Hi all I have a problem whereby while I'm working on the car with the doors open I can't switch the interior lights off.
I can switch the lights on and off whilst in the car with the doors closed ok.
Problem is it's probably no good for the battery to have the lights on all day when I work on the car.....I currently tape the door switch while I work.
Any ideas would be most welcomed.

 

Taping your switch as you're doing is about the only to do this.

Not only is it a drain on your battery to have the light on continually but it will fry your pillar light lenses and they'll crumble/shatter into a pile of sharp shards that cut into your seats when you try to remove the lens to change the festoon light. (Ask me how I know that.)

If you Must have the battery connected to work on things then remove the festoons from all 3 fixtures (including the map light) and work until you're finished.
(';')

 

Thnx Lnr I thought being new to this jag I might have missed something in being able to switch them off.....guess it's tape or removing globes.

 

it is normal for the interior lights to stay on with any open door, and there is no switch.

in the 1970's JC Whitney used to sell a metal "stop" plate which is screwed on one end to the existing door switch screw of the Jaguar switch housing, and then you can slide it over the switch plunger to keep the lights OFF when the door is open. I have them installed in my car.

 

As I found out yesterday, you cannot find new ones and used ones are
hard to find... the old plastic, hot bulbs and too much use makes them
discolored and brittle.

I will keep looking for new ones...

 

contact David at Everyday XJ I bet he has good used ones.

 

I purchase from David all the time... his supply is exhausted and most of the
rest of the worlds is gone.. 40+ years and no one is making them any longer.
Fortunately the light bulb holder underneath is the usable from a S3.

A injection mold would be easy to make but there are two different sides..
so two molds.

We are running out of certain S1 parts and these are at the top of the list!

 

Jose:


That is a slick idea. Is it merely, a small bar to slide over the plunger?


The switch on the diver's door post just plumb wore out. It is a very intricate and delicate little thing. I took it out once and tried to fix it. It merely completes the ground leg for the interior lights. for a while mine would go on and then off merely by pressing on it laterally. I even swapped in a passenger switch that worked, Nope, not there.


So, interior lighting is on the fritz. Oh well, no dead battery while I struggle with the electrics.


Rather than mess with cover removal, I'd merely remove the screws holding the post switch.


Or the battery cable, unless, I needed power.


A 3D printer, CD, and clear plastic. Hmm, new covers.


Whew, many tasks loom here.


Carl

 

Carl, I'm away from my XJ otherwise I would send you a picture.

cut a thin metal plate the same shape as the door jamb switch housing (see picture), the metal should be slightly thicker than 1/16th", but not as thick as 1/8".

mark a screw hole on one end of the new plate matching the upper housing screw hole and drill a hole same size as the switch housing screw hole.

you can use the same screw but the original screw might be shaped to countersink into the switch's housing, so you can get a non-countersink screw.

remove the upper screw from the switch housing, insert the screw in the new plate, tighten the screw and plate to the switch housing and door jamb so that the new plate "pivots" or "rotates" over the plunger and pushes the plunger in when the plate is over the plunger, just like the door pushes the plunger when you close the door, except this remedy allows you to keep the interior lights off when you want to leave the doors open. It does not interfere with anything and it shuts off the key-in-ignition buzzer too.

that's it, the lights will stay off until you slide the plate left or right and allow the plunger to come back out.

NOTE: if you open any other door, the lights will come back ON, so repeat the mod over the other doors that you want to leave open.

 

Jose:


Exactly as I envisaged it. But, my driver door switch is on the fritz, so not an issue at present.


When wrestling with my David Boger sourced replacement ignition switch, I noted that the key busser switch harness was open! Apparently, PO got disgusted. for kicks, I connected it. It buzzed a couple of times, then shut up. Probably just my erratic door switch.


As my car is a lump, gotta find why the coil power source disappeared!!! Driver side fuse bank quirky!!


Or, I may take a hiatus and fix the Briggs and Stratton powered lawn vacuum. Why, just cuz. I got no lawn to vacuum, just four "meadows".


Carl


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