All the extra components are heavy duty constructed and thoroughly tested, but I take your point. The system is a consequence of Eco warrior legislators in Europe and probably the US, thinking stop/start will reduce air pollution, not convinced myself, particularly with China building so many coal fired power stations.
Only done a few miles yet with it active, seems OK in the daytime, but at night I don't like to have the brake lights dazzling the driver behind, so use the EPB, which re-starts the engine.

 

You can disable the stop/start by disconnecting its battery in the trunk.. at least thats what you can do with the Ftype and I would imagine the J would be the same. Just disconnect the negative terminal, tape it with electric tape and no more eco start.
I was told by me mechanic that this small, seperate battery only handles the eco start, so it won't effect anything else.
Lawrence.

 

Hey guys, I was reading about the daytime running lights in my owners manual and realized that they needed to be turned on at the dealer. I drove over to my local dealer pointed to the led J strip under the headlights and asked if they could illuminate the led strip. I of course needed an appointment and $125 in spare cash but they said a diagnostic hookup and about 20 minutes would accomplish the task. I read the forum posts and decided to call another dealer to confirm they could do this and got a similar response. After seeing these posts I will be very specific when I return to have this done since I too only want the led's on in the daytime. Will let yu know how it turns out.

 

Subscribed.

 

Daytime Running Lights will include the low beam and the LED strip because the LED strip (signature lights) are below the minimum brightness to qualify as DTL and the dealer cannot just turn on the LED Signature strip as they are not wired for that and they cannot be programmed that way. So don't waste your time and money thinking that they can turn on the LED only. I'll attach the hack that came from Gears to do what you want to do. I have not done this so I cannot post photos.

 

Thanks for the clarification, I suspected as much. I downloaded the hack you posted and it looks pretty simple. Now I just have to get my courage up and slice into my prestine wire harness... The end result will be quite unique!

 

Was at dealership yesterday for Pennsylvania inspection, etc. and got the daytime running lights turned on. The cost for me was $56.00.
I had read the various remarks in this posts before going to the dealership.
As a new JAG owner (2012 XJL Portfolio) I decided to enjoy my auto to the max and felt the DTRLs would help in that process. There are other cars out there, Audi more specifically, that have real bright LEDs but I'm pleased w/ my setup.

 

Retriever - could you please clarify -- did you turn on the LED strip (and only the strip) or both the strip and the low beam? Thanks...

 

As you will all realise, the LED strip on an XJ is nowhere near as bright as the DRL LED's on an XF which are proper DRL's. When I had my XF, I felt extremely safe when driving. knowing they were on all the time (dimmer with headlights). I now drive the XJ with manual headlights on. The LED's on their own (sidelights) are not bright enough to act as LED's IMO. The car was type approved before they were mandatory in the UK.
So has the dealer turned on 'just' the front LED's as bskrtz, asks? Not worth paying good money for IMO, would be nice if Jaguar issued a modification/upgrade to proper bright DRL LED's we could buy if we wanted to.

 

Reconsider splicing and doing the hack for the LEDs as this will VOID any factory warranty on your electrical system, and possible the entire car.

 

Sorry for this delay in responding to you; haven't been on the forum in a few days. I had the LED strip as well as the low beam turned on.

 

When I drive my XJL I turn on the parking lights for the led strips.

 

Thats driving on sidelights, not advised in poor visibility.
If driving, headlights should be on if you feel you need to be seen.

 

I don't find the LEDs that are signature lights versus DRL bright enough to be seen well during the day time. The ones designed to be DRLs are clearly much brighter.

 

I couldn't agree more with you. Forgetting to turn it off each and every start, and then stopping and re-engaging the engine is annoying, rough starts, and simply does not belong on a near perfect car such as this. Jaguar has to offer a cutoff solution that is permanent for the community. at $100K, one expects nothing short of perfection, and give the customer what he/she wants.

The 6 cyl. is a fine engine, but the rough start from stop makes it feel like a VW Beatle or my old Fiat 128 from 1970 engines. Terrible feature, and terrible that there isn't a perm. solution Jaguar. You missed the mark on this one!

 

Well in my 2013 Xj I just did a 250 mile trip on motorway and mine was doing 38.7 mpg and I was doing between 70- 80 mph all the way

 

Well I've found out if you turn the light stalk on to side lights the DRLs will come on and your rear tail lights

 

Resurrecting this thread so I don’t start a new one. While the general audience seems to hate Start-Stop I absolutely love it because of the style of driving and service the car subjected to with me. I live in a very busy city and getting 17MPG in stop and go is amazing, I have leaned to use the steering wheel to activate the motor when I need motor power and learned the brake pedal distance it takes to engage, I will be purchasing a seat belt buckle extender to allow the car to have the car in stop mode while exiting while I open the trunk or fuel up etc. and not have the shifter retract so much, reducing its working hours. The car does not like to be put on reverse if the in stop mode, so I use the steering wheel to get back in start mode before reversing. I also use the e brake when on a hill and I need to select park. Again I like what the feature offers, and the sole reason I skipped some beautiful 2012s at the time of purchase. The added MPG from the 8 speed and Stop Start is impressive for a 5.0l SC car, I compare it to my 5.0L SC coyote mustang with a manual, and it’s night and day.

To the more relevant question, when the car is using day time running lights does the adaptive steering beam operates? My car has them activated and I can’t tell. If so I thing it’s putting additional unnecessary wear on the swivel motor, and as the car ages I rather have them failing, similar to the sunroof shade, I make sure I don’t abuse operation and only operate when the car is standing to avoid potholes potentially jamming it.

Next issue, trying to get more stop mode time out of the mini battery, and I feel the xenons being on are taking a toll in the time given before battery drainage sets the car off to start mode. How much does DRL affect the longevity of start stop?

Last, DRL also turns one the parking led and rear leds, again putting work hours on them as increasing the likelihood of failure as the car ages.

For these three things I feel so should deactivate DRL.

BTW, I could care less about the LED strip, as it ages the car, newer cars have signature glow strips, dotted leds coolness factor has passed IMO.

 

Everyone here is dazzled more by the mpg than the LIGHTS this thread was meant to discuss.Where can i see the difference between DRL and Signature. Where can I find the ‘hack’ you spoke of? All searches i do actually end up with even more questions. Thanks! Your car is beautiful. I’m going red with all the badges too and am having an original OEM Leaper Hood Ornament from JagBits.com They are awesome and THE place to go for things i can’t find otherwise.