I just bought a 2002 X-Type 2.5 67000 miles. It drives good but THE HEADLIGHTS! They don't work! Unfortunately I bought it from a private seller. I guess I should have tested the lights before I drove it off. But I didn't. Anyway the passenger side light has no cover and the bulb is hanging loose in the housing. The drivers side just won't turn on.
Also the ABS light is on.

I can live without ABS for a few weeks, but I need lights!

Any suggestions that will cost me less than $500?

 

its alot of time probably but id try to trace back to where power is working. once you have power id install HIDs. look for a cover on ebay or a local junkyard. u need the wire bracket it sounds like on passenger side. could just be a loose wire on driver side ABS is probably the blk box not working but a mechanic coud tell you if it is or not

 

flyrr, from the sounds of things, the driver's side is simply a bad headlight bulb. You can stop by a local auto parts store and they sell replacement H1 bulb bases. Just make sure to make good connections with the wiring. If you cheat the system now, you will be paying for it later. if you have HIDs, then I would say to look at first getting a new bulb (or pull the one from the passenger side) and then see what you have at that point. If putting in a known good bulb still results in no lights, then odds are your ballast bit the dust.

As for the passenger side, look around, you can look on E-bay, you can find headlight housings there. The only caution that I will tell you is to ask them specifically if the mounts for the reflective lenses are intact and the lenses are solidly mounted. There is a known problem with the X-Type headlights where the internals break. So, a lot of people try to sell off their old, broken headlights for top dollar, leaving the buyer with essentially a piece of junk. Atleast if they tell you that the internals are good and when you get it they are not, you have a leg to stand on to get your money back.

 

Thanks guys. I called a buddy who is an XJ8 driver and he in turn called his 'Jag Guy'. His shop has a box of old X-Type parts including a number of headlight assembles. I'm giving the car to him for a few days and he's going to try to fix the problem. Also if he does a nice job, for a reasonable price, he's got a customer for life. (I did the same with my old Volvo S90 and found a great Volvo guy).
Watch this space.

 

Another gremlin rears it's ugly head! The main speakers in the doors don't work. The tweeters and the boom boom box on the rear shelf work fine.
Any ideas?

 

flyrr, looking at the diagrams for your stereo system, pretty much the radio powers the main speakers (the mids and tweets) and then the signals from all 4 corners of the car is sent to a separate amplifier for the subs. If both the tweeter and the mid on a given corner of the car are both not working, then I would say to access the speaker, unplug it and then wire in a temporary speaker (a 4 ohm car speaker will work, but ideally if you can get your hands on an 8 ohm one, that will be better). If the speaker makes noise, then you simply have some bad speakers. if you get no noise out of the speaker, then you either have a wiring issue or the amp in the radio died (especially possibly if you like listening to your music at high volumes). The only way to test at that point is to access the back of the radio and then do continuity checks of the wiring. If the continuity checks are good, then your radio is toast. If the continuity checks are bad, you need to replace the wiring between the radio and the speakers.

Odds are, your speakers are the source of your problem.

 

It can't be as simple as someone setting the "fade" on the radio to rear speakers only, could it?

 

The headlights have been fixed. But I still have to address the ABS system and my speakers. I think I'll take the car to Best Buy and have them test the system by hooking up a speaker to one of the dead positions to see if it is live. If it is I'll have them install four higher power speakers. If it's not a live feed I guess it's back to the drawing board.

 

Another thing with my ABS. Not sure if its connected. Whenever I brake I can hear an audible 'click' comming from the pedal area. Could this be the brake light switch? Or maybe something a little more sinister?

 

Had 4 new Panasonic speakers fitted. It was the old speakers. They had all shorted out. Now it sounds great!