Hey guys, so after the third headlight change in the last two years and dreading the infamous headlight harness melting; I've decided to mod the car. Putting in brand new retrofitted projectors (don't want to blind anyone by just throwing HIDs into my already banged up halogen projectors), changing out the fogs to HIDs as well as LED signals and ultra bright LED bulbs as my DTRLs instead of low beams all complete with brand new bypassed wiring. For all this to work and extend my bulb life I need info on the non DTRL US version of the headlight control (i live in Canada). This may be covered in other forums, but I couldn't find if the part number for the US is any different from the CDN. Is there anything specific I should be looking for? Or do I just contact a US supplier on Ebay and ask and hope I get the right one? Any Canadian guys successfully swapped out the switch? I also have the night time sensor in my rear view so i'm also looking at the auto mode version, If I get the switch with the Auto mode will it just work or are mods required? Thanks guys.

 

Duke: you do not give the model year of your car - it may have a bearing on this as there are differences in the functioning of the daytime running lights between the 2002 and 2005+ model years (the former have ALL lights on, including dash lights, the latter have all lights EXCEPT the dash lights all the time - I have both and while I have never even touched the switch on the 2002 car for night time use, it is a surprising but minor annoyance to find that at night I have to actually turn the switch ON on the 2005 car so that I can see the gauges).
More importantly, I think the functioning of the daytime running lights is in the software, not in the switch itself. On the XJ of the same period, for example, the DRL function was controlled through the computers, not the switch.

 

Duke, you can switch out the headlights to go to the US non-DRL setup. All the wires are the same between the two. it is the switch internals that are different. No computers are involved with the headlights other than for flashing the lights for locking the car.

I have to ask why you are going with a separate powering harness for the headlights. The factory system is set up to do exactly what you are adding. The factory headlight issue is not a harness issue but a wire gauge issue inside the headlight. Since you are converting over to HIDs, you are going to be getting rid of that wiring anyways. So, save yourself some money and go from there.

To make easy DRLs, you can simply tap into pin #4 on relay #11 and pull your power from there. Then all you need to do is to add a wire from pin 1 to the triggering side of the new relay (make sure to take the other post of this circuit to chassis ground). Then every time you turn on the car, the DRLs will come on and when you turn on your low/DIP beams, the DRLs will turn off.

If you need me to make up a wiring diagram, let me know. It is pretty straight forward once you see it. I think the hardest part will be getting to the under side of the fuse box to access the wiring.

 

Sov211 thanks for the reply. I've got a 04 xtype 3.0L. I know it's the switch thats the problem. All markers as well as headlights come on when the car is started. Dash lights come on in position 2 for the light. Position 4 is useless. And pull out once is fogs. Pull out twice is rear fogs.

 

Hey Thermo thanks for the advice. Sorry I misspoke there. By harness I meant the wiring in the headlight housing, I was making up a harness for another project so I have harness on the brain. There is something wrong with the wiring with the headlight setup. The owner before me really screwed around with the setup (cutting and re splicing and so on) so I'm going to try and salvage most of the wiring setup but bypass what I haveto for the retrofit. The reason I'm asking about the US non DRL switch is because I need full control over the configuration of the lights(being able to turn markers and headlights on separately. Right now as soon as I turn the car on all markers and low beam lights turn on except for front and rear fogs and dash lights. Only thing this switch does is control dash lights and fogs. I'm trying to extend the lifespan of the new projectors I'm retrofitting into my current headlights. My plan is to have the city lights above the high beams changed to ultra bright wide spread LEDs to fill the reflector and essentially run as DRL markers so the car is still legal looking under our laws. Then at night i flick the switch to turn the new Xenon Projector low beams on thus saving my headlights for only night time use, extending bulb life. Kind of like how the newer model cars just have LED strips for DRL markers and the actual headlights or low beams only turn on at night.. I've read other threads (pretty sure most of it was your expertise) about the wiring being the same but the switches being the culprit for DRL setting for Canadian cars. Just not sure if any part numbers or specifics were covered about the US headlight control switches. Found some switches on Ebay for 30 bucks in the US but I'd like to make sure if they're the right non DRL setup.

 

Hey guys so after a few days of information digging I spoke to some private companies as well as dealers who have essentially confirmed Daytime running light configuration is just a software patch they apply to the BCM when the cars are imported to Canada. Obviously it is illegal for dealers even if they could return it back to US standard non DRL so I've been recommended to find a private company who do mods for police and service vehicles... we DO have a shop in ontario called Birkshire motors who specializes in Jaguars who said they would reprogram it for a fairly hefty price of $210. My cheapest option right now would be to install a kill switch thats always on until i need my low beams for my new projectors. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. *Fun Fact* to all the Canadian x type jag owners apparently because of the DRL setting expect to change your lights every 20 to 30 thousand km... well back to the drawing board.

 

Duke, do you have the wiring diagrams for your car? If not, let me know the year of your car and I will send you a set. This may make things easier for you.

With this being said, I am not sure what BCM settings they are talking about as the headlight switch (as I see it) does all the "logic" of whether the lights are on or off. The only place that the BCM (which is really the GEM module as there is no BCM for our car) interfaces with the lights is for the locking system. I will do a once over of the diagrams again to confirm, but if you look on the diagrams, it shows how the headlight switch is set up for the different markets (US, Canada, Scandinavian, etc) and that the internals of the switches are different to cause the lights to do different functions.

 

Hey Thermo, I have the X type 2003-2004 2.5-3.0L electrical guide... pretty sure i got it from here (http://jaguar.bttlxe.com/xtype/Elect...ec%20Guide.pdf). It does sort of make sense to me it's done through firmware because i don't quite see any difference in model numbers or part numbers for the switches, or at least jaguar didn't make it evident enough that there are different types of switches out there, you would think somewhere in the part number it would say U, C, S to identify the different switches, i'd need to have both US and CDN switches in my hand to look at the board and see if there are physical connection differences. So how would you know what configuration switch you're putting into the car? i haven't taken a good look at the electrical schematics yet. Are you saying there is no Data I/O lines on the switch, If theres no way for the ECU to talk to the switch then yeah it would make sense that the configuration is done through the board or hardwire. I've called around to at least 5 different shops here all saying it can be done for the 04 X type (all giving me a 200 price tag as well haha). Maybe they're just looking for a quick cash grab before they tell me its hardware and not software. If it's as easy as buying a switch from the US it makes my life somewhat easier.

 

Look at drawings 8.1 and 8.2. If you look at the headlight switch on 8.2, you will see where it shows the different internals for the various markets. It may be that jaguar gave all the switches the same number but tracks which switches go to what market. Order a switch from the US and call it good.

 

K yeah i was afraid of that i see what you mean, thanks alot. i'll narrow a few switches down on ebay.com and make my decision. Of the switches i've found there are some with a 4th AUTO mode. I have the Sensor in my rear view that detects light levels for auto mode (a hole with what looks like a light sensor on the back of the rear view). If i get the switch with the auto setting, do you know if its just plug and play? or is there further wiring modifications i have to do to get the sensor working?

 

Duke, the best advice that I can tell you is to remove the headlight switch and locate pin #14 on the headlight switch. Do you have no wire there or a green wire there. If you have the green wire, then you should be golden. If there is no wire, then odds are you would need to run a wire to make the auto headlights work. The rest of the pins are the same.

 

Hey Thermo thanks for the info, i checked out the wire and there is indeed a green wire there so i could have the Automatic Headlight if i got that switch model which is great. Just an update on the US non DTRL mode setting, i managed to get my hands on a US switch which didn't have the DTRL mode on as far as i was told; "no lights came on as soon as the car was started until the switch was put into the on position". Plugged it into my canadian car and it doesn't work, all lights came on as soon as soon as i started it up. The research continues...

 

Duke, if it makes any difference at this point, my X was imported into Canada from the US. I can tell you for sure that changing to DRL for Canada on my US model was a software input done by the dealer. No parts were changed. So it would be a software update that could switch them back. Of course that means ALL the lights were on (dip beams, side markers, tails, etc) ALL the time. I believe this actually contributed to my bulb socket melting woes.