Any thoughts on how to fix 2 top and 3 bottoms LED's on the left-hand rear light cluster that are not working, either with lights-on or braking?

TIA

- Tim

 

Tim,

There was service bulletin about those lights a couple of years back. Check with your dealer and see if your car has had the K107 update. It covers both taillights and should be covered without cost to you regardless of your car being out of warranty.

 

Thanks for the lead, I will check with the dealer. Does anyone know what the "statute of limitations" is on a service bulletin?

 

FYI - Just tried to get mine replaced by dealer but no luck. Quoted me about $350, so I'm looking for other, cheaper options.

 

Just a quick follow-up. Called the dealer and they said both tails were replaced on the car under the campaign K107 in 2012 and that is was a one-time deal. The dealer declined to even go talk to Jaguar as they said they were seeing 2nd or even 3rd time failures a lot and Jaguar will not budge. It's a one time and that's it. Annoying that they seem to fail so regularly. When I get a bit of spare time I'm going to try to figure out how to open the tails (looks like they are glued shut) and see if the individual LED's a replaceable. I have an SMD workstation in the shop at home so I'm not worried about the electrical side.

I went the ebay route and managed to find a pristine tail light for $85 shipped. Replacing it was very simple, 3 10mm bolts and approximately 20 minutes to do.

 

Well, let me know what you find out. I'm certainly not an electrical engineer, but I know my way around a small bit of soldering. If you wouldn't mind taking pics during the process, I'd appreciate it. Both tails are pretty bad on mine, so I'm going to have to do them fairly soon. LEDs last a really long time, so I'd bet it's a busted solder connection or something.

 

So it turns out you have to completely melt out the guts of the taillight to get to it. I tried a bit with a heat gun, but have only ended up cracking the housing a bit. Sounds like I'm going to search around for a cheap full replacement instead.

 

Hi I haven't looked at these yet but cant they be opened with a dremel tool then glued back together

 

That would be tough to do where they're currently glued together, but I kinda was considering cutting them further back, then using a soldering iron to plastic weld it back together, maybe with some silicone or urethane to waterproof it.

Interestingly, both of my taillights had water inside them, so clearly the waterproofing already sucks. this may be why they've failed. I found a good deal on ebay for a replacement, so once I get it I'll take mine apart and see if it's fixable.

 

I'd be interested to learn if you manage to get them apart, I had no luck but didn't put a lot of effort into it, but they look like a real PIA to get apart and I'd always worry that they won't go back together and not leak, split or look like junk....

 

Yeah, I ended up cracking a piece off the edge trying to separate it where it's glued together currently. I think unless there's some solvent or something that works better than heat, the only real answer is to cut it elsewhere and patch after. I'll give it a shot when I can.

 

That was my conclusion, completely sealed/glued shut....