They say trouble comes in threes and this unfortunately is the case with my XJ8.

I'm not sure if there are any easy solutions but I figured there's no harm in asking.

My front fog lights (rears work fine) and the backlights in the centre console (climate, defrosters etc.) do not not work. Of course this is only an issue at night but I do want them fixed.

My mechanic says a new (dimmer?) module is required to get the interior lights to work. A couple of bulbs are also burned out (clock and gas gauge) and I'll get these interior fixes done at the same time.

More worrying are my fog lights. He saying the reason why they are not working is due to an issue with the module that opperates the fog lights. Apparently this is seperate from one for the interior lights. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar and if you managed to get the fog lights to work again.

To top off my lighting issues, my passenger side high beam was hit by a stone the other day and the lens shattered. The light still works and I managed to MacGyver the headlight with clear packing tape for my 600km journey home after Christmas. Let's just say it's not cosmetically very pretty but did prevent any more damage.

From searching around, it appears I have to purchase an entire headlamp. Has anyone heard otherwise and/or know if it's possible just to purchase the glass lens itself?

Thank you for your help!

 

Get ready to spend $500 for that assembly. They really stick it to you on headlamp assemblys. I did that search a while back. Did not have pleasent results. Sorry for the bad news. Good luck

 

The headlight lens is not itself replaceable, but you can replace the single broken lamp unit itself fairly easily. It is held in by ball-shaped pegs, pull straight out - does require a fair bit of force. Several on e-bay, and used parts suppliers on line sell them - I got one for @$100. Check your local scrap yards!
The clear plastic headlight protectors available online work very well - essentially invisible, mine have served for 4 years with no further broken lenses. PM me if you want a link to the ones I bought.
Glad to hear you're getting your car up to snuff - enjoy!

 

Every once in awhile, the ingnitor/ballast does fail and cause a flicker, and eventually a total lamp-out. Mine flickers once every few months, and has been for 4 years. When it does die...sorry, if it ever dies, I'll find one in a salvage yard as a replacement. if your's is doing a partial burn...bluish not fully charging the lamp, yours may be on its last leg. Do a car-part.com search, or call specialized parts planet in california and ask them...they have a huge, jaguar section salvage operation.

 

First though, I'd check all wiring/harnesses for tight connections, also check power to the ballast BEFORE the ballast, that is. 12v..that'll rule out a body module -> ballast/ignitor issue.