Hi, I am planning on doing J-gate backlight bulbs replacement. I got stucked on how to remove lower part of gear knob as its thicker than the hole in which you move the shifter so I cannot remove the j-gate itself (already tried).
Thanks for any hints and if someone has 2003-2006 XK workshop manual with this chapter, I would appreciate download link. I have this manual but it ends with chapter 5 and found only mention that J-gate surround removal is in chapter 76.25.24
Thank you.

 

You will still need to remove the 'Sleeve' that thee original knob was pressed onto(the roughened sleeve above the locking nut. This sleeve should just screw off, leaving threads that will now allow the locking nut to screw off. Be sure to loosen the set screw on the nut be fore unscrewing....

 

So just grab the upper part to pliers for example and rotate anticlockwise?

 

That should work.

 

The 3 indents in the chrome taper are shear bolts, which should be drilled out to remove.

 

You might see if they are not 'set screws'. Can be backed off with a tiny Allen wrench. That was the case with mine.

 

Jaren, fyi there are 2 types of bulbs that are sold to be soldered into the board. Short and long length.

Yes, when I did this I fell into the "manly" bigger is better line of logic = Wrong! Yes the longer ones are a bit brighter, problem is, they are quite a bit hotter when lit.

I've still got to replace mine before the hear messes up the plastic - actually gets too hot to the touch. I just wanted to give you a heads up.

John

 

At the top of the “Cone” the fatter part there is two indents. You can stick snap ring pliers in those tiny indents to twist the cone

 

hi, i got the bulbs that have been linked here on forums few times (i think they are from radioshack or something like that)

 

Can you post part number of the bulbs you used? I might try fixing my backlight eventually

 

I have these, around 22mm and they should be 50mA: