I'm hoping someone on here can help me find a broken left hand side HID headlight, but here is the kicker I'd prefer it to have broken height adjusters, or internal support brackets. The reason for my request is I want to take the lense off and try and fabricate some metal support brackets. I don't want to put my headlight into the oven at 250*F and break the thing, and also buying and already broken headlight should be dirt cheap! Any help in trying to procure a drivers side headlight with factory HID and a good procedure for taking the lense off (i've read two temp settings) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

Four Stroke, I had to remove my lens and I found a write-up that suggested putting the assembly in the oven @ 175 degrees for 10 mins. I did that, it worked perfectly. The adhesive became just soft enough to remove the lens with no problem. Good luck to you.

 

Thanks for the reply Marv, that is what I'm kind of looking for, first hand experience of the headlight disassembly.

 

Hi Guy, Not sure what your initial head light problem was but today I tried to replace the parking light bulb and the assembly inside the case came loose.......anyone have experience with that?

 

That is exactly the problem I have.

 

FourStroke, I searched Ebay for you and found one with the lowest price but It doesn't say if the post's are broken or not so you would have to email the seller and ask them. There are others with the HID but they are $100+ more then the one that I'm giving you the link for (its still $225) Maybe a member on here has one, goodluck.

LINK: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2004-...Q5fAccessories

 

Thanks for the link BlackJag, but that isn't exactly what I want. Even if the supports are broken on it that is still to much for the light. I did find an internally broken light at a local salvage yard for 40 bucks, it's a halogen headlight but that will be good enough for my experiment. Thanks again!

 

No problem, Glad to hear you found one. The reason it was expensive was because it was a HID headlight, From your original post It seemed like you were only seeking one with HID that's why I only looked for that. I was going to suggest a scrap yard but I doubt many would of had the HID one's. But good luck with the project.. let us know how everything works out.

 

Many of you will experience the leveling system failing on the xenon headlight systems.
THis is due to the fact that HELLA cleverly under-engineered the pivot pins by producing them in a plastic that rotted due to the heat geenerrated by the headlight itself. This would not be a problem if it weren't for the fact that HELLA and JAG will not supply the simple parts and instead insist the entire system be replaced to the tune of $1200.

Jagspares.biz of australia has produced an after market kit for $50 (AUD I believe) which provides the parts for you to complete the repair....The key to the jog is PATIENCE when working on removing the lense from the case. THe rest is a breeze.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Jaguar-Xtype-...item4ce854ae77

 

Did the parts come with replacement procedures?

 

I had HID lights when i bought the car, but one had a busted leveller and drooped like Forrest Whittaker on a bad day, so they got replaced with a pair of new halogen headlamps. I kept the old ones, and I can see that this flimsy white plastic part is what broke cause its loose in there. so i'm wondering if anyone else here has purchased this $80 repair kit and had a good experience with it. Cooking the entire lamp assembly in order to pry off the lens sounds trixy, and taking offf the bumper to swap out the assemblies (again) isn't going to be much fun either. But driving around in denial that I didn't downgrade my headlamps isn't really fulfilling. So, anybody try this kit yet?

 

Just got the adjusters from JagSpares. Anyone have the instructions handy to install the kit as it did not ship with the parts I received.

 

I can have the bumper off in a matter of 10-15 minutes. It is nothing to be afraid of or avoided. It is simply the way things are with this and many newer cars.

After that removing the headlight assembly is easy. I pried a lense off last week without heat, just being careful and work around and around it will eventually come off. cut the sealant when you see it stretching.

WHen putting the lense back, I put a thin bead of windshield "GB" ( I dont know the real name ) it is the black sticky coil of sealant - you can get it at any auto glass store. It is a 3/8 inche square section rubber rope, wound in a spiral with a piece of paper.

Once the lense is off, you can take everything apart. I glued my little parts together, it would have been nice to have new ones, but that OZ price is a crazy price for a 2 cent piece of plastic.

I also finally had AMAZING results polishing my lenses, I have tried many things before. This time I used 2000 grit wet sand paper, sanding with water running under the kitchen faucet. When they dried, they were hazy, but very smooth. This is the part that finally made the plastic crystal clear. I used the cleaner for those glass top stoves. gave them a good rub and polish and they are awesome now.

anyway. dont be afraid of this project. THe bumper has about 13 bolts to remove it.. the headlight about the same to take it apart.

 

Thanks for the tip on shining up the lenses Sport30. This sounds like an easy and quick way to do it. Do you have to do any of the other stuff that is recommended on refinishing kits. Or does the 2000 grit take care of the sanding by itself? Any info is appreciated and thanks again to all.

 

just 2000 with water.. then the stovetop cleaner.... it takes time to do a good job with the 2000... I had a few beers as I worked at it, never back and forth motions, just round and round, figure-8s, as random as I could. The final polish we much faster.

 

Sport30;

Thanks for the info on the headlight R/R. I have to remove a headlight and thought this might be related.

Currently I have a broken DS headlight (just the plastic lens, glass OK, bulbs OK).
I can get a used or OEM assembly which I will be getting soon, but have a few questions on removal.

1.) At a quick glance, it seems there are only a couple of nuts off the bumper right below the assembly. Can one just unscrew those only and work the light assembly off for R/R instead of pulling the whole bumper off?

2.) Did you find any caveats while removing assembly like broken brackets or the like?

If you got some pics, that would be great. Thanks in advance, Steve

 

you need to release the ends of the bumper from the fender, I suppose you could leave the bottom tray connected, but there would be a risk of damaging paint, cracking etc. At that point, there are only 3 more screws to undo under the car to remove everything

You need to undo 2 torx screws in each wheel well, and one underneath just ahead of the wheel This will remove the small (1/2 square foot?) plastic piece under the car, just ahead of the front wheel. Easiest with the front of the car jacked up and the steering lock released. You need to be able to swing the wheels left and right for good access to these screws.
then there is one torx screw just inside each front wheelwell about where the bumper/fender line is.
Then you need to peel back the fender liner enough to get your hand in sorta behind the side marker light. I can do it by feel, but you might need to peek in there too. you need a 10mm socket and there is one screw to undo that goes through the top of the finder. and into a clip on the bumper. do this both sides. If you have good access you can undo the wiring plug for the bumper on the left side, or wait till you have the bumper partly off...

next there are 3 torx screws that attach the rear edge of the bumper under-tray to the front subframe. You dont need to undo all the ones that attach the tray to the bumper, leave them attached.

last bolts are the ones on the top of the bumper between the headlights. 10mm socket.

once all that is undone, you can wiggle and unsnap the bumper from the fender brackets, so much easier to understand AFTER it is apart - good luck, dont bust the plastic.
at that point you can lift the bumper away from the car.
Took me longer to type this that it would have taken me to do it the job.

If your car has had a mild hit in the front, There are some plastic bits on the fender that might be busted, they are cheap at the dealer.

BIGGEST issue is corroded torx screws. and the clips they screw into.
MUST:
--clean out the torx hole before trying to undo it. use a pick, or teeny screwdriver.
--use the right sized torx bit.. it should not be loose at all.
--not force them undone.... if they seem to get tighter, then turn the other way, back and forth, you will be much happier if you dont break them.

Might not hurt to have a few spares of these screws and the clips they go into, if your car is older than 04-05, with high winter miles.
I broke a few the first time, and re-assembled with never-seize, been easy every since.

 

Great peice. Anyway, can I save this for quick reference somehow? I'm guessing this would also be the time to work on the Transfer Case and parking light replacement that I need to take care of. Again, many thanks.

 

Removal and reinstall of the front bumper cover was easy and a snap. Just link to this from the Jaguarforums "sticky". It's a PDF on R/R front bumper cover.


http://jaguar.bttlxe.com/xtype/Works...er%20Cover.pdf


1.) Remove splash screen screws.
2.) Remove the wheel well liner screws.
3.) You can just pull the liner back, no real need to remove it out completely.
4.) There is a 10mm bolt up within the liner near the fender that has to be removed. You'll have to reach up for it with a socket/wrench, but doable.
5.) Remove the 10mm bolts (2) attached to the bumper up near the outside front of the headlights.

If you're just accessing the headlights like I had to, you can just rest the bumper cover on something, otherwise disconnect the wiring harnesses for the fogs, headlamp washers and remove entire cover.

If R/R headlights like me, there are an additional 2 10mm bolts you'll see on the bottom of the headlight assembly in front. Remove those and disconnect the wiring harness and the whole assembly pulls right out.