I'm curious as to what could be causing this problem with my xj6. Everything is wired up right afaik and the relay clicks and the switch works but as soon as you hit it the lowbeams go out and the highs stay out. The fuses and everything are good the only thing out of the ordinary is that there is a burnt ground wire going to that black plastic relay(?) on the driver-side inner fender.

 

[QUOTE=switcharoo;1416721]I'm curious as to what could be causing this problem with my xj6. Everything is wired up right afaik and the relay clicks and the switch works but as soon as you hit it the lowbeams go out and the highs stay out. The fuses and everything are good

Did this all happen at once? if so, I'd suspect a relay problem.

I'm not so sure you have a "short".

Do you have a 12v test light? This might help:

Headlamp Circuit Checklist




It *might* be a matter of burned out bulbs.

The inner (high beam) bulbs might be burned out and the "high" elements of the outboard lamps might be burned out.




What plastic relay? Do you have a pic?

Assuming a LHD car....

As built the car should have one relay on the LH inner fender...the metal headlight relay. Do you have that?

Cheers
DD

 

[QUOTE=Doug;1416729]I forgot to mention they worked fine before I took the hood off to replace the water pump. I've checked voltage at the relay with highbeams on
and I'm getting 12 volts at the topmost blue/white striped wire but 0 at the other. Also no voltage at lights.
Also pic of the wire and questionable relay

 

That relay definitely questionable because it is not original to the car. But beyond Doug' advice regarding the possibility of filaments being burned out, the fuses are always suspect even if the look good and even if they test as good. Please believe this; before doing any thing more elaborate, remove the fuses, tighten and clean the cradles and put in new fuses; further, clean and tighten every connection you can find - there are ground connections on the radiator surround panel (check both front and rear of the panel)'

Gregory, Victoria, Canada

 

[QUOTE=switcharoo;1417265]Presumably you've checked that all the wires got hooked up properly. Sorry, but I had to ask.

Check the grounds on either side of the radiator, too. They're sorta in the neighborhood of the hood hinges.



Check the fuses and fuse clips as Gregory says...very common problem area. If no joy the steps mentioned in the Headlight Circuit Checklist should narrow things down

That's a little scary. I'd trace down what that relay is used for ....some sort of add-on....and get to the root cause of the fried wires.

One possibility....a bit of a stretch....

Jaguar USA marketed a Series III/XJS fog lamp kit that used a generic relay such as you've pictured. It involved tapping into the headlight circuit at the relay. I sort of doubt that's what we're dealing with but it's worth checking out.

Cheers
DD

 

Same problem here. Will rewire my headlights with the scheme of how it should be original. Over time people have been cutting into the wires so it's become a mess. Right high beam, left side lights at the same time, etc.

 

Seems to be a common problem area in our cars. I am adding a relay to unload the light switch. I really dislike the idea of full headlight power running through there, its like something from the 60s. Switcharoo just seems to have lost his high beams. Odd that he see battery at the relay and nothing at the lights. Does point to the fuse box although the high beams are on two different fuses.

 

I found a blown 10amp fuse in fuse holder today.
The highbeams also magically work now.

...oops

 

There you go it was the fusebox, just easier than you thought :-)

Standard ratings are 20A low beam and 35A high beam.

 

That fuse box has caused consternation to me as well. And, I think my car got a new Hella light relay by it's PO. Cleaning the underside of the box and rolling the fuses fixed a lot of odd light issues.


Curiosity and???


Check the lower right corner of the picture. That rusty bolt with what appears to be a wire under it is screaming, "trouble here"!!!!


Carl

 

mmmm, everything about that really looks ugly. Would be good to work out what it does and tidy it up or bin it if its a left over from some other previous owner adventure.

 

Oh by the way my problem was caused by a lazy mechanic who changed the high beams to on/off with the indicator lever instead of the dipper switch on the ground (series 1). Under the steering wheel the relay was hidden. It wasn't even properly soddered in, just twisted and taped.