Hi guys,

I have my headlight switch set to auto all the time, came around a bend the other evening (twilight) and had to brake a little for traffic in front; headlights started turning on and off (as if I was flashing my lights~wasn't!) so I switched lights on to stop that. Anyone know why that would happen and/or how to fix please? Could the sensor need a clean/dusting? OR worse???

Thanks

 

Hello David

First thought would be the switch contacts on the control stalk itself.

When dark you can try tapping/moving the stalk about a bit and see if that makes the lights flicker.

 

If it is not the switch, the electronics for the auto headlights is built into the rear view mirror.

 

It should not be doing that. Auto light controls go through a photocell that is buffered. The buffering delays actions both ways on or off. This is so your lights do not turn on while merely driving under a bridge or short tunnel. Sounds like there is an issue in its operation.

 

Thanks for the advice guys,

tried wiggling the stalk~nothing

Just went out for some chips, steering column didn't lower when key inserted so I did it manually and the lights came on in auto mode! Got steering column all way down and lights went out! Raised column a little and back on! Left it there and lights stayed on for the return trip to store. So question now is why does the position of the steering column affect the auto lights? Weird

Looking forward to all your input, insight and assistance.....

 

How is your battery? Crazy electrical gremlins can be caused by reduced voltage. These cars are pretty sensitive to it.

 

I would suspect either a loose/shorted wire or possibly a clock spring in the steering wheel.

 

There's a harness runs from the steering column to the body processor module which carries both the auto column move signal and the light switch status. It may be that moving the column flexes the harness connectors which may just need cleaning. You'll need someone more JaguarWise to tell you where to poke about.

 

There are a number of solderd wires on the headlight/blinker stalk. I can recall at least a couple of posts where one or more wires broke off of the solder lugs. You may have on that is just 'touching' and therefore intermittent.

Time to remove the steering wheel base cover (2 screws at the bottom) and inspect, IMO.

 

Awesome thanks for the advice guys. I'll be checking into that soon and will update.

 

Hey Guys,
just in from "looking" under the steering column cover, LOTSA wires under there! Jiggled them all and lights flicked on and off.... Isolated the problem to a couple of connectors that were off there clips (white one and a yellow one at the left side of the steering column) Put them back on, moved the wheel up down, in and out and still had a flicker. Bit more jiggling and found the number one wire exiting yellow connector was causing the flicker.

Did a quick band-aid fix with some tape to prevent movement of the wire and have no interruption of the lights in auto mode throughout the full adjustment range or the steering wheel which is what I intended to accomplish.

So guys, the question now is how does one go about making a permanent repair i.e. how is the wire retained in the connector? I don't see solder so please help!


Thanks for the amazing advice so far.

 

Normally the connector is crimped onto the wire then pushed into the connector body. There's a little spring lug sticking up from the connector that clicks into the connector body to lock it in place. If you peer into the open end of the connector you should be able to see this and depress it with a jeweller's screwdriver while pulling on the wire. The connector should pull out.
What I always do is cut off the stripped wire end and strip back to some clean wire which I tin. Use a small drill by hand to clean up the inside of the connector where the wire will go - don't break the drill off! then push the wire in and run solder into the joint.
Getting things clean is very important. Then just push the connector back in til it clicks.
If it's not that sort of connector I've just wasted both our time !

 

Hi, Guys.

There are some good thoughts and ideas here that I have to check out since I have a problem in this area as well. With my 2005 XJ8, all the running lights, headlights, tail lights, and side marker lights will intermittently come on even while no one is in the car and the key is not in the ignition. This only happens (as far as I know) when the light switch is in the AUTO position, so for now I leave it in the OFF position. If I do use the AUTO position, the lights do work normally except for the occasional flickering on while driving in daylight and while sitting in the garage.

I wonder if this is related to the service bulletin regarding all car systems intermittently turning on and draining the car batteries on some cars, of which mine falls in the VIN range, of if it's more likely a wiring problem as above.

Any thoughts?

Stew
2005 XJ8L