It seems that a couple sections on my dash are not illuminated properly at night. It looks like a couple of the bulbs are burned out. How difficult is it to change out dashlight bulbs on a 1998 XJ8?

 

Not too hard, you'll need a magnetic phillips screwdriver.

Pull the veneer between the rev and speedo clocks towards you after you've lowered and moved the steering wheel back. It's held in with tangs, a solid tug should unclip it.

Unclip the battery, neg terminal is easier.

Push the fog and trip switchpacks down and pull out of their sockets, unclip the cables from the back of each.

There's 4 screws holding the black surround and instrument pack to the dash, one in each corner, unscrew them, the surround comes out next.
in the lower part of the instrument pack or IPK, there are circuit board connectors that need to be unclipped, then it can be pulled out and the bulbs replaced, the large are w5w, can't remember what the small ones are, there's 4 of each. I replaced mine with led's so I don't have to go in there and do it again.
Should take well under an hour.
Hope this helps

 

" I replaced mine with led's so I don't have to go in there and do it again."
How is your memory SeanB?
Have to go there myself.Clock light out and another in the instruments and while "googling" around for the right globes I found this post.
Wanted to use LED's and replace them all (error codes)? Question is,do you know the sizes you used? And if so the amount of LED's per globe. I find the Speedo hard to read so the brighter the better....not sure how old this post is!
RealGauge going in so perfect time to do them. If you could help would be great...Neil

 

I just discovered on of my dash lights blew out as well as the one in the clock. I'll need to go in and replace them myself. Is there anyplace I can see or get a diagram of the dash components? I would like to familiarize myself with the project before I go tearing things apart.


I would like to try out the LEDs. Where did you get the LEDs? Do they plug in like the bulbs? Any modifications?

 

The large bulbs are NOT 5W. They are 3W. 5W bulbs will burn the sockets.

 

With led's, it doesn't matter what voltage they are, the feed from the IPK is 3V and led's run well with this supply even though they're supplied to run on a 12V rail, this means they're not as bright as they could be but certainly an improvement on the originals, no heat and about 5 times the duty cycle.

2 choices - buy oem from Jaguar, or a set of led's.

White is the best colour as the display has a blue tint. The fittings twist out from the back, pull the old bulb out and insert the new. The issue here is led's run only one way so they may need to be removed turned and replaced if they don't light up first time.

This is a good source
www.autolumination.com Tail Light Brake Light Turn Signal LED Bulbs

for anyone wanting to upgrade to led, cross ref the originals, confirm the smaller 4 match the colour of the larger 4 w5w type.
One of the bulb holders, original bulb and led options


My display admittedly not the greatest picture..

 

I know this is an old post but does anyone have a link to the correct LED bulbs required for the dash? Both small and large.

Thanks

 

If you can find some-one who has been they before Mrjag I too still haven't brought them including the clock...bloody clock globe size evades me! Good Luck I hope you get a response.

 

Hi,Sean

I understand there are 4 large and 4 small bulbs behind the dash, I will go for LED, please tell me exactly what bulbs I should purchase ?thank you

 

This is a timely revival of this discussion, because now I need help too!

I've got the instrument cluster in many hands, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the little white connectors out of the back of it in order to change the light bulbs. They look as if they should twist, but none of them will budge and I don't prefer to break anything! Am I missing something? Do I need to twist them off or do they come out some other way?

Thank you!!
Scott

 

Nevermind... I found the answer in - wait for it... the archives. But, for the record, a pliers and a little pressure is all that's needed to turn it counter-clockwise.

Scott

 

Update from my end: took out the whole dial section first time and replaced with LEDs i bought off ebay. None of these worked.

The next day went to halfords and bought the orginal bulbs, fitted them and all working fine. I'm a novice and it took around 10-15 minutes to complete the entire job the second time, if anyone else is reading this and thinking of changing the bulbs. All you need is a magnetic screwdriver.

 

What are the actual globe sizes you brought and did you do the clock globe?

 

I was going to use the LEDs and my mechanic advised me to replace it with the original bulbs. How many bulbs do you need to replace them all? My clock light also doesn't work I'll need to replace that as well. So far only one bulb needs to be replaced but I'll do them all so I will know I won't have to worry about them later. I only want to pull the gauge pod once! LOL

 

I replaced the 4 large bulbs and everthing is good now. I'd replace all those to be on the safe side.

 

was it difficult to open up the dashboard?

 

really really easy. Put the steering wheel fully down and fully out. Pull off the wood surround (just clips), unclip fog and trip switched, undo the 4 screws, pull out. Thats it!

After doing it twice alreay would take 5 minutes or so. Some advised to unlip battery but as i didnt unlip the whole cluster i didnt need to.

 

Any time you do any work on a vehicle you should always disconnect the battery! I know it's a pain in the a** but God forbid you trip the airbag and it go off. Many mechanics and body men have been hurt some killed by getting neck broken! Even if you don't get hurt your out the dough to repalce the air bags! I worked in a body shop years ago and they sent out warnings especially if you were working on the steering column or dash. I recently had to solder a wire back on the wiper pod because my parking lights, fog lights and gauge lights would not work. With the tight area you have to work with who knows what wires you might ground! I'll be doing my lights soon I will disconnect the battery.

 

I have a 03 Jaguar X-type and it has the borring green light on the instrument cluster. If I replace the green lights with a blue lighs will it work? has anyone done that??