I realise this subject has appeared before, and also on the other model forums, but thought I would put some further input into it, and maybe get some others experience before I shell out the cash !

Since I have had the car from May 2010, I have had this fairly infrequent and intermittent problem of lights flickering on and off both in daylight and at night. However yesterday evening started to get me much more concerned.

It was a very black evening with no moon, and I was returning from Manchester along a dark and rather winding country lane in rural Cheshire. I was on main beam, and seeing a car approaching dipped the lights. They all went out for about 1/2 second with me seeing total blacknesss in front of me !! I moved the switch to 'Auto' and back (it was set on Headlamps), but I don't think this did anything as the headlights were on before I did this, The fact is one cannot act quickly enough in these circumstances.
THe rest of the journey was uneventful and we got back safely. I must say I was a bit shaken. The authorities are now turning off a lot of street lights around here due to the bankruptcy of Great Britain Ltd, so I am going to be driving on many more dark roads, and need to do something, but what do I do. This fault generates no fault codes. Anyway, here are the symptoms spotted so far.

1. In bright daylight with switch on 'Automatic" - ocasionally the lights will flicker on and off, and the sat-nav display will darken to 'Night' mode before reverting to normal, with no lights on.
2. At night in 'Automatic' the lights will suddenly go off for 1/4 to 1/2 a second before coming back on again. This can happen a few times on a journey but sometimes not at all for hundreds of miles.
3. At night in 'Automatic' with the car parked up with no lights on, engine shut down, and car locked, the side lights will flicker on and off ocasionally.
4. At night in 'Headlamps on' mode, the same as in 2 occurs.

My prognosis is that it is either the lighting switch, or the wiring in the steering binnacle that is causing an intermittent fault. The side lights coming on when one has turned off and locked the car is really bizarre.

As new switches from Jaguar are around £120 plus 20% VAT tax, I want to be sure of a cure before shelling out the cash.

Anybody else had similar, and how was it cured ?

Note: all he headlights go out, not one side or the other.

 

I've had some possibilities posted on the other Jaguar forum. This fault has been seen in S-types more than the aluminium XJs, probably because there are a whole lot more S-types out there. I have seen a photo of brokenb wires in the switch. I believe this switch is common to S-type, XJ, XK, and XF.

 

Wow.. the STypeR had this occur once and it was covered under warranty. It was the switch.... good luck man and keep us posted