Does anyone know how to add DRL's to an 03 X? When I had a BMW and then a Mercedes all you had to do was change out the relay to the headlights with a DRL relay and when you started the car you had DRL's. I called Jaguar in Hartford and spoke to a service adviser, as usually she told me I had to bring the car in for a diagnostic to find out if it could be done, $300 for the diagnostic. Jaguar I am finding is a ripe off company. The price for their parts are very, very high except oil changes $65.00 with regular oil and filter and check your car, one time I had them change the oil they told me the front and rear swaybar bushings needed replacement at a cost of over $800. My mechanic did it for $200 included OEM parts. He said the front one was the toughest as the crossmember has to come down to get at the bushings, the rears were very easy, he said if I was healthy I could do the rears myself. When I went to Jaguar for another oil change, they said I see the bushings are new, I said yes and they the service manager asked me how much did it cost, he said I bet you spent a lot more then we charged, I laughed I said it cost me $200 with parts, then he said the bushings won't last long. probably oriental junk, I said no, I bought them right here from your parts department, he looked at me and changed the subject quickly.

If anyone can help me with the DRL's I would appreciate it. As I can get a 20% discount off my liability insurance with them, as long as they are installed on the factory lighting. But I can't use the LED DRL's I see on Ebay as they are not stock parts.

I finally fixed the headlight not aiming correctly problem, the sensor under the car that positions the headlights was corroded at the connection. My mechanic got some Radio Shack contact cleaner sprayed both positive and negative side then wiped of the sensor itself and now they work perfect. When he replugged the sensor he did it several times to make sure the contact cleaner got all the corrosion off the contacts. Perhaps I should try this contact cleaner on the fan controller as my AC blows Luke warm and sometimes icy cold, I am thinking the fan controller is at fault, watching Motor Week they had a short segment on AC going bad, and one thing they mentioned is the connection to the fan controller, because they are usually mounted where the weather can get at them, it is a good idea to clean the contacts and see if that works before heading offer to the shop. On my car the fan controller is mounted in back of the radiator and the connection is on top. It was replaced in 05 as I have many of the service records from the previous owner. And I read a tread on this board this controllers are problematic at best.

Have a nice weekend you all.

 

I think you have to replace the headlight switch on your car for DRL. If they are not sure see if the switch is different for Canada.

 

Adam, yes, like Jaxkr said, it is only the headlight switch that makes a difference between non-DRL and DRL cars. The rest of the harness is identical. The headlamp switch for DRLs and the trip computer buttons has a Jag listing of $132.28 and can be had through the people that I normally get parts through for $112.43 plus S&H. Installing a new headlight switch should be under 1 hour of labor, so, you should be able to get out the door for around $250 if you have your local Jag dealership do it.

If you need more info, let me know.

 

I'm sure a tech could chime in but, I have a US spec '02 that the dealer converted to DRLs for free before I picked the car up. I believe they said it was only a computer programming that needed to be done to accomplish the change. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have done even a $250 job for free.

 

Can you direct me to a source other than the dealer for a headlamp switch, I hate to buy from the dealer, because they are overpriced. My mechanic can do the work for me, just need the switch.

 

Adam, check out Jaguar Atlanta - Nalley Jaguar Roswell - New & Used Jaguar Dealer - Jaguar Service, Repair - Marietta, Duluth. They are a sponsor here and they have pretty decent prices and if you tell them that you are a member of the forum, I beleive they have an additional discount for us. The site I got the quote from is "Jaguar Parts" - Jaguar parts and accessories catalog. They are a dealership out of Cleveland, OH. I have used them myself and they are good people. The big trick with them is to get the cheap prices, you have to do everything via the website. If you call them up, then you get charged a higher price. But, you can put in all the vehicle information and then in the discussion box, explain that you are trying to convert the car over to DRL and you need the DRL headlight switch. That should be all the explanation that they need.

 

Forgot to asked do you mean the headlight switch to turn the headlights on and off or do you mean the relay. Also if you mean the relay, where is it mounted. The last one I did on a Benz the relay was mounted behind the dashboard. Nasty job taking the dashboard apart to get at it. Can't do that kind of work any longer due to my back problems. I kinda hoping if it is a relay it is mounted on the fuse boxes.

 

Adam, as for making the headlight system become a DRL style system, it all has to do with the headlight switch. If you want me to prove it to you, I will send you the diagrams for the two systems. You will see where the headlight switch is really the only difference between the two.

As for the headlight relay, keep in mind that you have 2 of them. One relay does the low (dip) beams on/off and then you have a second relay that will do the fog lights (de-energized position) and the high (main) beams (energized). Both of these relays are inside the engine bay fuse box. The words inside the parenthesis are the British words that they use on the diagrams. Us Americans think of the main beams as our low beams. That is not the case with the drawings. Took me awhile to get my head wrapped around that one.

 

Have you tried googling this? My Boxster was butchered by the idiot who imported it. His abortion of a DRL mod was certain to cause a short/fire/blown fuse for sure. Five minutes on google produced dead simple fix that cost zero to accomplish.

 

No Thermo I believe you, about the switch. So all I have to order is a DRL switch and swap it out from the regular switch. Never heard of this before as the car I had a converted were all relay changes, that is the only reason I asked about the switch. Should be easy enough.

 

No, as Thermo has never given me a bad piece of advice. And conceptualizing what he wrote makes sense since there are two relays for the front lighting system. I am guessing the DRL switch has a DRL setting, like my son's car, a GM product, so you can have DRL's or turn them off if you don't want them.

 

Adam, you may not want to make that assumption (we know what breaking that down turns out to be). The DRLs for the Jag don't have an off feature. You have DRLs or you have the car turned off. There is a caveat with this. This applies to all cars with the "canadian DRL" headlight switch. There is a second style of DRL headlight switch that is referred to as the "Scandinavia DRL" switch. That, when you turn the switch from the OFF position to the Park (parking lights only) position, the DRLs will turn off. But, when you go to the ON position, the DRLs come back on with the parking lights.

While I am sure I probably don't need to say this, but I will for GP, when moving over to the DRL headlight switch, you are going to loose the ability to have the AUTOLAMP feature work. So, that might be something to consider if you are someone that relies on that feature. Some do, some don't. Just making sure it is clear what you are gaining and loosing.

 

It is fine with me if the DRL's turn on with the key, my last two conversation where like this and I don't have auto lamp feature. Also I did go on Google to ask.com and got in touch with a Jaguar mechanic. He said the conversion is as Thermo said just changing the switch no extra wiring to do. He also mentioned the Scandinavia DRL, but the Canadian is fine with me. I also contacted the leads that Thermo gave me on sellers of the switch, just waiting back. My dealer told me he would match any price I get for the switch.

 

Adam, look on jaguarparts.com. Do a search on "headlamp switch" after putting in your car data. It will give you a price right there on the screen. You can bring up the page then at the dealership and let them see the price to verify. Just note that there are up to 8 different options for what you may need. So, make sure to get the headlight switch that matches what you are after. There are options like "with or without trip computer buttons", or "with or without DRL", etc. So, pay special attention to which one you pick. But, all this information is right there on the screen for you to see.

 

Warning: I'm gonna ask a dumb question now.

What is the difference between the DRL switch assembly, and actually just turning the headlamps on each time your start the car?

The DRL's aren't those fancy LED jobs like you get on Audis right? It's just your headlamps on the whole time.

Why not just turn the lights on yourself?

P.S. I always drive with my headlamps on, stops morons from pulling out in front of me & helps bully those clowns who hog the left lane on the Autobahn...

 

just a quick question... Why do you want the daylight system???

 

Cambo, I have to admit, having DRLs is nice in that it is one less thing you have to do when you start up the car. Also, if you are an energy conscious person, the DRLs use less power (about 200 watts worth), so, that also helps with your mileage (however small that may be). You can put the auto-headlights into the same category. There are some people that want the car to do everything for them. it is all a persons choice of what they want the car to do.

boobea, the concept behind the daytime running lights is that you are putting a bright light out there for other people to see you in hard to see conditions (you car is completely in the heat waves of a road, in a shadow area of a bridge, etc). Also, seeing the light coming at you, you are more likely to not pull out in front of it. The problem arises when every car has the DRLs. Then it becomes just another part of the scenery. Canada found this out the hard way when they mandated all cars in canada have DRLs after like 1995. The first few years the accident rates dropped significantly. But, as the years have progressed, the accident rates have climbed back up to where they were before the DRLs.

 

I haven't had much luck trying to buy a DRL switch for my car, the places you recommended never got back to me, my dealer said they can't order it, as it is Canadian of Europe only, so I just think I turn on my parking lights and do with that, of course I can't get the insurance discount, but I pay less than $500 a year and that is with a million dollar coverage, so I guess I got a bargain, 3 years ago I paid $800 then the state deregulated non compete pricing and the rates dropped dramatically.

 

Hey Adam

I think it's just a bit of different wiring, try googling a schematic for the US and Cdn cars to see the difference. My car has the regular switch but when I turn on the car all the lights come on in low beam mode except the interior dash lights. I have to put on the parking lights at night to light them. But all the exterior lights including taillights are on. So I believe the wiring loom is just different as to what plugs in where.

 

Adam, send an e-mail to "ken@britishparts.com". Tell him I sent you and that you are a member of the JaguarForums.com group. He will take care of you. I'm pretty sure he can get the part that you are in need of. The other idea that I would suggest is since you are fairly close to Canada, take a long weekend trip and get on over into Canada and stop by a dealership there. Can probably even find one on the web, have them get the part in and then you stop by to pick it up. Kinda sucks that you have to go to that extreme to do something like that, but it should work. Who knows, maybe the canadian dealership would be willing to buy it and then ship it to you if you pay for the S&H.