Hi All!

Just finally replaced my coolant hoses that blew out back in January. Excited to get the beautiful adorable baby back out on the road. Started my XJS today and white smoke started billowing out from under passenger (right side under glove box) dash. Turned off car, disconnected battery & then took off bottom dash cover and found wires and and electrical part on fire! Pic attached. There was a white label on the wire bundle that reads "Jaguar Parts WINDOW LIFT, RELAY/C/BRKRS, SIDE & TAIL, DAC 2650, ISSUE 3, 51245812 B. The melted remains of the wires were connected to a 3 prong electrical device. No identifying info was left on burnt up device. Looks like some kind of resistance device, perhaps heater fan? Again pic attached.

Can anyone tell me:
-What that part is, what it does & where to find new one?
-What those wires, two red and one white, feed and how can I "jump" them for now?

-What may have caused this to begin with and how to fix/prevent in the future?

The radio had stopped working recently (aftermarket Kenwood which just said "protect" which their website said meant bad ground).

Also my right tail light had stopped working recently but the bulb and inline fuse were fine.

Heater blower fan had stopped







working.

Right side window had been sluggish to go up recently as well.

Any and all help/advice is greatly appreciated!

 

Forgot to add: 1988 And. Thanks !

 

One more possible related issue. Wipers stopped working and the only way they'll move is a manual pull back on the wand. No auto, no delay. Thanks!

 

Update. For now I just taped each wire individually to prevent any more fires and the switch is removed until I figure out what this circuit controls and the then I can replace with new switch.

Currently all lights except RH stop light work. Radio works again. Wipers work on delay and manual pull on wand, although on delay they sometimes just stop in middle, hesitate a few times and then go.

If anyone can enlighten me as to the function of that switch I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

What do you expect when you call a girl a bitch?!
Show a little more respect and she might not blow up in your face next time.
(';')

 

it's a term of endearment my friend. she and I have a special relationship.

 

I was thinking the same thing, endearing or not it probably stifled a lot of responses, it did from me.

 

Wow! Around here it's used as a friendly term when talking about a car. How about a little latitude especially since I explained the reason for it's use?

 

Just curious...where is "around here"?

I have to agree with the previous posts, when I saw the b-word I just lost interest. Not trying to be a prude, but kindness is never a bad path to follow...with people or things.

Karma my friend, karma.

John
1987 XJ-S V12
64,000 miles

 

Gentlemen, I've posted a bit on this board. I've also tried to contribute when I could. I have always been friendly, helpful & courteous, being sure to thank those who have helped me. Check my posts. If I offended anyone with a weird I chose I apologize to those who were offended. Certainly not my intention. My experience up to this point on this board has been that everyone is friendly and helpful. If people can't get past one word in a post that was not used with any malice then I really am at loss here. And if anyone does have any issue with this post even after my explanation and apology to those offended, and they themselves have never uttered a bad word nor offended anyone in their life, now would be a good time to cast the first stone.

1988 XJS - Sent from my LG-G2 using IB AutoGroup

 

It's one of your bulb failure units for the front parking and marker lamps. Ther's likely another one nearby. Park number DAC1910




You can join the two red wires together.

The white wire goes to the bulb failure warning bulb on the dash. Just leave it disconnected for now....or forever, if you want





Offhand I say an internal failure causing a short-to-ground, but read on




Not sure if that's related. Might depend on how it was wired-in






Check the inline fuses in the trunk....sorta hidden under the ledge of the trunk opening. Follow the tail light wires aft...you see it




Could be any number of things.







The smaller device, roughly above the bulb failure unit, is a circuit breaker....either for the power windows or power locks. Looks like that wiring is burned as well. I wonder if the power window problem overheated (rather than tripped) the breaker....and melted the nearby wiring?

Do the windows and locks work at all now?

Cheers
DD

 

On closer review of the photo I've decided I might be all wet with ^ ^

Cheers
DD

 

Mine has the same drama, has done it ever since I bought the car, I just put it down too the worn window rubbers that are like concrete, they are rock hard and in desperate need of replacement, sometimes I have to help the window up with my hand. I may have to see if my wiring is doggy also under the dash? What am I thinking "of course it is".

 

Many thanks to Doug and Katoh! Connected the two red wires together and now I have my marker lights back. Right side tail was still out and it turns out there was another relay identical to burned up one up front that was about to burn up as the white wire was melty. Connected those two red wires and my tail light lives again. Btw, not sure how the P.O. wired the radio, but it works again once I eliminated the front failed relay. Now it seems the front left marker works but not the right front marker. Also, Front left running light now works as well as front left marker and the turn indicator on dash for left signal, none of which worked previous to removing the relay. Now the front right running light, marker and dash turn indicator are out so more digging to do.

Also took out Speedo/tach/barrel gauge assembly to check out lighting being dim. Really easy removal. Very surprised how cheap the whole assembly appears being this vehicle was originally sold as a high end luxury car? Was Lucas politically connected and as such got the Jaguar business? Most Lucas electronic items seem to be absolute rubbish. I believe I'll be replacing all lights that I can with v12.com's LED kit.

Also picked up some Hella fogs and will be tackling that install this weekend. I'm thinking I should be able to hook them up to the factory head light switch?

Again, thanks for the help as always!

1988 XJS - Sent from my LG-G2 using IB AutoGroup

 

Glad you're meeting with success but I'd be a little concerned about all these melted wires in the bulb failure circuit. Not to sound alarmist but I'd want to make sure that there isn't a underlying fault lurking.




Yes.

No.

I could spend a few hours on the topic :-)

Lucas stuff is a real mixed bag, quality-wise. Lots of it high grade, some of it real el-cheapo. Not sure what the political associations might've been but I'm reasonably sure that Lucas provided any level of quality that Jaguar was willing to pay for .


Those bulb failure units, despite being 1950s technology and not weatherproof, typically soldier on for 15-20 years or more. That probably takes them out of the 'absolute rubbish' category. Most of the dead ones I've seen have suffered water damage because of windshield leaks....whch would have made weatherproofing a good idea.





Do you have the diagrams/schematics for your car?

There were a couple variations on fog lamp wiring. In most cases the fog lamps are powered up via a relay....and the headlight switch controls the relay.


Cheers
DD

 

This is 100% the reason. Though as Doug says, the life of these components is pretty good anyway. Sir William Lyons was absolutely notorious in the industry and the motoring press for reducing the cost of components to the absolute bare minimum. For example, I was told by someone who should know that Jaguar, in the post-Lyons era admittedly, turned down an offer from Smiths of £5 per car to provide instrumentation at the same quality level as supplied to Rolls Royce.

Greg

 

Hi Doug. Thanks. Not really trying to put down Lucas per se, just can't wrap my head around how a car manufactured as high end luxury has so many old/inferior parts. Is this commons through the rest of the luxury market?

Anyway, Yes, I currently have a leaky sunroof which is problem inherited from P.O. Seems to be aftermarket sunroof installation so I do need to address the issue. I had thought it might be the culprit in the electrical issues.

Rubbish came to mind examining the Speedo assembly. It was very similar to 63 Rambler Classic unit I pulled once. Again, more just shocked to find that quality level in a high end car.

Regarding the fog lights yes, I do have both the wiring diagram from the Hella box as well as the one that came with the car. I figured I could go over both of them to figure out best way. Fogs came with all wiring, relay, switch, connections and mounts. As previously stated I of course would prefer utilizing the XJS's headlight switch since it was designed to operate fogs. What would really be my preference is to wire it all up in a manner so that I can have low beams, high beams and fogs all work independently or simultaneously if I chose. Is it even possible to wire for all 3 to be on simultaneously?

And Greg, I'm not really trying to down Lucas as I understand they provide what Jaguar would pay for. Really just surprised any low end el cheapo items were used at all.

Thanks again very much.

1988 XJS - Sent from my LG-G2 using IB AutoGroup

 

Let's just say that Jaguar didn't embrace modernization all that well in those days and, yes, they were 'built down to a price'. Still, though, Jaguar did step up and spend money in many areas.....and then made up for it by putting 99-cent window switches in a $45,000 car!

Other luxury cars in comparison? I've had my hands in many. Seems like each of them has some disappointments here and there.





Possible, yes, but not desirable, I'd say.....as the light pattern of 'high beams' is in direct conflict for use in foggy conditions.

You might want investigate a non-USA light switch which has more functions....and might be more adaptable to your project. From memory I think the ROW switch offers 9 different possibilities (?) including rear fog lamps

I recall that the USA wiring spec for the '88 XJS allowed foglights only with low beams on, and extinguished the fog lamps if the high beams were used, or the flash-to-pass feature was used. Other markets had different requirements.....and different wiring schemes, obviously


Cheers
DD