I have a failed right side apaptive headlight. Stupid money to replace with Jaguar / several available on Ebay. Questions:

1. Am I correct to assume all right side adaptive headlights 2007-2012 are identical (interchangeable)?
2. I know for a fact that the headlights on my car are adaptive. The dealer tells me the part no. corresponding to the VIN is C2P21141. There is a RT headlight on Ebay represented to be adaptive with part no. C2P21142. Is that compatible (implying that there are different part numbers for interchangeable headlights)?
3. How can I look at a headlight and know if it is adaptive or not?

Thanks in advance,
Chip

 

Ad 1 - yes, with a minor remark - bear in mind there are LHD and RHD headlights.
Ad 2 - C2P21142 is adaptive, C2P21141 is not adaptive

 

How do I look at a prospective replacement headlight and know if it is adaptive or not?

 

When you are driving at night and go through a corner. Is a light following your steering wheel (do they bend) or they light straight ahead?

You stated that you have an adaptive light failure. Do you have an amber light on a instrument cluster similar to a car with lights and an arrow on top of it?

 

Yes - The lights illuminates around corners when I turn the wheel. Curious thing is that the VIN identifies the car as non-adaptive ... clearly they are adaptive. Driving at night in the rain on the freeway I ran over a 4x4 piece of lumber in the road ... blew a tire / bent a rim / broke the trans mount / and busted the internals in the headlight. Looking on Ebay for a replacement. How can I identify from the photos an adaptive headlight from a non-adaptive headlight? Thanks!

 

Not sure you can, but I bet all XKR have adaptive, so if donor is stated I would take a risk.

 

If you're willing to give it a go, there's the possibility you can just fix the one you already have. I did this when my LH adaptive light threw the dash bulb on and was a lazy eye.

You basically need to take the assembly apart, but the headlight lense is held on to the housing by this strip of resin. You can use an oven strategically to heat the assembly JUST enough to separate the lense from the housing, then take the assembly apart by pulling (theres little metal clips to pull off first but eh). I did this last summer for my LH unit. When its apart, it was the little actuator that moved my light around had some of the wiring insulation flake off and several small wires became one wire causing the issue. I replaced them with new tiny wires, soldered accordingly and put it all back together. I think between wiring, shrink tubing and solder i was in about $2.

 

At what speed does that happen because the cars also have cornering lamps as standard. They come on at a lower speed though, e.g. when turning in to a side street.

 

Ohhh! - Then it is probably just the cornering lamps I'm seeing. In shopping on Ebay how do identify adaptive from non-adaptive in the photos?

 

Swap the module over from one headlight to the other first to see if it is faulty

 

Word to the wise about buying aftermarket/used parts, especially this headlight assembly. Make sure that all of the mounting tabs are there and that confirm the return policy.

 

That probably won't help much.

 

Whoops; I didnt read that either. RIF and HARD. If they are physically broken into bits from being hit with wood, and not just whacked upside the head(light) and all there still, i retract my repair comment!

If it's busted and you have room, you might still consider saving it for parts in case the new-to-you used one eventually has failure. But I'm a little pack ratty on that stuff and usually have a bunch of crap i need to dispose of when i sell a car.