Hello - I have two unrelated questions about dim lights - headlights and instrument panel.

For headlights - options for replacements?
For dash - ease and options for brightening up

1987 Jaguar XJ6

Thanks!

 

Can’t help on the dash lights but have recently been using standard Hella H7 lamps in the XJR. They seem to be a whiter light and just as bright as their “long life” bulb. They are also substantially cheaper than most of the standard brand offerings.

For colour matching you probably want to replace them in pairs and if you’re really picky you might want to replace all four.

The Hellas replaced OSRAM bulbs that were fitted before I purchased the car 4 years ago (!) when one of them finally died so I don’t know if the Hellas will last as long but the OSRAMs don’t seem to available here and I’m not a fan of light bulbs being shipped otherwise I would have replaced like with like.

 

First, have you checked your connections and grounds? And cleaned the fuses? What you already have might be improved this way.

As for replacements there are a million choice. I usually go with Hella E-code

Have you changed to 7" headlights? Just wondering

Bypassing the dimmer rheostat might give you the improvement you're looking for. Worth a try.

Tons and tons of postings about converting to LED instrument bulbs. I went thru hell and high water doing so. Never again. The problem I had was finding the right combination of bulbs so that all the gauges were illuminated to the same brightness.

Others with more positive experiences will chime in

Cheers
DD

 

+1 to Doug's advice,

As to LEDs, whether main headlights (expensive, but worth it, IMHO) . . . or instrument panel . . . or even all round the car for interior, or exterior markers, number plate etc, I would go straight to the somewhat more expensive dimmable and non-polarised types. They are available in warm or cool white and online places like eBay, AliExpress and Amazon are awash with them at very reasonable prices.

Whatever the range of subjective opinions, the great benefit is that it will be a once-in-a-lifetime replacement. One will either fail immediately from poor manufacturing (rare, but possible) or outlast you into the Great Parking Lot In The Sky!

Cheers and best wishes,

 

Agree with the abive.

I spent many hours cleaning all those connections, and Earths, what a mess they were.
Then simply wiping the dust off the dash bulbs made a hufe improvement.

This was on the S2 cars and the XJS cars.

Headlights were treated the same, fuses, hahaha, earths, a disaster.

I did not get into the LED craze, still dont.
I ceased all that in Jan 2019, when I decided to stop driving at night. I knew the eyes were an issue, too many years of night driving the Road Trains in the early 70's did the damage.

That dash rheostat was an issue, but CRC electrical Cleaner did wonders on all of them.

 

If your dash lights are th same as the XJS, the swapping out the OEM 2 or 3 watt push fits for 5 watt ones will give far better instrument lighting.

 

One potential issue with raising the wattage is an increase in heat buildup behind the coloured lenses. That being said, other than the Main/High beam blue indicator, none of the other warning lights should be continiously lit up. Perhaps just swap in a LED in the High indicator.

 

the 5 watt bulbs will burn and melt the green color plastic dome inside each gauge.

 

Not on my car, they haven't. If an owner is worried, then removing the green domed covers gives even more light.

 

The 5 watt push fits refer to the instrument illumination bulbs, not to the warning lights. I do agree that the LED warning light versions, especially in the high beam indicator light, are a good improvement. The charging warning light must be a normal bulb, not an LED though.

 

I tried several LED upgrades, did NOT like the dome lights in LED At All as they made the tan headliner a sickening greenish disaster.

To keep most of the light from the Festoons from being devoured inside the B-pillar, I *Carefully* taped the ends and half of one side, painted the remaining with Mirror Aluminum spray paint.





The difference is quite astounding.

The reverse lights out here in the Stix were Terrible! I replaced the bulbs with 72 element LEDs that fit Just Fine in the sockets.



The top socket has a 15 element LED, works well for me.


LED headlights are swiftly becoming less than legal locally, and I don't like them anyway, so I've merely gone to 55w H1s and H2s. They're supremely adequate for my driving style - Which, anyone who knows me will tell you, is, um, Enthusiastic!
(';')