I've always thought that the headlight beams on my 1995 X300 are rather poor especially compared to those on more modern vehicles which seem to put mine to shame!
My question is therefore, are there 'brighter' bulb replacements available (XENON?) that would directly replace my current ones?
From my observations, it would seem I would need one set for the outer lights (side/headlights - twin filament?) and a set for the inner main beam units. Is this correct? More importantly, is replacement feasible and worthwhile and even more importantly how easy is the bulb replacement?
The handbook steps for replacing the bulbs seem pretty straightforward but experience has taught me that they often do but in practice things are always more tricky!
Finally, excuse my ignorance, but the bulb chart in the handbook shows only one type of bulb:- 12V 55W. How can this be if the main beams (inner light units) when switched on seem much brighter than the normal (outer) headlights? Or are they the same but just seem brighter because when switched on they're doubled up with the normal headlights and thus produce four lights which seems brighter?
I'm a bit confused!
Thanks.

 

Side lights are separate lbulbs, so don't worry about those.

You need a pair of decent H1s for your dipped beam (outer) lights. The inners may have better bulbs in them, or they may just seem brighter because of the beam pattern / direction.

Bulb replacement is very very simple, and decent H1 bulbs are better than cheap ones. Unfortunately, they're never going to be great compared to e.g. modern projector HID systems!

Could be worth cleaning the lenses too...

 

I just fitted a universal hid kit to mine, much better

 

Do you have any beam pattern shots? I've experimented with making the mounts to hold HID lamps in the right place, but that's notoriously difficult with reflector headlamps. If I get round to it, one day I'll work out how to get some projector units in there...

 

I'm not a fan of people who put HIDs in reflector, non-projector lenses, unless they're checked to make sure the beam is properly cut off and aimed. The ricer-boys are famous for this. (I hate to generalize, but in this case, I will)

Usually,they have no upper cut-off and blind oncoming traffic.

 

If I'm not mistaken, unless the head lit assemblies are different in other countries, the bulbs for the outer main driving beams are 9006 and the inner high beams are 9005?
I've fitted an after market hid kit into my main outer light assemblies. People argue that aftermarket hid kits that aren't properly fitted into projector assemblies blind oncoming traffic and no proper cutoff but what I've noticed is that most people tend to go for the brighter 55w kits that output way more light than necessary for regular driving which is why it blinds oncoming traffic. I've fitted both aftermarket 35w hid kits into the main headlights and my lower h3 fog light assemblies and I haven't gotten any complaints from other drivers or anyone being bothered by them.

 

Work fine and passes mot light pattern inspection tests.
Did need to actually glue in the bulbs and make a mounting bracket to hold them in tho

 

To be honest, I've found the stock lights to be very good on the X300.

If it were me I'd just try some better quality bulbs and see if that is good enough.

Could they be better? I'm sure they could, but they beat a lot of other cars I've had or driven that didn't have HID or some other high intensity lighting.

 

How did you hold the bulbs in the headlights? I have been pondering this conversion myself

 

Hid kits come in almost every bulb size and fitment. Just adds extra wire and the ballast takes up space. I got a slim ballast kit got mine and used 3m tape onto one of the panels

 

I wanted to fit my HID lamps in the same way as the original H1 lamps fit, and with no modification to the wiring loom so that they were removable. I wasn't particularly hopeful of great results with the X300 reflector setup, although I've fitted HID conversions to previous projector-equipped cars with great results.

This is what I made, from a pair of spare headlight connectors:



The circular part holds the HID lamp, the other part connects the Jag wiring loom connector to the spade terminals typically found on HID kits.

 

Thanks for the advice. Sounds a little too much trouble to be honest, Think I'll stick with current setup.
Thanks again.

 

That's exactly what I was hoping, I have had HID kit on previous cars and really miss it, I will get hold of some spare bulb holders an set to work!

 

Some of these guys are making it out to be more trouble than it really is, and I'm not sure why they are modifying anything to be honest lol. But todays HID kits are literally plug and play easy to install. You order the kit with the same kind of bulbs the car already houses, so they fit right in with no modification, and the wiring plugs right in to your factory wiring, again no modification needed. DDMtuning sells a nice kit with a very nice price. Check them out.

 

That's cool - I was just working with what I had; modifying bits & bobs is no hardship anyway

My HID emitters are H1 but with wiring directly off of the back of them - hence the need to modify the normal H1 bulb holder as in my pic (or bodge it!). Definitely easier if you can now get them to fit directly as per a filament H1, complete with the spade terminal. Do you have a link to that, out of interest?

 

Sounds like you might not need to!

But if you do go down that route, it's the thickness of the 'circular bit' that you need to concentrate on - it needs to (along with the thickness of your H1 HID emitter) be the right size to fit into the X300 headlamp fitting properly & securely. The other half is easy - use the central spade terminal as-is, and just solder the extra one on the side. I can provide more pics if that's not obvious...

 

Ziggy, I apologize. I wasn't trying to insult you or anything like that. I misunderstood why you were modifying your light bulbs lol. I didn't realize that you were using H1's. Unfortunately there is no adapter right now or direct fit H1 bulb that will fit in a housing designed for any other bulb type. At least none that I've found. However, my factory x300 housing uses 9005 and 9006 bulbs, which can be ordered in HID for a direct plug and play install. That is all I was getting at.

 

Gotcha! I'm guessing it's a USA vs UK thing- wonder why? AFAIK all UK cars are H1? So for those asking above, it just depends where you are!

 

I need a complete RH assembly and saw an add on Ebay for:

Jaguar Xj8 Headlight Valeo Light Xj6 Xj12 X300 98 99 00 01 02 03 RH.

Obviously if I did it I'd have to buy the LH as well. Question is the X308 assembly a direct replacement for a 97 X300 assembly with no modifications?

 

Hi dagny747, I'm coming in a little late and there are multiple threads already covering the "Question is the X308 assembly a direct replacement for a 97 X300 assembly with no modifications?" But just wanted to add that the X308 headlights are a direct replacement for the X300. I've done the upgrade to my X300 with positive results. I changed the entire assembly including the mounting bracket, as advised by others on the forum, due to the parking light being in a different location. I understand it is possible just to do a direct swap of the lights however access to the parking lights would be difficult.