I installed LED bulbs in my 1998 XK8 convertible map lights and discovered the buttons to turn them on don't work. I don't know the last time I tried them so they may not have been working for some time. They do come on when the doors are opened, just not with the switches. I took the cover off of the long black plastic module inside the overhead console and found two components side by side had been burnt up. I can't tell if they were resistors or diodes and are part of a larger circuit board I don't have any information on. I am assuming they have something to do with the map light switches not working. A google search shows this is a "Jaguar XK8 (1997 - 2006) Module - Control - LJA2295AA. OVERHEAD CONSOLE.interior light sensor". I don't know what this module does. Does this have some timer function to turn off the map lights after a period of time when they are turned on by a switch? All the other lights shown on the diagram work correctly. I can find this module new for sale for $3-400.00. A used overhead console is ~$130-180. This isn't worth that much to me at the moment. I'm wondering if I can just run the lamps directly to a switch and bypass all the circuitry. As a practical matter the new LED vanity lights are bright enough I can use them instead of the map lights.

 

If you have damaged components in the module, you may be able to just solder in replacements for a fix - do you have any photos of the damaged parts?

 

That is really complicated for two lights and two switches. On mine, the left hand light works as it should, but the right hand light only works on the switch and sometimes is switched by the left hand switch, due to whatever is in that long black module.

You could disconnect the module and wire the lights up directly to a switch, but then you would lose the function where the lights come on when you open the doors. If you want to leave the module connected and add an extra switch, you need to make sure you don't back feed any voltage into the module, other lights or the body processor module. A simple solution to that is to cut the white wires going to the lights and solder in a diode in series with the light. Then add your switch to the light side of the diode, so the current can only flow to the light and not back into the rest of the circuitry. Take the supply for your new switch from the PW wire, so the map lights turn off when the car shuts down. The existing map switches look like they switch to ground, so you could re-use those if you added some sort of latching relay.