The warning lights above the tach and speedo are not bright enough to be seen in daylight. Is there an adjustment for this I haven't found, or has a previous owner added a resistor somewhere? Any ideas?

1995 4.0 liter XJS 2+2

 

I've moved your question from General Tech Help section to XJS section.

Members here with the same model will tell you how the lights should look but may struggle to guess what the PO could have done!

Graham

 

The lights are dim... that's just a fact. I am replacing my bulbs with LEDs. I have changed the two bulbs in the top of my trip computer with green LEDs (5mm NEO5-x Green) they look fine. I tried the cool white and I didn't like the results. There is a web site called "superbrightleds dot com" I have purchased some LEDs to try in my warning lights (B8 LED Bulb - Instrument Panel LED cool white). I decided to match the color bulb with the warning symbol color so I will be ordering them in a few weeks and not using the cool white.

 

Thanks Graham! Rookie mistake. I'll (hopefully) learn as I go along.

RonaldP - There is dim, and there is DIM. Mine are the latter. On steroids.When I start Greenie in my (dark) garage I can see the usual lights come on and go off as they should, but when outside - no way. I can hear the turn signals ticking, but the arrows in the panel... nothing. Surely that isn't normal? Or is it (This is my first Jaguar...) Please let me know how the LED conversion works!

 

There is dim and then there is XJS dim... In the morning mine looks fine when I start her up in the garage, I back out and they vanish. I did improve on the 5 bulbs in the instrument cluster by replacing them with a little higher watt bulb (4.9 watts 168 wedge base)and separate twist in panel socket (1/2" CTI 85835 Dorman® Conduct-Tite!® 85835 - Instrument Panel Socket | O'Reilly Auto Parts). The stock bulb is 3.2 watts.
Now I can use the instrument panel dimmer to turn them down some.

 

It could be dodgy earth points behind the panel, the only way to check is to pull it out and clean all that you can get at.
I've got to do that on mine when I get around to it.

 

Thanks Steve M! Dodgy earth connections seem to be a theme with these cars...

Got myself a handful of spade connectors and self-tapping screws. :-)

 

I have just done my warning lights with double LEDs, having tried single ones and not really thought they were bright enough. Miles better.

2 x LED Light Bulbs T5 - 286 Instrument Dials 2 SMD White | eBay

I can actually see the main beam warning light now! I needed to file the ends along the flat sides a touch into a point to get them started into the holders though, as the connectors were a bit too thick to start their way in. Not hard to do as the warning light strip comes off without having to remove the instrument cluster.

Greg

 

A handful will be nowhere near enough! You'll need a bucket full of various types, about 9 miles of wiring and the patience of a Saint because once you start ferreting around in the depths of the electrics it's like opening Pandora's Box, all sorts of evil gremlins make themselves known.
Step by step is the trick and test every step once you have done it.

 

What if anything can be done to make the radio display brighter????:icon_bricks :

 

Strange, my warning lights are plenty bright enough. Possibly it's because we don't get any sunshine in the UK?

 

I recently replaced 5W dash gauge bulbs with green LEDs after removing the old green bulb covers, had no need to mess with the warning lights as they are plenty bright with stock bulbs. My guess is dirty/intermittent ground or other related electrical connections, get some DeOxit or CRC Quick Dry Electronic Cleaner and some Q-tips and spend some quality time with your cars innards...

 

get a wiring diagram and check out the resistance in that circuit. You probably just have a dirty/loose connection. Just work your way from the beginning of the circuit until you locate the excess resistance/drop in voltage

i mean those ARE dim lights but if you are say aren't dim but very dim then there must be something more

 

what must you do to get at the dash lights? I have the 1995 XJS Convertible....

 

If your facelift convertible dash console is attached like it is in my '91 pre-facelift coupe, it is surprisingly simple to remove, just a few screws and some gentle wiggling and out it comes.

I can walk you through it step by step having just done the LED replacement...

 

Inertian: What LED bulb did you use? Manufacturer? Model number?

 

Please see my post "Can Finally See My Gauges at Night!" for details:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-night-116184/

 

Thanks for the reply, I would love to have the location of the dash screws and some indication of where tabs may be hidden so I avoid breaking them.... have you had any experience changing the lighting for the OEM radio? I want to keep the radio but cannot see the display at all

 

sfischthal:- I would think that your 95 will be the same as my 92.
I just carpe diem-ed and pulled my dash (and reinstalled) it yesterday but only to clean contacts.
The screws to remove are on each side of the inset dash panel plus one at the top centre which is a retainer or filler bit. There are also two pieces at each end of the idiot / warning lights strip across the top. Remove the plastic bits to reveal two recessed screws in there. You should also remove two screws which secure the mirror adjustment on the right side of the steering wheel, and the one on the left side of the wheel too. After removing these screws, I carefully removed the trim bits around the dash panel. Now, if you have removed the scuttle below the wheel, you can reach up behind and carefully "help" the dash out, and unclip the two connectors, and the panel will come out. The wheel should be lowered to as low as it will go. Take care with the plastic flimsy PCB ....
The screws are posidrive, not phillips.
I hope this helps....

 

All of my idiot lights are on all the time but the car runs great and has for years, been thinking about black electric tape over them!