I assume, I am new to the XJ series cars, that the curled-up vinyl around the defrost vent holes in the dash is a common problem? I didn't like how it prevented the vent covers from sitting flat. Solution, a delicate application with a heat gun set on low and clothespins used to hold down the edges until they cooled in place. Once cooled a bit of two-part epoxy will help ensure they don't curl up in the future.

I am also a big fan of 303 Protectant. I have used it on all my cars and have great success with it. I gave the dash pad a liberal coating of it and let it soak in. l am not sure if it soaks in enough to "soften" the vinyl but is a much better product than Armor All.

 

have not had the problem in my 1984 but good to know about this remedy if it happens.

another trick to try at the Map Lamp ( front center lip of the dash pad ), is to glue a piece of thin mirror glass to the bottom of the plastic bulb housing so the bulb will reflect more light downwards towards the shelf.

 

Great advice on the mirror and an easy mod. I was surprised to learn that the bulb didn't have as clear cover.

 

yes, no clear lens, I think it would melt if it did. The bulb creates too.much heat.

 

I Very Carefully painted the back of all 3 bulbs, Pillar lights and map light, with Chrome paint.


I masked the ends of the festoon bulbs to prevent short circuis.




The difference, especially with the Pillar lights was Amazing!
However, as mentioned, these are HOT lights. With all the heat/light being reflected out, the pillar lenses are greatly subject to damage from leaving the door open for example.
(';')

 

That is the drawback of incandescent bulbs, 90% of their energy is actually heat. I have not had great success with LED bulbs in such places as taillights, but maybe the pillar and dash light would be a good place for such.

 

Good tip, I used the same stuff on the inside of the fiber optic collector housing under the ski slope and one of the tail light sections. Much better than silver paint.

Dave

 

What issues have you had with LED's, I have converted virtually all lighting to LED. One problem I had was with the turn signal lights, a standard incandescent flasher unit won't work, you'll have to replace it with a unit for LED's, readily available in parts stores.

Dave

 

I tried LEDs in the pillar lights and was Massively disappointed.
First off, the natural color of LEDs is a green tinge, which is Terrible for the tan/beige interior of my Jag. Not only that, they were much more dim than I wanted (way beyond Mood Lighting), as sometimes I need to see what I'm doing and there was No Way with these puny lights.

Which is why I regressed to OEM Festoon bulbs.
(';')

 

When trying LEDs in certain cars, like my Mercedes, I would always seem to get a bulb out indicator. In the end, LEDs just weren't worth the hassle for me.

 

The bulb out indicator and turn signal flasher both rely on the resistance of the filament in an incandescent bulb, LED's have virtually zero resistance. This makes the bulb-out indicator think the bulb's burned out and doesn't give the turn signal flasher enough on/off time to operate the turn signals properly.

Elinor, I found LED festoon bulbs and they are much brighter than the originals and the color doesn't conflict with my Biscuit interior. I can see if I can find the part #, but I bought almost all of my exterior/interior LED's from Classic Car Leds in the UK, shipping was cheaper than anywhere in the US and they have any bulb ever made (probably).
www.classiccarleds.co.uk.

 

Great work on the dash. I am also a huge fan of 303.

Jeff H.

 

I also bought from Classic Car LEDs and can highly recommend them. I've replaced pretty much every interior bulb, including the instrument lights. Finally, I can see the instruments properly in the dark and the pillar lights properly illuminate the interior with the added benefit that the delicate pillar light glass doesn't get hot and brittle. Downside is that the rheostat doesn't work but the panel lights are still not that bright that I'd want to dim them. I'm particularly pleased with the impact of changing the bulb in the Opticell unit - the heater controls and light and ignition controls are now also nicely lit. Finally, glovebox and boot/trunk both also benefitted from LED, especially once I'd added a second light in the boot.

Nice tip on the dashtop vents - I'm going to do that tomorrow as my vents are quite unsightly right now.

 

Markdpeter,
Would you have the partnumbers for the bulbs you changed out? I'm particularily interested in the Pillar festoons and the Opticell ones. Thanks, Ian.

 

FWIW I went to LED bulbs on my Series III gauges. What a PITA. I nearly gave up.

The gauges use three different kinds of bulbs. Finding LED replacements for all three types was easy. Finding LED replacements giving all the same color and brightness was difficult. The four small gauges matched each other but didn't match the speedo nor tach, which themselves didn't match.

I ended up converting a couple of the sockets so as to reduce things to just two types of bulbs and with help found on these pages eventually ended up with six gauges equally illuminated.

Never again !

Cheers
DD

 

N LEDS in my Jaguar. But, a bunch of them in the house. Includes a buch of flash lights. And motion sensed exterior ligts. Imprssed by them.

here, I was amazed that old style wod clothes pins were around.

As a kid they were used in rubber guns. I had one at onetime here. where did t go?
Working on teephone system is my task for the day.

 

Is this one of those interesting design features you told me about 4 years ago when I signed on? I experienced the exact same out come when I went to LED's in the dash. I haven't tried to equalize them because I don't drive it in the winter, when it's dark. Did the original incandescent bulbs give off equal lighting?

Dave

 

Yeah, the incandescents gave equal light.

Cheers
DD

 

Opticell was

BA9S BRIGHT WHITE 200 LUMEN T4W 233 LED SIDELIGHT UPGRADE BULB LLB233 LLB989

Pillar Festoons:

WARM WHITE INTERIOR COURTESY / NUMBER PLATE LED BULB GLB239 GLB256 C5W 35 - 37 MM 12 VOLT FESTOON

For the Pillar I also tried this one which I used for the map light but preferred the Warm White:

INTERIOR COURTESY / NUMBER PLATE LED BULB GLB239 GLB254 C5W 35 - 37 MM 12 VOLT FESTOON

As @Doug mentions, the instrument lights were a bit painful but got there in the end with a mixture of:

EXTRA BRIGHT T10 CAR BULB LED BRIGHT WHITE W5W W10W DRL 501 SIDE

286 T5 LED DASHBOARD UPGRADE BULBS T5 74 VARIOUS COLOURS

GLB987 E10MES Green 8 SMD LED Flat Bulbs Dashboard / Gauge Lighting

Great service from Classic Car LEDs