EDIT: Title should read: 2004 XJR Headlight Bulb Questions

I have a 2004 XJR and my left headlamp is flickering periodically. It's not a big deal, but it annoys me. So, I began the journey of finding replacements and it's left me with some questions.

1. What are the replacement low beam HID headlight bulbs? Every parts store lists D2 as the part. It's not D2 and It's some variation of D1. But, are they D1s, D1r or D1HID (which is a strange name because they're all HID bulbs)?
2. What is the factory color temperature? I think it's 6000k, but it could be 8000k, I'm not sure.
3. Is the lower, silver box on the D1 bulb the ballast? Or, is the ballast somewhere else on the car?
4. Has anyone tried one of these cheaper brands of bulb from Amazon? The KenSun brand have decent reviews and come in a pair for about $30 with Prime shipping.

Any answers would be greatly appreciated. Also, I found that removing bumper is totally unnecessary to access these. Some tricky wrist movements get it done with the bumper on.

Thanks.

 

Hi donniefitz2,

The HID low-beam bulbs/burners are D1S and the OE burners are Osram Xenarc, which are widely available at various prices. Counterfeits are known, so buy from a seller you trust. I got mine from Walmart.com and they seem genuine. Check YouTube for a video that compares a known counterfeit burner with an OEM burner.

The factory color temperature is 4100K. I know, that seems low, but that is what the Dealer Training Manual states and the burners are labeled with that temperature. When I replaced our front parking bulbs with LEDs I found that 6000K was too blue and that 5000K LEDs looked better with the stock HID low-beams.

Changing the bulbs is possible without disconnecting the bumper cover, though you may find it difficult to replace the rear headlamp covers.

The ballast is mounted on the underside of the headlamp assembly, and you do have to disconnect the bumper cover to remove the headlamp.

On your '04, you probably have the earlier 12-pin ballasts which control the headlamp leveling solenoid motors built into the headlamps. You can buy conversion harnesses that allow you to use the later (and half-the-price) 4-pin ballasts, but you may lose the headlamp leveling function. You will find posts in this forum that claim the headlamp leveling is controlled by the air suspension so you don't need the 12-pin harness, but that is only half correct. The headlamp leveling is controlled by signals from the Air Suspension Control Module (ASM), but the actual headlamp leveling is done by the solenoid in the headlamp. This function was reportedly eliminated sometime prior to the conversion to the 4-pin ballasts (possibly during the '05 model year), but since I was not able to confirm that our '04 no longer used the leveling motors I decided to spend more on the 12-pin ballast for our '04 XJR.

Cheers,

Don

 

I use the D1S from Amazon. I used a pair of the JDM but one failed after 2 years. Have just replaced with Morimoto. 6500K, but still look white.
Easy to change if you remove the bumper, almost impossible in place. Somewhat improved if you loosen the one bolt n the headlight, that allows you to pull it out just a smidge to remove the back cover.
Still, getting the plug on and retaining clip on, without touching the glass is a challenge to the impatient.

 

Have a look at this link:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...acement-70056/

there are some good pics there.

 

Great info. Thanks everyone.

 

I have had poor luck with some cheap ebay D1S replacements and am planning to use OSram brand only when I put new capsules in this fall. And yes the bumper cover will be removed for the project. 4500K color temp. In the winter the generic bulbs just don't work as well
RyeJag