I need your help. I'll do my best to describe what I've seen in the hopes of a fix. Tapping the experts here!

Working through an LED bulb upgrade, I decided to tackle the instrument dash bulbs. I was successful in getting the console out, and installing the bulbs. When I went to reinstall the instrument cluster is when all hell broke loose.

I disconnected the battery. Reconnected the cluster, turned everything on and got no lights at all in that area. None. I thought that maybe I hadn't plugged in the black and yellow connectors well enough. So I disconnected them and put them back on tighter. The right hand side one when on great, and when the left hand side connected, there was a small flash of light from some of the instruments. Great! When I turned the key, I got all sorts of incorrect readings. and some of the lights didn't work.

So, I disconnected the battery again, replaced some of the lights, and connected everything back up. All the lights worked, but I got a series of incorrect warnings. Here's the list:

1. No reading on the fuel gauge, and the yellow low fuel light on
2. Oil light on, and "low oil pressure" message scrolling
3. Low coolant warning on the message scroll
4. Passenger Door Open message on the scroll...and it was closed...but the driver (LH) door was open...

I started the car, and it fired right up. It has gas, and it has oil, and coolant. The battery was full after being on a tender for two days.

I had to get home because dinner was ready, so I turned off the car and was going to ask the experts. When I looked back at the dash, the cluster was still light up. No key in the ignition, no interior lights on, but the cluster was fully lit.

I disconnected the battery and came home in a rage. My gut says that when I went to tighten the connections, and I didn't disconnect the battery again, I really messed something up.

I am not that handy, but I can follow instructions pretty well. I was hoping for a nice bright upgrade, in a 30 minute session, and move on to the next project. Instead, I believe I've created a monster, and I'm beginning to regret every decision I've made.

Have had the car since November, and only driven about 100 miles. Small upgrades and broken plastic I can deal with...but this seems near catastrophic.

Hoping a "reset" or something similar is all that's needed. What would you do in this situation?
Pics are of the dash (new LEDs look cool at least), and of the driver door open while the warning says passenger.

Thank you in advance,
Mike

 

To me it sounds like some pins were bent when the connectors were refastened. Easy to check that .


be sure to have the battery disconnected before doing anything

Z

 

Thanks Z!

Unfortunately, I thought that same thing and checked. All pins are straight and both connections are tight.

 

darn. All I know are the simply fixes. Hopefully the more experienced members will chime in and be more helpful.

the only precaution I observed before changing my dash lights was to disconnect the battery before doing anything .

 

I don't really have any good suggestions, but wanted to say at least that I don't think you made a big mistake as you think. Obviously, something isn't working right but even the worst case scenario probably isn't as bad as you think it would be.

 

I had mine out multiple times to fix the SRS light and never disconnected the battery . Are you sure the plugs are fully seated ? Try a full reset where you take off the +ve battery lead and put it to the negative for 30 sec or more. Code reader showing anything ?

 

I would go back and undo whatever you did before it went wrong as a starting point - i.e. take the instrument cluster out, remove all the new LEDs you put in and carefully examine the PCB for any damage you may have done when handling it. Have a look at this TSB that relates to earlier years, but maybe you have done some similar damage?

http://jagrepair.com/images/TSB/XJ/4...%20failure.pdf

Worst case scenario is you need a replacement cluster, but carefully check everything else before deciding this. I don't know if the 4.2 cars need the replacement cluster programming to the car, look up VID block to see if this is the case for your car.

Personally I would always disconnect the battery before unplugging or plugging in any module connectors and I would never take something apart unless I absolutely had to. Also, always be wary of static when playing around with PCBs - discharge yourself by touching something metal (eg a radiator) before touching the board.

 

Thank you for the replies.

Regarding the hard reset, do I disconnect both cables and hold them together, or do I leave one connected to the post and hold the disconnected cable to it while it’s still on the post?

The TSB is a good and interesting read for sure. The comment about static electricity is certainly realistic. It’s a cold dry winter here, and that could explain the jolt of light I saw after connecting the second plug.

I did have the battery disconnected at the beginning. When it didn’t light up the first time, I was too lazy to disconnect it again and tried to adjust and fix from my seat. Bad mistake.

Any idea why the cluster remains lit up after the car is shut off? Also, could the lack of fuel gage and oil pressure warning be due to a fried fuse? If so, any idea which one?

I haven’t explored which codes are being thrown. The CE light has been on for a while due to draining the battery and I wanted to tackle the interior projects before clearing codes. I think I’ll have to shift my priorities after this.

Thanks again for the suggestions and support. What a great community we have here.

 

The best approach is to disconnect both cables and hold them together for 30 seconds completely separate from the battery.

Richard

 

if they are lit very bright, no.
If they are less that bright they are getting a small amount of power leaking to them. LEDs require far less voltage to glow (2.3v +/-) where as original bulbs need @ 10v to begin to glow.
wj

 

FWIW Department:

Here is a hard reset procedure that I copied off of this forum long ago. It’s always worked for me:

HARD RESET

Do a hard reset to re-calibrate the TPS.

Remove Negative Battery cable from the Negative Battery Post (10mm Wrench)

- Turn ignition key to on position - this provides a mechanical link to circuits that are isolated

- Turn off ignition

Touch Negative battery cable end to Positive battery cable end and hold there for 30 seconds

(Positive cable will still be connected to Positive Battery Post). When you touch the

negative cable to the positive cable on the battery, there should be nothing at all hooked to the negative terminal. Touching the disconnected negative cable end to the positive cable will short-circuit the supply rails at the ECU's & modules to discharge the internal capacitors. Any electricity stored in the electrical system drains out through the negative cable and into the chassis. The reason to drain the capacitors is THEY still have a complete circuit on the car so you are giving their positive terminal a path to ground to discharge them.

- Turn ignition key to on position

- Turn off ignition

Reconnect Negative Battery cable back to Negative Battery Post

- Start the car

- Letocess and on your next start up it should be at normal levels. This is like doing a full restart and your car will be forced to learn again - you can also temporarily remove stored problem codes this way.

At least it got me out of limp mode (after hard reset AND using my Code reader scan tool to erase fault codes). I was able to drive at normal speeds back to my home.

--------------------

A hard reboot may not clear codes on ODBII. While it MIGHT turn off a check engine light (depending on what the stored codes are) they DO NOT go away. There are codes that will only show when active/pending, and if you shut off the ignition they may not show even with Jaguars IDS (againit depends on the code/situation.)

---------------------------------------

BATTERY

Check all six cells for proper water level. When sitting before starting your battery should be 13.6 volts or better and during running it should be around 14.5. 12 volts is enough for the starter. Battery needs to hold 12.6v overnight.



Look for a parasitic drain on the battery when the car is shut off. The most common one is the little door on the ignition switch where the key goes in. If it hangs up it won't allow the computers to go to sleep mode. Also common is the glove box light and the trunk lights. Set a phone with video ability inside and close the covers and make sure the lights are turning off.



ELECTRIC CONNECTIONS AND CLEANING

Before you unplug anything, remove the cable from the battery negative terminal. When working on anything in the car disconnect the battery. When reconnected after a hard reset the ECM is in a learning state. See HARD RESET.

 

Thank you for this detail!

I also found an old post about Fuse #18 on the passenger side of the dash which controls the dimmable lighting.

Does anyone have a fuse diagram about what fuse is responsible for what function? My gut tells me that the fuel gage, coolant and oil pressure readings are all wrong because their fuses are blown???

Still doesn't explain the backlighting of the instrument cluster staying on after the key is out. I'll also check the "trap door" on the keyhole to make sure it's closing.

Boy, did I pick a scab on this one!

MZ

 

if you replaced the back lighting with led

wj

 

as mentioned in the link, not usually an issue with better quality LED’s. I used these Sylvania’s and no issues. Plus the + side is marked so they can easily be put in correctly the 1st time.

https://a.co/d/b8NzodW




Z

 

I didn't see that Zspot used a specific brand.
thanks or clarifying
wj

 

I used a cheap version from Amazon, but it felt like the entire dash was lit up at full strength, not just a dim glow.

Daughter got home from college today, so it’ll be a minute before I can run these experiments.

A thousand thank you’s so far!

 

Adjust the rheostat on the left side of the steering column just to see if the dash lights dim and brighten.

Do you have a scanner to communicate with the instrument pack? I imagine that there’ll be CAN codes in the IP and quite possibly more in other modules.

 

There are no separate fuses for the fuel level sender, oil pressure switch, coolant level switch - those sensors are directly connected to/powered by the instrument cluster. The cluster itself will have two fuses - one for permanent 12v and one for ignition switched. The backlights are powered by the dimmer module, so another fuse for that (although presumably that fuse is good otherwise your lights wouldn't be on, but still worth checking). Download the electrical guide for your car here:-

JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

Jaguar XK 2003

BTW I would definitely take out all the LEDs you put in and try again.

 

Update.

Attempted hard reset as laid out by zray. Still the same issues.

However, I did figure out why the dash lights stayed on. I didn’t realize I had left the lights on while trying to check everything. I was in a rush last time.

After two days with a disconnected battery, the voltage was 12.6 cold. Upon starting it is 14.4.

While starting, I got “ER” displayed on the climate control bar where the temp normally is. It then went away.

Still getting the following:

1. Engine coolant low
2. Low oil Pressure
3. When driver door opens, it says “Passenger door open”
4. No gas level

Also, after starting, I get a series of 5 beeps 5 times. It happens once and doesn’t come back.

Dimmer function works properly. Dims the whole dash and climate.

Going to try the hard reset again because it seems like there was no change to anything. Thinking I didn’t do it correctly.

 

Ok.
Tried the hard reset three times and everything is the same.

I’m attaching the codes that I pulled from the scanner. There were 8 current codes. Also attaching pics of the pin connectors. Everything looks straight.

Any ideas?