Got this amber warning the other day. A couple of bulbs were slightly blackened so replaced, as per manual, even tho the elements looked complete. Still have the warning display come on but its ONLY when I turn the side lights on - so not the brake light switch. Cleaned all sockets/connections. Checked all other bulbs and all good.

Noticed also my boot (trunk) lights didnt come on when boot was opened. Could this be linked - but the better half reckons those lights havent worked for a while, whereas the check rear lights warning is very new. That I think is a micro switch fault, which I will sort.

All tail light bulbs work correctly when lights are turned on and the brake applied, reversing engaged and indicators and fog lights turned on btw.

Any suggestions and advice greatly appreciated.

Jules
(stay safe folks)

 

The rear bulb failure message is a very common fault for the XK8. If you disconnect the plug that feeds power and examine you will probably find one end of each plug heat damaged. That is the side where the light assembly ground is located. If you look directly on to the FEMALE plug you will note that the gap between the connector is wider than the rest of the plug. Heat causes this. Gently bend the prongs back to a closer position and them clean the MALE connector and plug it back in.
You can do a search for brake light ground and there is info for adding an additional ground to the light assembly. I have performed the addition but still about once a year have to go back in and re-bend the prongs to eliminate the light message.

Trunk lights may be one of three problems.
1. Bad bulbs/fuse.
2. Bad switch in trunk.
3. Broken wire in the right hand hinge.

 

Vern,

Redeye's XKR is a 2003 and has a completely different set-up as your 1997 Taillight system.. sounds like Redeye might have an LED Bulb in the Turn-Signal Light socket rather than a Halogen Bulb....As far as the Trunk Lights, they are probably burned out and need to be replaced. Jules, you can use LED Bulbs in the little Trunk Lights, as they are not connected to your CanBus system. The Trunk Lights are on some kind of a Timer and will turn-off after leaving the Trunk Lid open for a few minutes..

Billy Clyde in Houston

 

All bulbs are standard filament ones

 

Hey Jules,,, I have the same problem and I was never able to resolve it on my 2002 XK8... A long time ago I chased it around and one of the last things I looked at was the SCLM following advice from folks here. I also regrounded, changed to OEM bulbs, didnt work... It seemed to be caused by a reverse light problem, which was strange because of course I'm not driving around in reverse all the time (even though it doesn't always seem like that, lol)...

I remember find in an unusual "load" going to ground and if I messed around with ground wires near the battery, or disconnected one of the several sets of looped grounds from the set up, the warning would go off,,, but that would leave me without associated lights. It ended up being a problem that was never solved - chased but not solved. I hate looking at that warning light and the message!

Good luck and if you figure out please post back.

 

OK! Redeye,

I give up! No LED's...………….Billy Clyde

 

Thanks for responses.

I really cant believe there is no cure for this warning, I mean, it just doesnt stand to reason. Turn lights on, warning appears, turns light off warning stops. There MUST be a direct connection between this action and the reaction from the car. As I've said, everything works perfectly in terms of bulb activity, so why a warning to check things when the side lights are turned on? I have ordered a full set of 10 bulbs from the same manufacturer (with OEM specs), to see if this works, but I'm not holding my breath.

I really dont want to drive 40 miles to the Jag dealership and get charged a fortune to hopefully solve things, but there is no way I'm living with that warning light on.

Heres a promise. I will personally transfer £20 ($25) to anyone (or a charity of their choice) who comes up with a remedy that fixes this first!

 

Maybe you know this already but,,, there are sensors in the cars electrical system designed to warm of differences in voltage across circuitry... Somewhere along the line for your and my rear lights something is producing to much or to little resistance and it triggers the alert... That is my Flintstones understanding of the problem... I'm terrible with electronics,,, that's why I bought an XKR 2003 that had taken a swim in a Texas flood, lol - the "project" keeps me up nights.

If I remember right, this was a long time ago, there are about 4 resistors in the SCLM that I was told to check and replace as a fix. I have a picture around here somewhere of the inside of the SCLM. If you do go looking let me know in the tread and I will put up the picture.

So, I asked myself, would I prefer to have that warming or do what could only be a sloppy soldering job on my SCLM (security control and locking module) or have a working alarm system. I chose alarm... Still have the problem.

 

So all 4 tail lamps are working?

 

It's crazy... I have the warning on my 2002 XK8 and all and always,,, all lights are working fine. I worked on it here with folks' advice but never solved it... I never did get the Operations done on the SCLM, mind you. It's a great pain in the buttt. My solution is to push the clear button. Live with the amber light.

 

Redeye,

Just trying to help! Why not replace both Blinker Bulbs with new Amber Bulbs? Not that that will do the trick but at least change the Bulbs and see what happens. This Electricity stuff is strange....

Billy Clyde

 

Lolololololololol
Lolololololololol,,,,

25BUCKS!
Brother! That's a slippery slope!
In this economy,,, don't start that isht on here, lol!!?

 

Folks here said it's something to do with these 4 / 5 resistors... That's all I got... The innerdz of my SCLM.

Maybe a computer repair person???
Good luck!

i honestly can't even say that these ARE the correct resistors to be looking at...

 

Am ordering a full set of bulbs for both rear clusters all from the same manufacturer - even tho everything seems to work fine.

Given the lock down imposed last night here in the UK their delivery might take much longer now - not that I'm going to be able to drive it much now either for a few weeks.

Jules

 

My right rear tailight assembly doen't work....warning light tells me there's a problem....where do you get a set of bulbs?

 

If it was me, I would remove the rear sidelight bulbs and use a multimeter to check what current you are getting with the lights on (you need to do this on the voltage range on your multimeter). Compare that to what you should be getting with those resistance values in the SLM to see if it is in the right range. It sounds like maybe the resistors are failing, triggering the warning.

I doubt the Jaguar dealer would do anything other than tell you that you need a new SLM, that they cost £1500 and they aren't available.

Btw you should get the electrical guide for your year car.

 

i know jack about electrics unfortunately. Ask me about profit and loss accounts and I’m in!

IF I can find out how to to check the current and IF I can find out what I should be getting, and find they are different, what’s the prognosis? Find out how to get the SLM out and replace some of resistors??

I have the annual service due in 3 weeks at my local indie (MOT in July), if I’m not successful in sorting before then I will ask them to check and see what they find. I’m not sure it’s an MOT failure (as everything works), but I’ll no doubt have an advisory listed, which I haven’t in the previous 2 annual tests.

 

Yes, the resistors in the SLM are the obvious things to test and replace if necessary, but you do have to know what you are doing given the importance of that module.

You could do some basic tests with a multimeter on the wiring to the tail lights, looking for higher than expected resistance values, or measure the current through the tail lights when on. This might give you a pointer to where the fault is.

My guess is that either the resistance in the wiring is too high or the resistor in the SLM has reduced in value, or a combination. You could even try more powerful bulbs in the tail lights if that is possible without blowing the fuse.

​​​​​​

 

I forgot to add, you also need to check your number plate lights (two of them). If these fail they will also give you the check rear lights message.