Car at dealer for a month 5.5 hours spent at $165.00 per hour. Results. " We can't repair it. New cluster not available an a used one cannot be installed due to programming issues." WOW, a through away car with 50,000. miles!!!. Ford used the same system on the T Bird. Had the same problems and found a way to rebuild the failed parts. Shame on Jaguar. The dealer insists that a used cluster will cause a failure in the main ECM and make it so it will not start..We are at our wits end on this car. The only resolution that we can see is a surface mounted lamp that will illuminate the cluster. If anyone has a suggestion we are desperate to hear it.

 

JansJags: Point 1: Your car is well over 10 years old now and the manufacturer/dealer will only stock replacement parts (particularly slow moving parts) for a limited amount of time. Point 2: Mechanics in dealerships these days are merely "parts exchangers" they rarely repair anything, just swap in new parts. No part, no fix.

Now to your problem; I would contact a local independent shop and see if they have connections to a good speedometer shop, or a national re-builder, who can cure your issues without damaging your instrument cluster and bricking your S-type.

The parts chain for the S-type was handed over to Jaguar Heritage last year, so your complaint (and you should make one) should be directed to those fine folks.

I also would negotiate a reduction on your repair bill at the dealer, as for all intents and purposes, no repairs were made; then find a good "Indy" and kiss the dealer goodby...

 

Wow, it's hard to believe the dealer charged so much just to say they can't repair the lights.

Are the bad lights only for the instrument cluster? Do all other dimmer-controlled lights work properly, such as the radio buttons, etc.?

What year is your car? If a later model, does it have a control screen or just a basic panel? I'm tempted to look through the wiring diagrams to see if there is something simple the dealer missed.

 

Thanks for the response. The car has the basic cluster. we replaced the headlight switch, the dimmer switch, sent the cluster to some cowboy outfit in Texas, where the charged $225.00 to (solder some connections???). Its a customer car. We don't get into many modern Jags, only Vintage stuff, eg. SS, XK, E type. Been at it for over 40 years. Think I gotta stick with what I know. Very Frustrated.

 

And the model year?

 

It might has been nice to have detailed all of this up front...

 

still dont know what the PROBLEM is,,,,
bad bulbs?
No power?
What are the symptoms?
or year model?

SDD should be able to reprogram the IC