Hit a bird last night. It was a big one as it cracked a headlight lens. My questions are #1 How do I know if Have Xenon or Halogen lights? #2 is if I pick up a set of headlights advertised for parts, can I just change the lenses or should I buy a whole assembly?

 

Take a look on eBay for headlight assemblies. IIRC, the xenon version will have a box full of electronics mounted on the backside.

 

Or, how to know lots of stuff about your car - ask a Jaguar dealer (nicely) to print out your car's full details. A parts dept did it for me...

 

All STR's have Xenon headlamps from new.
They were a very expensive option on the rest of the s-types, so it is unusual to find them on any S-types apart from the STR's.

The Xenon headlamps have a circular lens within the headlamp that can easily be seen. The normal halogen lamps do not have this.

Here is a link to a photo of an xenon headlamp, you can see the circular lens within the lamp:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/vmkAA...S9O/s-l500.jpg

Here is a link to a photo of a halogen headlamp:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/jTYAA...~6/s-l1600.jpg

Mellow

 

It's a 2000 3.0, right? I'm almost sure that they only had halogens in those days. I'm pretty sure I would have ordered the xenons if they were available but they are not on my options list.

 

I found the links to the pictures, which Mellow posted quite interesting - because, if that is right, the S-Type we are currently driving has Halogen (or LED, in case I already swapped it - I have to check), but the X-Type, which is registered seems to have Xenon. I did not know that yet.
But a general note: Sadly, there is a high chance that the links with the images of the 2 different headlights will not work anymore soon - links just "disappear", which is why it is always better to post here the pictures directly (thus, better download the images from the internet onto your hard-drive and upload them from there onto this forum here).

Also, in case anyone wants to know: Xenon is a.k.a. HID (High intensity discharge). HID lights have a massively bright light output, but they consume slightly less energy than Halogen, EXCEPT for the initial moment, when HID lights are being switched on - in the first 250ms the power consumption of HID light is MASSIVE and the light-switches, which switch HID light, need to be able to switch THAT kind of power. Frankly, I think it is unlikely that any light-"switch" is able to switch that kind of power (arcing would destroy the switches very soon), which is why there would be only a low-current-switch in the light-switch, which then switches a power-relay for the power supply of the HID lights...

 

Projector lights can also be halogen type. But HIDs, I believe, are always projectors.

 

Thanks to your picture links Mellow, it appears my 2008 4.2l NA has xenons. Were they standard on the 2008 US version?

 

I forgot about the second part of your question:
>>#2 is if I pick up a set of headlights advertised for parts, can I just change the lenses or should I buy a whole assembly?
I think getting new headlights may not be possible anymore, and if, the price would be impossible. Back then I think you could also buy the lenses only.
So if you miraculously could get somewhere new lenses only, it is possible to swap those lenses. I already removed the lenses of my headlight and put then back on. I did this to fix the head-lamp leveling with a kit - the leveling is usually broken in those headlights. Also, the lenses are frequently dull and yellowish, but there are expensive special polishing kits to fit that...
So if you find a second hand headlamp, you could either swap the whole headlamp, or if there is a reason to swap the lense over, that is possible to.
Also good to know: The lense is being held in position with plastic clips and with that strange black gum. This needs to be heated up with a heat-gun, if you want to swap the lense. You will be able to reuse the black gum, when reinstalling the lense. And if yo should require more of that black gum, I found one single source for it on Aliexpress.

 

All great responses and all of you have helped solved my problem. Great feedback and knowledge here