Hello Forum,
I am thinking about rewiring my headlights so that they stay on all of the time. They would come on when I turn the car on, and turn off when I turn the car off. Does anybody have any recommendations on the easiest way to accomplish this? I am doing it because I am terrible at remembering to turn the lights off and I am tired of getting a jump start every morning. OR... Did the 95 XJS 2+2 4L come with a warning tone if your lights were left on? Perhaps I just have a blown fuse or something. If I had the warning tone back, then I wouldn't have to worry about rewiring the lights for daytime running. Perhaps there is an aftermarket 'lights on' warning system I could install? Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

My '94 has a 'bong" sound when you leave the lights on after turning off the ignition...

Dave

 

...or maybe it's closer to a 'ding, ding, ding' type sound.

Dave

 

so it sounds as if my warning ding is not functioning. I looked through my fuses and I can't find any that have blown. Not sure why its not working.

 

Got it. From Kirby's book. Gonna try this out. I'll post pics when I do it:

HEADLIGHT BUZZER: The XJ-S doesn’t have one! What a cheap car. To add one is easy. You need a 12 volt
buzzer such as catalog no. 273-055 from Radio Shack, and a rectifier (or diode) such as catalog no. 276-1661. For the
buzzer you can also use any buzzer you’ve ripped out of a car, such as those pesky seat belt buzzers.
Connect one of the headlight wires to one end of the rectifier. Connect the other end of the rectifier to one lead of the
buzzer. Connect the other lead of the buzzer to one of the ignition wires. Both of these wires are near each other under
the dashboard -- from the headlight switch and the ignition switch.
A rectifier allows current to flow in only one direction. If you have wired it correctly, when both the ignition and the
headlights are on, there is no current flow because both wires are at 12 volts. When the ignition alone is on, there is no
flow because the rectifier stops it from flowing that way. When the headlights are on but the ignition is off, current
flows and the buzzer buzzes. If the buzzer buzzes when the ignition is on and the headlights are off, reverse the rectifier.
Jan Wikström did it a different way: “Pulling the key out also operates the switch that controls seat belt warning etc. As
my car doesn’t have those, I’ve used it to operate a “headlights on” warning buzzer.”
Connie Vloutely says, “I have been wanting to do this for a long time but could not find chime element suitable for
automotive use. One that works on 12 Volt DC. I hate buzzers. I found one in the local radio shack store P/N RS-
273-071.”

 

Maybe someone found it annoying, and unplugged it...

I am pretty sure it is behind the knee bolster on the driver's side.

Dave

 

I just changed my quad headlamps to euro lamps and actually wired the small parking bulbs to function as drl's. I switched the bulbs to hyper white led's now during the day, the headlights are half bright and at night they function as normal.

 

Thought I would close this one out. It turned out that I was not receiving the 'ding ding' because of a blown fuse. It is the fuse on the passenger side labeled 'Central locking/multi function unit'. The multi function unit controls the warning sound. The fuse was being blown by the central locking system, which I don't use anyway. I don't have a fob, and really, how hard is it to reach across the passenger seat to unlock the door? I disabled the central locking function in the footwell of the passenger side behind the console that covers the A pillar. Now the fuse doesn't blow, and I have my warning when I leave the lights on. While I was messing with electrics, I also pulled the relay for my hazards and turn signals since the turn signals would only work intermittently. I cleaned it up, and now they work perfectly! I'll find something else to fix next weekend. Perhaps the stereo or headliner or bang out some dings or tackle the high idle? Thinking about and planning the fixes is half the fun of owning an XJS. I don't know what I'll do with my weekends after I get the car fully sorted.

 

You'll never get it sorted, there will always be something....

 

New Lucas joke:

"How do you tell a counterfeit part from a genuine Lucas part?"

"The counterfeit part actually works!"