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In the 3 years that I've owned my '92 Sovereign, my factory fog lamps have been troublesome. First off, they've had cracks and pitting in the lenses that made them kinda unsightly.
Also, when it would rain out, the R/H lamp would always end up going out, and the Bulb Failure lamp would illuminate. Stepping out of the car and giving the lamp a good wack with my hand would usually sort things out.
I've been using yellow H2 bulbs, too. I like the Euro look of Selective Yellow lamps, and I think it fits the car well.
Anyway, during this winter, I found the R/H lamp glass cracked fully through, so I've been looking for replacements, and found these:
Now these aren't Jaguar factory parts, but everything is essentially the same. I will need to remove the wiring and pop the Jaguar wiring through the grommet, and I believe if I take the nut off the mounting bracket, and slide the horizontal bolt out, I should be able to swap them directly to the mounts for my original lamps.
An added bonus is that these lamps have the yellow lenses, so no yellow bulb required.
My Jaguar mechanic, who worked at the Jag dealer for almost 20 years, said that many, many of these fogs would crack because the original owners would inadvertently switch on the fog lamps with the black protective covers still attached, causing the glass to overheat and crack.
I'll be sure to post pictures here of before and after when I get these in the mail.
If lights left on with covers, covers would melt, cracks in the glass are from rocks and/or debris from the closeness to the road. All my fog lights were replaced with Hella or Lucas.
Nice find. Mine are a problem in that they wont stay aimed. Ive given up more or less since I dont have that much use for them anyway. But.... I think mine say Hella on them... Interesting...
Nice find. Mine are a problem in that they wont stay aimed. Ive given up more or less since I dont have that much use for them anyway. But.... I think mine say Hella on them... Interesting...
My originals had an issue with aim too. It was a simple matter of tightening the nut on the horizontal bolt above the lamp. Before that, I'd aim them and in no time they'd drop to a 45 degree angle.
You guys are lucky - I have the melt-in-your-mouth later type mounted in the front spoiler ...my replacements work now, but only time they get used is for photos of the car or they'll need replacing again!!
So I got them in this morning and installed them. It took all of about 30 minutes.
Surface cracks on the L/H Fog Lamp
Shattered glass on the R/H Fog Lamp
New yellow fog lamp mounted and on.
Here's what they look like on the car. I'll have to remember to take a picture of the lamps at night. They look much much better than the unsightly, cracked originals. Now I just have to find a pair of headlamps that are as good as the fogs.
Ok, Now youve done it. I have to start mucking around with mine again. That looks really good.
Thanks Jerry. The old ones were so bad, my Jag indy joked that he didn't want to see the car back in his shop until I replaced them!
They're much more luminous, and they nicely fill in the road just below the headlamp beams. I've liked the look of amber fogs/driving lamps on (especially European) cars ever since this beautiful car briefly came into the family:
Rolls Royce Silver Shadow
God I wish I was old enough to drive it when we had it. (I was about 12 then) Maybe I'll have one someday.
You guys are lucky - I have the melt-in-your-mouth later type mounted in the front spoiler ...my replacements work now, but only time they get used is for photos of the car or they'll need replacing again!!
Larry
After 185,000 mine are looking a little worse for the wear, as are the headlights and windshield. The dust and dirt have pitted them terribly. The windshield is the easy part as the lights are hard to find.
Hello. As seen on the white Hella covers, they are Hella 155's, which are the OE lamps for early XJ40s. The only difference is in bumper mounting. I left the upper portion of the mount on the car, removed the nut and bolt on each lamp, and swapped in the Hella retail assemblies. The wiring swapped over too.
Thr Hella 155's were much much much cheaper than used Jaguar-labeled units.
A suggestion for protecting the headlights, fogs, etc are to put clear plastic covers on them. I bought generic round covers for my XJR6, and some small squares for some other projects. They likely would not have exact pre-cut shapes for the Hella fog lights or XJ40 headlights, but you may be able to get larger square pieces and cut to fit.
A few years ago I saw an XJ12 which had some hard clear plastic clip on protectors for the "fish tank" headlights. I can't seem to find those around now though.
can you tell me if these covers are interchangeable? Don’t like white on dark blue car.
Hello. As seen on the white Hella covers, they are Hella 155's, which are the OE lamps for early XJ40s. The only difference is in bumper mounting. I left the upper portion of the mount on the car, removed the nut and bolt on each lamp, and swapped in the Hella retail assemblies. The wiring swapped over too.
Thr Hella 155's were much much much cheaper than used Jaguar-labeled units.
Last edited by Don B; Aug 2, 2022 at 11:06 PM.
Reason: Repaired quotation tags.
Found a Pair of Hella Fog Lamps for my '92
