After acquiring my new-to-me '88 XJ12 VDP a couple weeks ago one of the very first things I noticed amiss was that one of my inner high-beam lamps wasn't working. Once I RTFM to get the nice (but very dirty) chrome bezels out of the way () I pulled the lamp assemblies out on both sides, and just to make sure I needed new bulbs before ordering some I tested the bulb I knew was working in the socket that was seemingly not. Touched it to the ground connector and nada, zip, zilch. Likewise I plugged the seemingly non-functional bulb into the side that was working, and damned near blinded myself. Despite this bulb's base looking a little crusty it worked perfectly fine. I'm guessing I have a grounding issue, which based on a search of this sub-forum seems not unlikely as others have had similar issues.

Those issues aside, it's pretty clear (no pun intended) that the lamp assemblies themselves are kaput:


Both of the glass lenses are cracked, each with a couple holes in them. The reflective coat on the inside has corroded and pitted away on the 'bottom' halves, likely from water ingress through the holes in the lenses.

Now, I've searched through the sub-forum for other posts about replacing these, and I'm in a bit of a pickle. I'd like to replace these with something inexpensive (i.e. not imported across the Atlantic), but it seems American-market cars had sealed-beam lamps. My car most definitely does not have sealed-beam lamps: these are replaceable "European" H1 bulbs, with a corresponding "E-code" housing. I'm more than a little surprised—pleasantly—that the car has these, as in my experience Canadian-market cars of the era came with American DOT-certified sealed-beams or 9003 bulbs.

According to the parts manual I found online my car shouldn't even have these, but it is most definitely from the factory this way. The Jaguar part number is JLM9613. The part itself is a Lucas part, number 8104. I've found OEM examples for sale for a lot of money (including ~6,500 km worth of S&H...) on eBay.co.uk, and SNG Barratt have them available by special order for about $73 CAD () apiece, plus S&H.

Does anyone know of anybody else who makes a compatible replacement? I've found some Hella retrofit kits meant for replacing sealed-beam units, and I don't think they'll actually fit into the back of the cans and look like they'd need to be bodged together with some splices to suit a P43t connector (suitable for 9003 bulbs, whereas my car has single-blade P14.5s connectors suitable for H1 bulbs). I don't think they'd work in this application without more extensive removal of the mounting hardware and hacking into the wiring under the hood, which I'm not wont to do.

 

If you just want to "plug-and-play" I think you'll struggle on lowering the cost. but there are lamps available, but you'll have to do some wiring work. For my XJ Series 3 owned 1988-2002, I got hold of some GE sealed beam lamps, but that was a long time ago.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-3-4-Cryst...kAAOSwi-BeWv8o

 

I installed these with dedicated heavier supply wiring via individual relays. The relay allows the headlamp switch to be bypassed. Well worth the price. Literally "night and day".

 

Near as I can tell the Hella H11425011 is a 5.75" headlamp, uses an H1 bulb, and is designed as a high beam. So far, so good

I can't find any pics of the back side to evaluate the mounting question. I can't visualize what is unique about the original Lucas lamps (or the mounting cans) in that regard.

I don't think any wiring changes would be as invasive as you suggest but,again, I can't see what you have.

Cheers
DD

 

Here's the excerpt from the parts manual, showing how it all goes together:



Note how the manual even says "Not Canadian/French/Japanese/USA [market]", but I definitely have a Canadian car.

This is what the Hella kit's dimensions are:



The Hella part is the right overall diameter (or close enough, the Lucas part is 146 mm), but the existing part I have is only 87 mm deep overall, and only 60 mm from the end of the unit to the flange that the mounting ring (511598/J) mounts against (where the lens and the back are pressed together). The end of the part is 38 mm diameter, and one of the wires has a spring clip attached to it (I'm guessing this one is the ground wire) to keep the bulb mounted securely to the back of the assembly. The can ("NSS" in the diagram, so doesn't even actually have a part number...) is about 90 mm deep from the deepest point in the centre to the face of the perimeter flange, so I'm concerned that the Hella unit:

1) has a much flatter lens, and the back is thus too deep to fit within the can, and
2) the dust boot on the back of the Hella is too wide to fit at the back of the can

The can on the right side of the car has a hole cut in the side—not sure if that's factory or not—and the can on the left is a solid piece with no hole in the back. The wires are connected to the can itself, so I can't just remove the cans entirely or cut a hole in the back of them to accommodate the Hella retrofit kit...

EDIT: here's a photo of the driver's side can, showing the two wires I'm dealing with



I hope that sheds some light on the predicament. The blue and white wire plugs into the bulb, the black with the spring clip holds it all together.

 

Hmmmm.

I'll have to do some mulling and checking.

By the way, the hole in the can is 'factory installed'. Without the hole, as I recall, the headlight can would foul against the air conditioning dehydrator.

Cheers
DD

 

I'm not sure that I have an answer for a replacment part, but a couple of comments: First, your 1988 V12VDP car does not use the early system described in the parts manual (that is the sytem of sealed beam lamps used on US cars and early Canadian cars). Your car had the large 7inch outer headlamps and smaller halogen inner lamps. i will try to find a photo of them....the cut out section of the headlamp pod is, as Doug says, designed to clear other components - it is perfectly correct but should have a silver trim edge.
let me see if I can find photos. Ah....the photo below is of my 1990 V12 VDP and it shows the original inner lamps. These were the same as used on the 1988 cars - they are the same Lucas H1 lamps that you have.



In the photo below (1992 V12 VDP) you can just see the chrome edging to the headlamp pod at the top right-of-centre of the photo:

Better: this is from a 1986 V12 VDP - you can see the pod and edging more clearly:


So far I haven't been able to find a photo of the back of the inner lamp....

 

Just a flat guess on my part. go to the auto store and get a "normal" USA 5 1/4" sealed beam.
the latest versions use Halogen as the inert gas.

I think it might just fit in lieu of the JLM 9613 in the cataloque. Inners and outters available.

Do I have a pair or so on my bench. I just might. or perhaps I used them when I refreshed all on my 83!

N55 is commonly called a head light bucket. . I may have one or two of the USA 5 1/4" under my bench.. A bit raggedy...

 

I think I've found a solution to my problem. It looks like the original Lucas part, 8104, was replaced by LUB222, which is much easier to come by:



Other than slightly different markings on the front (E9 made in Spain, instead of E11 made in the UK, newer Lucas logo instead of the old lion crest) they appear identical.