Hello there!

I am not 100% sure I am in the right group, but after saying Hi in the new members forum I just wanted to introduce myself here!

Im Bryan!

I just inherited a 1973 XJ6 from my father who passed away back in October. I have driven the car a few times now and it is a blast, but boy o boy, there are a lot of kinks I am finding. Also, I have a few questions if someone wouldn't mind indulging a person who has ZERO mechanical abilities. lol

So, I know that my dad swapped the 6 cylinder with a chevy 350. Also gave it a TH350 tranny. I know that he bored the engine and gave it a new cam, and some other light modifications. I mention these things because I am not sure if it has an bearing on my questions.

1. Dash lights do not work. Speedo, RPM, oil, battery, etc. BUT the little lights for the buttons work like for the fuel tank switch, headlamps, etc. So, I changed the fuses behind the panel that you unscrew. Nope. still dont work. What else can I try?

2. Same with headlights. One is dim, so I bought new headlamps. Nope. still dim. My neighbor says to check the ground wire. Well, Where and what the heck is that? lol

So, I know there are a lot of bugs to fix, and I am happy to do it in my fathers honor and for my benefit. But, are there things I should know about this car other than his personal notes on converting the engine and tranny?

Thank you, cant wait to make some new friends!

 

hi and welcome.

you have a Series 2 XJ and because you don't have the original engine, it is called a "Lump".

there are many Series 2 owners here who will help you resolve the lights, and a few with lumps too.

your neighbor was right, you have a bad ground at the headlight, easy fix.

But remember this: don't throw new parts at old problams, it never works. Fix the problem first.

 

A series 2. Okay. Sounds good! Lump, okay. that doesnt sound as good, but I will take it. lol
glad to hear a bad ground is easy to fix, but I guess the dash lights wont be so easy. Good advise, Jose. Thank you. I will keep that in mind. :-)

 

I once thought I had the same problem in my series III, turns out there is a dimmer *** above the radio, same height as the cigar lighter, which I had turned down to zero. If the series II has a dimmer for the dash lights you might want to play with it, I hope that's your problem.

 

good tip for the Series 3, it's true, the dimmer/rheostat sort of corrodes in place, like a volume control that gets scratchy and you can clean it by turning the knob many times, same with the dimmer.

I'm not familiar with the Series 2, only with the Series 3 (1980-1987), that's why I don't know where the headlight ground is in your car, but it is near the back of the headlight if it's anything like my 1984.

open the hood and look behind it, you will see the 4 buckets of the headlights, usually painted black,
you will see a wiring sleeve with wires inside it leading from one headlight to another, and maybe a wire that is screwed by itself to the hood near the bucket. That would be your ground wire.

you first disconnect the NEGATIVE (black) CABLE from the battery; This is very important in Jaguars when working with the wiring;

then you go back and unscrew the ground wire terminal with a phillips screwdriver, hold the round "eye" connector and with sandpaper or a cardboard nail file, clean it until shiny metal, then you do the same thing to the part of the hood that the eye connector is going to touch. Then you screw it back in place. That should resolve your dimmed light.

the dash lights will be easy too, just have to find someone here who's been there, done that with your model/year XJ.

 

Close enough and welcome.

My condolences on the passing of your dad. Old Jags are a handful and you have the opportunity to spending countless hours learning and working on it and thinking of your dad.

Lumps are good in my opinion. Search around...there are many posts here about lumps and there are quite a few lump projects in progress including my own.

Yeah check the dimmer as previously stated.

Check the grounds. Most vehicles uses the chassis as the negative, earth or ground half of the electrical circuit. So the + side of the circuit comes from the switch and the - side of the circuit is completed by the body of the car. You can add an additional ground or negative wire from the head lamp back to the - battery cable as a test. Dont do anything until you understand electrical circuits. Get a old yellow flash light, take it apart and figure it out.

http://madrobotics.com/wp-content/up...lectricity.gif
The black side or - is the body of the car.

IF no easy luck then....
Call David Bodger at Everyday XJ and get a Series 3 headlamp wiring harness. The Series 3 used better quality wiring and Jag moved the headlamp fused to the fender and off the radiator.

Nice sentiment and it must be nice to have some notes from your dad. Bugs to fix...that's typical for old Jags and especially so for converts. One issue at a time and enjoy the ride. Your dad had great taste in cars and clearly had a pragmatic side. As for what you should know...These are great driving old cars and very rewarding to work on. Have it checked for safety issues, like leaking brake lines by a local mechanic. When the Series 1 XJ came out in 1969 is was revolutionary. Even by todays standards, they handle well and ride comfortably.

 

Bryan:

the XJ Series are as follows:

Series 1 XJ 1968 to 1973
Series 2 XJ 1973 to 1979
Series 3 XJ 1980 to 1992
Series 4 XJ 1983 to 1994 (this Series is called XJ-40, and that's another forum)

if you post a picture of your car, we can make sure it's a Series 2 or a Series 1. The last of the Series 1 were made in 1973.

 

Hello, Bryan, I see you found your way here.
I also see you've already found lots of help.

About your dimmer, it's a volume control thingy under the dash by the hand brake. Mine was crudded up. The trip odometer is down there too but it's farther to the right and closer to the edge. You'll know for sure which one you have when you start turning them.

Work it back and forth to both extremes of travel a few times and see if that fixes your lights. It might not as your button lights seem to work and they're also controlled by the dimmer, but try that first.

The Headlight, Ignition and fan/heater controls are lit by a fiber optic system buried in the console that is not affected by the dimmer. If one of those 4 work they probably all work unless one of the light pipes has fallen out of its socket.

When I got my car neither of the high beams (the ones in the hood) worked at all. They were never grounded. I've attached pictures of both my high beam grounds for reference. Jose has told you how to deal with them.
(';')

 

Hi Bryan, welcome again. I did see your post in the new member forum.

If the front of your car looks like mine you have a series 1(mine is a 1973 series 1), if your turn signals are below the bumper and you don't have the small grills below your high beam lights you have a series 2. The series 2 bumper is where my small grills and indicators are and the grill is not as tall as mine.

Sounds like series 1 if your fuses are behind the gauges in the centre of the dash.

I will get some pics of the headlight ground wires after dinner.

 

Pic 1. Headlight buckests with wiring in sleeve.

Pic 2. When I Looked my earth wire had come adrift.

Pic 3. I had to make up a small extension to earth the light. Red was the only colour wire I could get my hands on for now.

 

I can see the Series 1 and maybe the Series 2 were still using the "bullet" terminals/connectors from the 1960's like in my 1965 S type.

in the Series 3 they started using "Ring" terminals/connectors except at the sidelights where they kept using "Bullet" terminals/connectors.

Bullet connectors are not very "positive" (no pun intended). You might want to replace those headlight grounds with ring terminals. But you need a soldering gun, solder, and soldering flux to do a strong job. In the meantime you can try to tighten the bullet connector "holder", then pushing the "bullet" tightly into the holder.

 

Mine doe's have the plates for bullet connectors, but I have put ring connectors on the screws for the bullet plates. But it was after dinner in the dark using the focus light from the camera!

I will revisit the ground wires properly once I have all my chrome back on after the paint job.

 

W O W! What a great response to my questions! First, to those of you mentioned my dad, thank you. and ICSAMERICA you are right, he did have great taste in cars and he was pragmatic. Sounds like you knew him. :-) He also had a 66 Corvette that went to my brother and my mom still has his daily driver.

Anyway, THANK YOU ALL for the advise, o1XJR and LNRB I will have to print all this out and go over it while I am out at the car.

I will certainly keep you all updated, and again THANK YOU!

After reading from 01XJR I think it is a series one, because the turn signals are below the bumper BUt is has big ring like things on the front bumper and yours look like teeth.

 

If you jump over and have a look at the thread linked below the silver car is a series 1, the other is a series 2.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...r-bars-136430/

 

I recently had a similar issue with dim headlights and in the end one of them started to go out on me, I went along and cleaned each and every ground termination on the body I could find and in the end I looked at the fuses for the headlights and they were DAMN HOT, plenty of resistance... I cleaned both the ends of the fuses and the fuse box terminals and they are nice and bright now....


I love it when it's a simple fix

 

Electrical thermal paste is your friend.
Otherwise, The Prince of Darkness is your friend. :^)