My ever growing honeydo list keeps growing bigger...now my high beams won't turn off when the headlights are on. I'm in need of a used turn signal/high beam switch for my 86 S3 XJ6. If anyone has an extra, please drop me a line/text/message/post...Thanks in advance to all!

Jim

 

Contact David Boger at EverydayXJ

Are you sure it isn't the high beam relay? Much more common failure point

Also, the 'switch' is really just a spring metal tab at the end of the stalk that provides a ground for the relay. Try cleaning it with aerosol contact cleaner. This has worked for me a couple times with fussy high beam problems.

If you remove the column shrouds (fragile!) you can see the tab if looking down from above.

Cheers
DD

 

The switch works sometimes, although you can hear and feel a "click" from the high beam lever when it works correctly...currently it doesn't make the click sound/feel...only the plastic squeaking. I think i sent a msg to David but didn't hear back from him yet...maybe I'll send another in case I screwed up the first one.

Jim

 

This switch is an entire assembly that includes both the wipers and washer stalk switch or ''arm'' and the turn signals, high beam, and cruise control switches. You need the factory service manual to do the job step by step. Removal of the upper half of the steering column cover usually results in a broken Hazard / emergency flashers switch unless you lower the steering column enough to have sufficient clearance for the upper cover or ''nacelle'' to come off without forcing anything. You can see a 1986 XJ-S assembly in my website below. Same thing as the XJ-6 except the arm stickers are white.

 

Column shrouds fragile? Yeah, Doug, I became aware of that...


Good old JB weld and a tad of black Duck tape secured them !!!


No one but me knows.....


Carl

 

Have you actually tested it electrically? all it does is send an earth pulse to a "special" relay that latches over to your high beams and then another pulse to unlatch it. Generally the column stalk itself has little or no feel and is not complex.

If you put a meter on it and see an earth at the relay when you operate the stalk , you will know its the relay (which is a more likely cause, they have tend to get a bit iffy after only 30 years of operation:-).

 

David's "day time" job is as roofing contractor. As it has been very wet
over in his part of the world, business is "good".


A tough job. Soaking wet in winter, cooking hot in summer.


A tribute that he handles it well and remains an all around good guy.


Carl

 

I'll have to take the ohm meter to it to see what I can find out, although the switch feels "different" when you pull back on it. I never had a problem with it until one day it quit toggl'ing the high beams. Any idea where the headlight relay is? I might be able to rig up a quick fix that allows me to switch from high to low and vice versa. The Haines manual I have doesn't detail the headlight relay for some reason...it also describes the color codes on the wires which makes it a lot easier when troubleshooting the problems!

Jim

 

The relay is on the LH fender inner apron...a few inches forward of the master cylinder on a LHD car.

The blue/black wire at the relay is the ground from the stalk switch. Ground that terminal on the relay with a jumper wire and see if the high beams work normally. If so, that confirms lack of ground from the stalk switch

Cheers
DD

 

^^ Important reminder !

Cheers
DD

 

I finally got to the task of checking the relay, and when checking the voltage on the relay, there is no blue/brown wire on my model. I checked the top and most accessible contact (Blue/Red) and saw 12V on it, which dropped to 0V when I pulled back on the hi/low switch, and rebounds when i release the switch. It seems that the switch is working, at least to some degree.
It looks like the relay might be the culprit instead of the switch...despite my earlier opinions. I banged on it and cleaned the terminals but still no reaction to the switch being toggled. Is there any other component that should be looked at? I hate driving without headlights, but full time high beams doesn't work either. Any suggestions?

Jim

 

Hi

Doug was telling you to work with the blue/black , as you point out there is no blue brown in that area.

Your tests look normal for the low beam side what you measured and saw is normal, so your switch operates the relay OK. However it looks like the relay may have a short between 56a and 56b providing low beam power to the high beams.

If you want/need to drive the car and dont really need high beam in the short term you should be able to pull the blue white wire on the relay and that will disable the high beams ( or pull fuses 3&5 in the panel just forward of the relay if that is easier).

I'd be looking for another relay, David Boger and EverydayXJ may be able to help. You can also replace it with a generic relay also if you arent a purist and want to tinker (and have the time)

 

check the headlight fuses at the engine compartment fuse box next to the coolant tank, forward of the relay, those 4 headlight fuses are a common problem. Clean the brass contacts with emery sandpaper. The fifth fuse is for the auxilary fan.

 

I've fixes that I learned the hard way. I have a proclivity for
that.


1. Just roll the fuses in their cradles. Works a lot of times in various places.


2. The black ground in he vicinity of the lamp. A mere screw attaches the eyelet to the chassis,


Early on, in Jaguar ownership, I applied a time tested fix on domestic critter. Light out, swap in anew one. Nope new one dark as well!!!
found the ground fixed and light returned. Original is a spare bulb, now???


Carl

 

I want to thank everyone for their input. The info on which wires and/or fuses that go to the high beams will help greatly by allowing me to drive without my high beams blazing. On a side note...my high beams light up the area in front of me like a 1000 watt light...it is VERY bright. Is this just because they are angled up more than the low beams...or are they just a much higher wattage bulb? They aren't getting over-voltage, just seem very bright compared to the low beams.
Now that it's daylight and fairly sunny outside (but cold!) I can check out the wiring to the relay and ring out the correct lines for the relay and switch. If I was afraid of being bored to death, just let me keep my S3...there is ALWAYS something that needs attention!

Thanks again!

Jim

 

Correct observation.


High beam at 65 watts.


Low at 35 Watts.


Hence old nomenclature, bright and dim, goes with high and low.


Carl

 

I just did a quick Google. Amazing.


Carl

 

I took a few minutes and tried to do some checking on the relay, since that seems to be the culprit. I pulled the fuses (3 & 5), which knocked out both the high beams and the low beams. If I'm interpreting this correctly, it seems to confirm that the high beams are being fed via a short in the relay from the low beams. The access to the relay is a bit cramped and I'm not exactly petite, so I removed each connection, tried the hi/low switch after removing each spade connection, but found no bad connections as far as I know. In some part of the car's history, the wiring to the headlights was replaced due to bad connectors, so the typical blue/black wiring code has been replaced with generic uncolored coded wire.
From everything I'm seeing, it seems that the relay is indeed shot and shorted between high and low beams. I welcome any and all opinions. It seems that the relay is seeing the switch's closing, but no longer switches. With the original color coding gone,e, I'm reluctant to put a ground to one of the relay's spade connectors...the relay's diagram is unreadable and the wiring is all the same color..I don't want to start blowing fuses un-necessarily. Looks like the next stop is David's Jag site...

Jim

 

Sounds like you are making progress.

You also might want to download the s57 wiring diagram in the links at the top of this forum. Its an excellent wiring guide and aid to understanding whats going on. Its broken into functional sections (headlights being one) so you dont have the issue of working through a whole car wiring diagram maze. Its one of the best diagram layouts. I have seen.

Its curious that taking out fuses 3&5 knocks out both beams. Even if shorted as suspected at the relay , it should still only take out the high beams. That starts to sound like mis-wiring.

Just back tracking for a second. At the start , you did say (or I took it that way) that this was a new problem. Has this all worked previously? or is this a new car and you have just discovered the problem?

Just double check you have both the blue white wires together on 56a and the single blue red on 56b (unless these colors are gone as well?) 56b has 12V on it with the headlights switch on and low beam, when you switch to high beam you should see 12V appear on 56a and go away on 56b. This can be checked with the 56ab wiring unplugged. If OK the potential problem moves towards the fuse box.

Unbolting the relay (small bolts through to inner fender) will let you move it to see the numbering on the relay. Bit of a pain but will help you diagnostics and may have to come off anyway.

 

Thanks for the info. This problem started about 6 months ago and would usually fix itself if you didn't mess with the high beam switch. So, it was sporadic after working without a problem for years. I had a problem a few years ago with one of the high beams not working. The mechanic replaced a lot of the suspect joints/junctions because it appeared that the headlight was having ground loop issues.
The Jag sat for many years and a lot of electrical as well as mechanical issues are present...many more than I would expect from a car with only 56K miles. When the mechanic re-worked a lot of the junctions, perhaps he crossed a couple wires when he was trying to troubleshoot the ground loop. When I pulled the fuses, both lights went out on one side per fuse. I'll need to check the wiring diagrams you mentioned. The relay in my car is riveted to the firewall and doesn't have much movement...the lower spade connectors are almost impossible to get to with my stubby fingers. I believe that the wires coming from the fuse box still have the color codes on them...I might be able to trace them to the relay spades to double check the wiring, although it seems OK. I'm considering providing a ground to the relay to try to get it to manually switch, but I think I already tried that connection with a voltmeter, which dropped from 12 VDC to 0 when I pulled the high beam switch (the connection was on top of the relay, the easiest one to pull off). If that is indeed the proper connector, then the relay has to be flakey, despite a thorough beating with a screwdriver to try to shake it loose...maybe. A good solid whack is still a tool of choice in my service book!

Jim