Hey guys I recently brought my Jaguar to be serviced at my mechanic. He fixed the water pump/coolant lines, the rear breaks and roaters, as well as changing the battery. However, when i came to pick it up for some reason my front headlights wont turn on, but the blinkers work. also my dash light does not work, as well as my highbeams( but they turn on when used manually). Does anybody know what may be causing this issue?

 

Welcome to the forum.

What year is your car? I was going to look at some wiring diagrams but need to know the model year.

JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

 

hey i appreciate the help. I have a 2004 jaguar s type 3.0l v6.

 

Okay, got a bunch of questions for ya. But first, you have to raise your right hand and take the new member oath:

"I (insert name) [actually say your name, not just "insert name"], do solemnly swear not to be a drive-by forum member, the type who asks for help and then disappears if the answer isn't simple and requires more detailed troubleshooting. Furthermore, if I do flake out and disappear, I will hire somebody to beat myself up (Hint: don't use those two Nigerian brothers from Chicago) to save other forum members from having to track me down and do it themselves"

With the new member oath out of the way, please provide more details about the "dash light". Is this just one light? Multiple lights? Normally controlled by the dimmer? Are you talking about the background lights for the radio, HVAC control panel, etc.? The internal lights in the instrument cluster? Your wiring diagrams are here, see figures 09.1 and 09.2 for the interior lights. It would be VERY helpful if you can specify exactly which lights are not working.



More questions. You mentioned the high beams work when turned on manually. Do you mean turning the light switch from AUTO to ON, to bypass the automatic function? Or are you talking about using the "Flash to Pass" feature? Not sure about the later models, but I think that's where you pull the light switch stalk towards you, to momentarily turn on the high beams even if the lights are switched off.

 

could be the stalk/switch

sometimes they kick the bucket. things happen

 

Hey I appreciate the help the issue was exactly this. do you possibly know any easy way to find a replacement part?

 

I was refering to using flash to pass feature

 

"I Alex, do solemnly swear not to be a drive-by forum member, the type who asks for help and then disappears if the answer isn't simple and requires more detailed troubleshooting. Furthermore, if I do flake out and disappear, I will hire somebody to beat myself up (Hint: don't use those two Nigerian brothers from Chicago) to save other forum members from having to track me down and do it themselves"

sorry I'm new to Fourm posting. The whole dash with my speedometer etc wont light up. radio, and all other interior lighting is working fine, also i was also refering to the flash to pass. my mechanic informed me not too long ago that it might be an issue with the stalk, but i have lost confidence in him at this point.

 

Don’t worry about it. You’re doing fine. I’m just trying to pry some details out of you. We don’t normally tell new members about the magic reset button (it fixes everything), at least right away.

I will have to dig a bit deeper tomorrow when I have more free time. Until then, try wiggling and playing with the light switch in different positions. Maybe it has a dead spot, who knows.

Another thing is check for rainwater in the spare tire well. These cars are notorious for water leaks in the trunk, and it wreaks havoc with the electronics back there.

Since the problem began after some other recent work, I’d revisit all affected areas. Maybe a plug didn’t get fully reseated or something simple like that.

 

I'm leaning towards the stalk assembly, too. I'm not really seeing anything else that could knock out all the headlights, as they use separate fuses. This is part of the safety logic, so a single blown fuse shouldn't kill all the lights.

Try manually turning on the headlights. Not talking about the "flash-to-pass" feature, just the regular on/off before you reach the AUTO position. Switch from low to high beams, and back. Do the high beams come on like this? I'm just wondering, because previously you mentioned the lights being inop, but no mention if you had switched normally between low and high.

I mention this because recently my boss came to work in a panic, saying both of his headlights were not working. He started digging through wiring diagrams, trying to find a common point that could kill both sides. He is a very sharp troubleshooter, but I could see he was heading into the weeds. I asked him when was the last time he confirmed both headlights were working. Turns out he had been driving with one bulb failed for who knows how long, but he never noticed. It wasn't until the second bulb failed that it got his attention. He had to buy me a coffee for that one.

So with that heartwarming story, I'm not trying to insult your intelligence. I'm just trying to cover all bases, and rule out some basic stuff. I do not care to discuss how I've learned to always do this...

Another test: With the lights manually selected on, and you cycle between high and low beams, does the little blue high beam icon ever light up on the dashboard? This would be a good sign that the lighting circuit is receiving the on/off command from the control switch.

Back to the possibility of the switch being bad. The assembly is several independent switches in a common housing. I was looking at the wiring diagram, hoping to figure out how you'd test it. But then I gets to thinking... Will you be doing the work yourself? Or will you be hiring someone? I was born with a multimeter in my hand, but how comfortable are you with taking voltage and resistance measurements? I could come up with long-winded list, such as check voltage here and ground there, etc., but there's not much point if you're going to take the car to a shop.

Another thought is you could gamble on a used switch assembly and see what happens. eBay has several examples under $100. Here's one example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/115129422329


How difficult is access? Is there enough slack in the harness to plug in the replacement for testing, without having to remove the existing switch?

Sorry I don't have a more concise answer for you.

 

Hey everybody so the issue was with the stock/switch. basically its a dead connection and i have to jig the stalk around to catch the desired connection. thank you all for taking the time out to help i really appreciate it. I found a replacement part, and ill be trying to install that and hopefully that'll resolve the issue.

 

Good job! One hint? Don't put a used one in and don't try to repair your old one. I have done both but the wiper contacts are difficult to bend properly and they do wear. Get a new part and then your done.
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By "Stalk switch" Xalty and Karl are referring to the $240+ "Multi-function Switch" IIRC from several years ago. A faulty one is capable of flattening your battery in a couple of hours, too! After diligently following the clock-spring how-to in the stickies, my 2003 steering column was not responsive in coming apart like the how-to. Nonetheless, I found it possible to renew the MFS without disturbing the clockspring. Best I recall, it will become obvious once you get to the part where all progress stops.

 

That is a bit odd? I have never touched a clock-spring while changing a MFS?
Just remove the plastic shrouding around the base of the steering wheel and it's all exposed.

Or did I misunderstand and you had a bad clock-spring too?
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No, it's a bit foggy now, having been some years ago, but I figured the clockspring how-to would be the rosetta stone to getting the shroud-halves off, and it simply wasn't. Glad I did not have/had not thus far had a clockspring issue! As best I recall, I never got them completely off, just separated enough to manage the MFS renewal.