Hello All. I’m new to the X350 forum having recently bought a 2003 XJR, and looking for advice. I love the car but have a few niggles that I’m keen to sort out… Firstly, the automatic headlights. The car thinks it’s in permanent darkness, and if I turn the switch to ‘off’, the dash keeps warning me “Lights Off”. Annoying? Also, and possibly related, late last night I was driving home, and for no apparent reason, for a split second, the fog lights and full beam came on, then all the lights switched off, before switching back on as normal again! It happened twice in about half a mile. I‘ve done about 800 miles in it, and this is a first. The thought of being stuck without lights miles from home makes me very nervous… Secondly, the automatic wipers don’t vary the interval. Interestingly, when you switch to ‘Auto’, the wipers just stay on the same intermittent setting as the one on the stalk immediately adjacent to Auto. I wondered if this could indicate a problem with the switch/stalk, rather than the water sensor? My 'unlock' button on the key fob also only works intermittently, and I wondered if this was related to a wider issues with electrics, and I should replace the battery before anything else? (it was in Japan until 12 months ago, so I have no idea how old the battery is). Any advice gratefully received. Dean, Yorkshire UK

 

Hi Dean,
The light sensor is in the front center of the dash top, just under the windscreen. It has been known to fail, there was a thread recently about this. The wiper and indicator stalks are also known to have a problem with the internal wires chafing and giving intermittent faults. My indicator switch would cause the headlights to switch off momentarily when indicating a turn to the left. It is possible to disassemble the indicator switch. I found the faulty wire and soldered in a new section. It's a fiddly job, but here in New Zealand, spare parts for these are rare and expensive, so I gave it a try. It's been fine since then.
The same fault could be with the wiper switch. In operation, the wiper switch needs to be in the first (intermittent) position, and the control turned to auto. When rain is light, the wiper only wipes every few seconds, but as the rain gets heavier, it wipes more often. When rain stops, so does the wiper. The rain sensor could also be faulty. There is an explanation of the auto wipers in the 2008 Advanced Electrical Training manual on Jagrepair.com
http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Trai...-JAG_10-08.pdf

Pete M

 

Thanks for your time Pete. The wipers on 'Auto' permanently run on the shortest intermittent timing cycle, regardless of how much water is hitting the screen, including none at all! So I suspect the internal wiring on the stalk might be at fault. That said, I also see that the edge of the sensor pad has peeled back away from the inside of the windscreen, so maybe that's the issue. Just in case, I've bought a replacement [used] wiper stalk, and a sensor... The only trouble I'm having is knowing what sized adhesive gel pad to buy for the sensor. I asked for advice from a specialist supplier of pads, and they sent me details of a rectangular pad with rounded off corners, but the sensor is round! Can anyone out there help with this?
Regarding the lights. I've checked the daytime light running setting and it's off, so it's not that. I've bought a brand new light sensor (original part), but also a used indicator stalk. I'll get these fitted and see what happens. Thanks again.