Well after researching on here and not ever finding any one good, easy answer to the issue of the XJS warning/indicator lamps being dim I did some trial and error testing with a few prospect bulbs ordered online and found the perfect bulbs!

The one that fits and is nice and bright is model B8.5D from LED Lights, Bulbs & LED Lighting Accessories - SUPER BRIGHT LEDS | Super Bright LEDs ...

B8 LED Bulb - High Power Instrument Panel LED | Instrument Cluster & Gauge LED Lights | LED Car Bulbs | Super Bright LEDs | Super Bright LEDs

I ordered a red one for my test bulb (Part # B8.5D-RHP) and it is easily 3x to 4x brighter than the one new bulb I recently got from the dealership and 4x to 5x brighter than all of my cars other bulbs which are still original.

A test drive during the daylight with the top down on a sunny day and for once I can tell if my parking brake is on or not! That is where I ended up leaving the one red one I ordered but I will be counting the number of each color that I need and placing an order ASAP to replace all of my others. I was worried the LED might not be an "even" light but the entire area of whichever red indicator I put it behind (and the parking brake where I ended up leaving it) all are lit up nice, bright, and evenly just like they should have done from the factory.

They run $2.59 each and only a few $ shipping and adding more does not run up the shipping charges much so best to order all you need at once.

They are available in Red, Green, Yellow (also use Yellow bulbs behind any orange indicators), and Blue which should cover all the colors in our cars upper indicator row.


I don't suppose anyone already knows the count needed for each color? I think the high beam indicator is the only Blue one so that's simple enough but does anyone know the number of indicators that are Red, Yellow/Orange, and Green?

Someone correct me if I am wrong but I *think* I counted;

9 Reds
4 Greens
4 Yellows
1 Blue

Which all together would run about $46.62 with about $5-$6 shipping, which will be about the best $50-$55 I've spent yet as far as driving comfort!

 

This Thread...

 

Can you use the LEDs in a 1990?

 

Yes, but not this sort. You need those that are a replacement for the T5 ordinary sort of warning light bulb. For the instrument backlights, 5W T10s are good too, or their LED equivalent.

Greg

 

Which thread?

 

My count was off on the colors needed for Facelift models, what I was looking at online was for the older models. If you have a facelift model with the newer style dash then you need;

7 Red
7 Amber
5 Green
1 Blue


The breakdown is;

RED - Battery/Ignition, Parking Brake, Brake System Fault, Low Coolant, Low Oil Pressure, Seat Belt, and Exhaust Temp Warning.

AMBER - Anti-lock Brake System Warning, Low Fuel, Automatic Transmission Failure, Check Engine, Low Windscreen Washer Fluid, Rear Fog Lamps, and Bulb Failure.

GREEN - Both Turn Indicators, 1st Gear Inhibit, Sport Mode, and Front Fog Lamps.

BLUE - High Beam Indicator.



I just placed an order for a complete set and my total was $54.79 which was $51.80 for all of the bulbs plus $2.99 for USPS Priority Mail shipping.

 

is worthless... (see where I'm going?)

 

How is it worthless? A lot of people have this problem and this is an easy and relatively inexpensive fix that anyone can do themselves (all you have to know how to do is change a bulb) with something that will last a long time. I wish there had been a thread like it when I was searching but all I got was hit-and-miss mentions of people with the problem and no actual fixes that would work for everyone except for one guy who sells the same LED's in a kit for $99 with $15 S&H and doesn't tell what the model numbers of his LED's are and removes them from the original packaging that has the numbers on it. No doubt because he doesn't want people to know so they wont realize they can buy the same ones for less than half the price direct.

 

It's a long running thing on car forums - we need pics!!! The thread has plenty of merit, it's just nice to see photos of what you're describing. Let's see your finely tuned machine's dashboard at night with only the headlight indicator on



It's been really amusing to me lately how many TV shows and movies I've seen featuring running XJSs with all manner of warning lamps lit. I mean these things must've barely made it the couple hundred yards down the road to get the driving shots

Check out threads on Banshee and Only Lovers Left Alive for examples

Nice mod, would love to see it.

Cheers

 

I tried to post pics but I never can get them to post on this forum for some reason.

Do they have a way to store a photo on the website and then post it? The only place I have to host a pic is Facebook but when I put one there then link to it from here, it comes up as just a link and not a picture.

You can click the link to see the picture but it doesn't show up automatically in the posting like some other people seem to be able to get to happen.


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...2&l=e8a47fea2b

 

SouthernGypsy,

When doing a post, go into "Go Advanced" click, "Manage Attachments" and browse and select the pic from your PC. Then click the "upload" button. That seems to work ok for me.

Paul

 

When installing the LEDs in the warning lights you will need to find the correct polarity. I did this using a 9Volt battery to establish which side of the LED was ground (earth to some of you) and marked the LED and check which contact on the circuit board was the ground.

 

Thanks, will try that.

 

Great work finding and verifying those!






I made the BIG MISTAKE buying a cluster light led upgrade kit from v12s.com. It was an absolute rip off at $98, and they are not replacements for the warning bulbs. The don't have the twist in connector/base. I figured out how to disassemble the originals, and solder in the leds, but it was a lot of work.
Also v12s.com did not even send the correct mix of colors. I contacted them for replacements of the 2 incorrect colors. NO REPLY. So, not only does their product suck, so does their customer service.

 

Here is a pic of the backside of the cluster with them installed....

The only caveat I found is that I ended up having to take the LED bulb out of the Sport light, the 1st Gear Lockout light, and the Check engine light and put normal bulbs back in only those three. The reason was the Sport light and Check engine lights both glow very dimly all the time when the LED bulb is in those, they do brighten to full normal brightness when you activate sport mode or in the case of check engine during the turn-on diagnostics. The reason I had to put the regular bulb back in the first gear lockout light is that whenever an LED is in that one then the regular bulb I put back in the sport mode slot wont work at all which is just bizarre, on the sport mode and 1st lockout either both have to be LED's (but then you have the sport one glowing dimly all the time) or both have to be regular bulbs, otherwise neither work at all if you mix the bulb types, as I said bizarre. I can easily see by the switch when I have either of those modes on anyway, having a bright LED in the check engine light would have been nice but I always keep an eye on my gauges so a regular bulb shouldn't be a problem. The LED's worked fine in all of the other slots. Seems I read somewhere about someone else noticing their check engine and sport mode lights sometimes glow very dimly all the time. Mine don't with regular bulbs but did with the LED's, only just barely, during the day you'd never have seen them and would have to be looking right at them even at night but I still didn't want that.

 

Thanks for the picture. I too, have a Sport mode light that glows all the time with the LED (I may be the one you read about in another thread). That bulb was the only one which was burnt out when I replaced them all with leds. I suspect it is because of the constant voltage it was receiving.
I have ordered a handful of the leds you have told us about (because the awful upgrade kit I bought from v12s.com was incomplete). When I get those, I plan to attempt to troubleshoot the reason why there is constant voltage coming to the Sport mode bulb. Your picture gives me a pretty good view of the layout. I didn't have the cluster completely removed when I did my upgrade. So I couldn't get a clear view of the backside.
I could see some resistors on the circuit board, but your picture shows me that there are a lot more active electronic components. I can see some diodes and at least one transistor. So there is something going on there that is a little more complicated than just power coming to the cluster from external sources. I suspect whatever those circuits are, are responsible for the cross talk between lights that you are experiencing.
Mine is a '93, and my sport mode switch is just a single function on/off switch. I don't have a 1st gear lockout light. I've seen pictures of later models which appear to have a 3 position rocker switch, but didn't know what they did. I'm guessing it has something to do with the 1st gear lockout?


Thanks,
Greg

 

Yes, some of the later models got the 1st gear lockout for winter weather driving, the switch positions on these are; Sport-Normal-1st Lockout. My '96 I6 has the lockout (which is the one I was working on this time) but my '95 V12 doesn't, it's just sport/normal.

 

The reason that the 95 v12 doesn't have a 1st gear lockout button is that 1st gear is always locked out from start on that car unless sport mode is selected. It was deemed that the torque of the v12 meant it was better to start normally in 2nd unless you really wanted 1st.

I'm going to convert my bulbs as well and am intrigued by the sport mode constant light. I'm going to check voltage on the terminals with the normal bulb in place to see if there is some form of residual current there which might light an led but not the normal bulb. The circuits of sport & 1st lockout might also be linked as you obviously can't have them both selected, which might be the cause of sport not illuminating if 1st lock is lit.

I'll try and do the checks at the weekend

Paul

 

Paul,
Let us know what you find. I may do the same thing this weekend. I received the LEDs I ordered from superbrightleds.com, so I need to pull the cluster to finish the job.
After enlarging the picture posted by SouthernGypsy, I can see that there are at least 3 transistors on the circuit board. I believe a transistor essentially uses a low voltage source to control a larger current flow. If these transistors are involved in the caution light circuits, my guess is that one or more of the signals coming to the cluster does not have sufficient wattage to run even one of those tiny bulbs. So the signal would be used to switch on a transistor to pass a higher current flow to the bulb.
That's a somewhat uneducated guess, and may be completely wrong. But if I'm right, perhaps there is a leakage flow through the transistor which is enough to dimly light an LED, but insufficient to heat a bulb filament.


Thanks,
Greg

 

You defiantly have to play with each one a little to figure out which way to orient the ground side. After I got them all figured out I took a black marker and marked which way went down in case I ever had to take them out again. But as far as the +/- side of the LED bulb some went up and some went down.