Discovered something interesting today...
Headlight globes in my '85 XJ-SC (Australian delivered) are 130/100W Halogen H4 globes. The manual suggests 60/55W globes, so was a previous owner aiming for much brighter headlights?
Reason for my discovery was that one of the headlight globes was out.
... Trap for young players (and the inexperienced like myself), that since the globe was out, I set about pullling the headlight trim ring, undoing the headlight wiper arms, releasing the headlamp, removing the globe and then to find the globe looked fine.
OK, a little investigation in the manual and I find the car has a fuse for the LHS and a separate fuse for the RHS headlight. Who would have thought???
The fuse in question "looked OK", but on pulling it out of the fuse holder, it came apart.
So today I have learnt:
1) That my globes are much brighter than documented. Not sure if this was standard for Australia or just a previous owner's preference.
2) Separate fuses for the LHS and RHS headlights.
Hope this info helps others.

 

In the Uk at least, those higher wattage bulbs are illegal for road use. The off roaders use them. Might be a good plan to up the amperage of the fuses though.

Recently I had a failed fuse like you have, where the end had come apart. AS to the LH/RH fuses, I never knew that!

 

Adam,

Personally I would remove those bulbs and fit the proper standard wattage type. There are a number of much brighter bulbs available today in the original wattage, such as Philips Xtreme +150, without having to resort to running 100+ watt bulbs that draw so much current.

Cheers

Paul

 

Thanks Paul & Greg,
I appreciate the feedback and advise. I will change out these globes and replace with more appropriate wattage globes.
Regards,
Adam