you sit on. Before I go into buying a whole rear wiring harness I am going to try an idea I have. I think I'm going to do a cut and splice with waterseal connectors that melt with heat on them. I just need to find the plugs with some wire coming off of them. I also had an idea to run by you. If I cut the black wire from the harness coming from the front of the car into the trunk and I cut it and grounded it, then run the new plug and wire's black wire onto that new ground, would that basically guarantee me a grounded connection?

 

I will check out the harness, other parts could be cut along the way. But I will get you the ends. What thermo described for switching the plugs(jewelers screwdriver ref..) does not require to much skill, just bring a comfy chair and some patience.

Another option, can you solder decent? If you were to drill out the melted area in your plugs, run the existing ground wire thru the hole then solder it to the terminal. I figure you are going to have to do some soldering to clean up the male terminal anyways. Then the rest of the plug can be snap on like normal. The ground will just be a permanent connection till you melt it back off. It would Be the most cost effective method till you figure out the real issue.

 

Ted, if you want to splice the wires together, that may be an option for you. I would recommend finding yourself some "Raychem WCSF" heat shrink. When you see this stuff, you will understand why I recommend it. I use it at work to survive a nuclear reactor meltdown (literally). The benefit of this stuff is that it has a special glue on the inside that once you seal it down and get that glue warm, it will seal to the insulation of the wiring and make it like the wiring was never cut. You would probably need something like:
Raychem 4 Feet of 366 inch Aprox 3 8 Diameter Heat Shrink Tubing Adhesive Lined | eBay

What you will do is to cut the wiring and strip back about 1/2" on each end of the wiring. Match up the wire colors and lay the exposed copper side by side (from the car harness and the new plug) and then solder the wires together. What you will want to do is before you solder the wires together, slide about a 3" piece of the raychem tubing over the wire and slide it out of the way so it doesn't get exposed to heat. Then after the wires are soldered together, you can slide the tubing up and shrink it down with the solder joint in the middle of the tubing. You want to make sure that once it is shrunk down, there is a small orange "ring" that forms at the end. This will tell you that the glue has gotten warm and has sealed.

What you will probably want is some stuff called "WCSF-070". The 070 is the size that the tubing will shrink to (ie, 0.070"). That is about the size of the factory wiring.

If you need more info, let me know.

 

Thermo has hit the nail on the head here

This is where I get a lot of my electrical parts.
RAYCHEM Heat Shrink Tubing,20 to 18 AWG,PK25 - Shrink Tubing - 23PF05|CPGI-DWP-125-3/16-BK-6IN - Grainger Industrial Supply

and you shall also need
CIRCUIT WORKS Solder,Pocket - Solders - 5JC08|S100-72 - Grainger Industrial Supply

there should be a store near you.
good luck

here is a useful vid on how to solder you can also use a lighter to heat shrink.

 

The back cushion just has to be pushed (I use my knee) on the front facing corner on each side, and then pull up - it should just pop out of the front fastener.

There is a second hook under about where the persons butt would be on each side - I have found that if I lift the already loosened front corner and push straight back on that it usually slips out ok.

Hope this helps - I didn't see anybody answering this question for you.

 

Thank you everyone on chiming in with your answers. I really appreciate it. Without embarrassing myself too much, I understand how to use the jeweler's tools but I don't think I could do it. I have a condition called Myotonic Dystrophy (MyD). It is a form of muscular dystrophy (MD) and (MS) as well. But this particular form attacks my central nervous system so in short, I shake a lot and am very weak in certain areas that have been attacked so far by this disease. My hands are very shaky so it is frustrating and most of the time impossible to work on small wiring. I know I can cut and splice and handle that. I used a connector that had metal in the middle and I just crimped the wires and then used a butane lighter to melt the ends. It worked for 4 years and I sold the car with those 64 spliced wires still working and I do know that they did get wet another time again. Whenever the sunroof drain plugged it would back up to under the driver's seat. A stupid design. But I do like the adhesive tubing that you've recommended and think I'll go that route.

As far as soldering I can actually solder although sometimes it proves to be a challenge with my shaky hands. But, my 65 year old mom works at BAE System soldering chips on controller boards for our military fighter jets and helicopters so she can always help out.

I plan this weekend to search and check all grounds that I can find in the car as long as my neck holds up. 12 neck surgeries from a drunk driver hitting me so I can't hold up my neck too long or else I will get a migraine. So I will work on it a little at a time until I get the plugs for the lights. Thanks everyone!

 

ted, if you do some looking around, what you are after are called "butt splices" You can get the insulated ones (have a plastic tube over the metal tube on the inside), but it is better if you can get the uninsulated butt connectors and then shrink the raychem over the top. That way, even if you fill the trunk with water, nothing is going to get in to where you just made the connection. A little bit more work, but the improvement in longevity is well worth it.

 

Alright guys I really need some help now! I just went to start the car and it won't even start! It click-click-click- and chimes. I used my battery jump pack and no luck. I started my other car and ran jumper cables to the Jag with the other car running. Still won't start. But, when I go to lock the car with the key in the door keyhole now it wants to honk! The battery is fine but the car won't start at all. It's not even trying to turn over. I just hear this click sound, and not like the click from an almost dead battery. This click is more in rhythm. And the car is at the bottom of my driveway sticking out onto the street so I need to get it started really soon! Any ideas? This car.......I'm about to throw a match in it!!