My black XJS gets extremely jealous when I drive the 07 GMC. It "repays" me by developing a new fault every time I leave him in the driveway.

It didn't help matters that I left him out in the rain. Here's the latest from the L-word prince of darkness:

When initiating a RH turn signal, now the dead-bulb-warning lamp AND the fog lamps "on" indicator lamp, flash in unison INSTEAD of the RH turn signal indicator, which up til now had been working fine.

While this strange re-routing is flashing, if you step on the brake pedal, the rate of turn signal flashing slows down about halfway, and the fog lamp indicator pulses dim & bright in unison with the flasher.

The good news is, that the RH turn signal DO still flash at both front and rear.

What evil spirit may have caused this? I'm thinking something to do with the rain.

 

At least it is an intermittent fault

Bad earth somewhere??

Strange that these cars don't like rain, we get enough of it in the land of their birth.

 

I agree, a bad ground sounds likely.

To start, clean the blub sockets and trace down the ground points and clean them. too.

On these older Jags about 99% of the infamous Prince of Darkness can be traced to dirty/loose/corroded grounds and connections.

Post back :-)

DD

 

Thanks, which grounds and where do I find them? Should I start with the bulb ground lugs in the boot/trunk? At least I know where those are...are there any other likely spots the gremlin may be hiding?

I'm on it, thanks for the help.

One more thing, the bad-bulb lamp comes on when I mash the brake pedal. I have confirmed that one of the brake lamps has an intermittant connection, probably at the socket. Will start there.

 

As I recall....heh heh heh....the grounds for the front lamps are under the hood towards the front of each fender. Hopefully that'll get in in the right neck of the woods at least.

Here's a tip: whenever you're working in the car for whatever reason and you spot a ground connection, take a couple minutes to remove/clean/tighten it "while you're there".




Good thinking....start with known related problem areas. A bad socket might be the problem. The bulb failure works on the basis of current draw. If a bulb isn't working (for whatever reason) the draw will be reduced and the warning light comes on.

In case you didn't know, if the parking brake is on.....or the system "thinks" the parking brake is on because of a switch fault.....the bulb failure light will glow. This is by design...it is the test of the brake lights.

You could possibly have a couple separate faults. All you can do it address things one step at a time.

Cheers
DD

 

Success! There were two problems. One was solved by a flash of synapses firing, coupled with these posts.

I remembered the last thing I did to the car was to begin removal of the busted/broke/dead power antenna.

I recalled the cover to the antenna was secured to a stud that was used as a ground lug for the RH tail light assembly. I checked it; it was loose! Took it off, cleaned it, tightened it, WAL-LA, all strange indicator lamp and turn signal weirdness GONE, even the RH turn signal indicator worked again!

Next, to the intermittant LH brake light. Removed lens, assistant applied brake, wiggled lamp, on she comes. Removed lamp, cleaned/lubed positive center conductor, bent bayonet socket slightly "oval" to provide a better interference fit for the ground shell of the bulb, bingo, back in business.

Carried aloft by these successes, I removed the remainder of the old POS antenna and my son and I began the job of installing the new POS antenna...Ask me if you want to hear THAT story. ;-)

Thanks again Doug and Translator for pointing me in the right direction.

 

Glad you got it sorted whilst I was asleep (ah time zones).

Another snippet of useless information; if you have different Watt bulbs on the same circuit you may also have a bulb fail warning come on, even if all bulbs are lit.

ie mismatched h/lamps, sides, stops etc. apparently due to the different resistances between the bulb fail modules for each side of the circuit left/right.

 

Move to Jupiter?

 

Thought about that, but trying to get the old XJ to 'Milliways' requires some serious intervention;-)