Hello.
i am new to the forums so i hope i am posting this correctly and in the right spot?
i have a 2009 Jaguar xf premium and the driver side headlamp light is out. The low beam not the high beam.
i purchased two lights (bulbs) from ebay and each were installed but neither of them worked as well. We are now guessing it may be a fuse but when the car was purchased there was no owner's manual so we are not sure where the fuse is located. Does anyone know where the fuse is located at or if there is actually a fuse for this bulb? Thank you!

 

Doubt it's the fuse. Most likely the balast.

 

So the balast can prevent the bulb from lighting?

 

Yes, the ballast/control module is the device that strikes an arc in the lamp at a higher voltage than the operating voltage. Once this occurs, the ballast controls the voltage and current through the lamp for optimum light output. Issues with these devices are common due to the stress on the internal electronic/electrical components caused by the high voltages required to strike an arc and the need to keep the voltage and current tightly controlled afterwards.

 

There are no fuses for the headlights on an XF, they use Field Effect Transistors (FET).
Also, what type of low beam globes do you have? The XF came with two different set ups depending on the sub-model, normal halogen globes (H7 I think) or HID / bi-xenon with D1S globes, and only the HIDs use a ballast. Although I suspect all US/North American versions got the HIDs.

 

Thank you, I had no idea that the ballast controls the voltage and current. I think we will start with the ballast to see if that corrects the issue and if not we will go from there.
I appreciate the info!

 

Thank you for the info, that will save us a lot of time trying to locate the fuse. I am not sure what type of low beam globe I have. Based on your info I am assuming that it must be an HID because there is a black ballast connected to the bottom of the box which holds the bulb. Do you know where the Field Effect Transistors are located and what is the best method to test the Field Effect Transistors? Again thank you!

 

You say in the first post you bought two bulbs on eBay, so surely you must know what you bought?
Halogen globes and HID globes are massively different and it is not possible to confuse the two.
On both my XFs (2010 XFS and 2010 XFR) I had HIDs and the ballasts were silver/metallic, not black, but maybe the 2009 and/or North American XF has black ballasts?
Bottom line - I/we still don't know for sure what type of low beam globes you have which makes it hard to advise/help.
I don't know where the FETs are located but I suspect they are buried deep in the wiring somewhere and in any event I have never heard of them going on the blink let alone packing up.
It's possible you have a dodgy or blown relay instead.

 

The HID lamp should look something like this.

If the FETs are used as a switching device, they're probably located in the central junction box. This junction box is supplied with +12V through a rather large fuse which is common to both headlights according to the circuit diagrams.

 

Yes that is correct, I purchased two bulbs off of ebay. I am not familiar at all with these lights, the seller on ebay provided drop down boxes for the buyer to put in the year, make, model etc and that is what I did and after filling out those drop down boxes It stated that the lights in that particular ebay listing were compatible with my 2009 XF. I did go back to that ebay listing and this is what the title states for that listing: D1S D1R JDM Headlights low beam 600k premium white HID direct replacement bulbs.
Our ballasts are black and I am not sure what a dodgy is but I will google it. I thank you again for your continued help and I have provided a picture of the lights that were purchased from ebay.

 

The original light that was pulled from the car looks exactly like the picture that you have provided. The ones that were purchased from ebay look very similar to the picture that you posted but not exact. I have included a picture of the lights I purchased on ebay in my previous post. The lights that we purchased do not have the slanted pieces of metal which your picture shows but the original light that was pulled out does. I think I am going to remove the working bulb and balast from the passenger side and install it on the driver side to see if it works on that side, from there we will take the bulb we purchased from ebay and put the passenger side balast on it to see if it still works, if so then we know it is the balast that needs to be replaced which was mentioned in a previous post.
Thank you for the info, it`s much appreciated!

 

Welcome to the forum 2009xf,

YES - this is the correct model forum for your 2009 XF. I've deleted your identical post from X260 forum.

Throwing parts at a Jaguar is a guaranteed way of spending a lot of money. Logical troubleshooting is quicker and a lot more cost effective. You could try switching first the bulb then burner then ballast from the working side to the non-working side to determine where the fault lies.

Please follow this link New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the New Member Area - Intro a MUST forum and post some information about yourself and your vehicle for all members to see. In return you'll get a proper welcome and some useful advice about posting to the forum.

Graham

 

I wanted to say thank you to everyone for all of the help that was provided to me. I have included a picture of the part that was needed. The light is now working.

 

You're welcome.

I have had to deal with the ballasts failing enough to know that was the very likely culprit in your case. Bulbs do go bad though, and when they do, it's best to replace them in pairs because they change in color over time.

 

Hey I'm new here send had a question if u don't mind offering some advice about the ballast on a 2012 xf. My driver's side light don't come on either once I turn the lights on just the passenger side but after about 15 minutes the light comes on. One time I unplugged the main headlight harness an plugged it back up an it came right on but 20 minutes later turned light on an it was off again. Do u think it's the ballast, wiring harness or both. By the way the harness clamp that makes it snap on is broken. Thanks for any advice

 

Only way to check is to swap the bulbs side to side. If the bulb works then change the ballast. If does not work then replace the bulb.
Also these bulbs do age and the output diminishes. With the age of your car I would replace both bulbs. They are not easy to get in and out so I remove the front bumper and then remove the headlight so I can work on them on the bench.

I think you have DS3 bulbs and they can be damaged very easy so you want good access when changing the bulbs.

I don't know what you mean by snapping on? Do you have some wire damage too? If so fix the wire problem first as it could be making a poor connection.
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Hey thanks for the info. I'm going to take the headlight out an check the ballast also. The plug I was referring to is the pigtail harness when u plug it in it kinda clicks in place so it won't be loose. The Lil tab that clicks making it a tight fit is broken.

 

Hey thanks for the info. I'm going to take the headlight out an check the ballast also. The plug I was referring to is the pigtail harness when u plug it in it kinda clicks in place so it won't be loose. The Lil tab that clicks making it a tight fit is broken. Imma check the wires on it also to make sure it's not damaged

 

Yes I think my "Lil tab" was also broken and I could not feel any clicks when putting them together. Seems to work OK and there is no force on that plug and it's very well protected inside the headlight itself anyway. But yes I can pull and push that connector together now and nothing appears to lock the two together either?

I don't know how to check the ballast other than swapping them from side to side. Things are a bit simpler now. HID lights use to consist of a bulb, ignitor and ballast. So you had 3 possible failures which made it more complicated to troubleshoot. Of course now that the ignitor and bulb are combined it's much more expensive to change out. Plus these DS3 bulbs are difficult to remove and install.

I always feel like something is getting ready to shear off when I am turning them! I try to wiggle and turn at the same time.
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thanks since I'm off tomorrow I'll start with swapping out the ballast to see if that fixes it since the light do come on only after waiting 15min or so