One of the general illumination bulbs in themajor gauge cluset has burned out.

The official Jaguar replacement method requires removing the driver's air bag, the steering wheel, the lower facia, the veneer panel and then the gauge cluster.

Holy S**t!

Someone must have solved this problem another way - I can see the veneer screws.

Please tell me you can remove the veneer and weasle the cluster out!

Thanks!

 

Pull the lower cover under the steering wheel by removing two screws on the bottom edge, and pulling back on the two prongs on the top corners. Remove two electrical connectors.

This reveals two screws on the lower edge corners of cluster wood panel. Remove those. Two vertical tabs hold the top edge of the wood. Insure the steering wheel is tilted as low as possible and telescoped out. Then pull down and towards youon thewood panel down and slip the two upper tabs out of their slots. Remove the trip computer connector.

This reveals the complete gauge cluster and you can easilysee four screws fastening the instrument cluster to the dash frame. Pull those and viola.

 

Gordocatcar - Thanks!

I'm just about to go and give it a try. The bulb is about $9.00 at the *********** - perhaps it will be a common one I cang get at Farm and Fleet...

I appreciate your help.

Any thoughts on my post below concerning door locks?

 

Be gentle with the wood panels. Otherwise, gaining access is pretty straightforward.

Re: Door Locks; my only experience was with that 10Amp fuse which was blown. Double check it.

Gordo

 

Gordo,

Off thread here, but I'm well into the door lock situitation right now...

Removed the glove box and gained access to the micro relays that drive the door actuators (p/n LJC2100AB, same as the ones in the trunk fuse box and elsewhere) Swapped a few but no change...arrrrgh.

I'm trying the soft reboot now - maybe, but I doubt it.

I hope it's not some stupid loose connection buried in the door...

Will try the dashbulb replacement tomorrow.

 

Success! Door locks work - it was either the reboot or the relay swap. I suspect it was the reboot - I whish I had been more disigent with my testing...of well, on to the dash bulbs!

 

Any luck with the bulbs, Spurlee? I have a similar problem - one bulb gone behind the coolant temperature gauge and a few gone behind the centre console switches. I'm hoping it's not more serious than just bulbs - I heard electrical malfunctioning is a common enough issue with XK8s.

 

Yes - an easy fix. No need to buy expensive "Jaguar" bulbs, they are standard dash illumination bulbs available anywhere.(#911 or #915 as I recall)They snap into small white adaptors - be very careful taking these out as they are reused and actually make the electrical connection!1/4 turn is all that's needed. Reseat them all when reinstalling as even ones you didn't work on will work loose (don't ask how I know)

Disconnect the battery, especially if you are into the major gauge cluster - removing the electrical connectors will cause mis-fires as the pins come out. (again, don't ask)

It sounds like you'll bein the center stack gauge set - I'm sure those bulbs are as I described above.I can send youinformation on accessing the 3-gauge cluster if you need it.

The lower switches (cruise control and "Sport" transmission setting on an XK8) have the bulbs as part of the switch pack.I don't knowif the bulb can be separated from the unit or whether you have to replace the enitre switch pack.I've had luck getting into the Jaguar switch packsand fixing things, they are pretty simple - I bet you can access the bulb. If not, the packs are $50.00 each. I have one of each type I can sell if you want to go that route.

Good luck!

 

Oh, now I see thatyou might be refering to the backlighting for the radio, climate control, seat heaters and all that. Typically that's a different type of bulb than what I was describing. On my Corvette I've had great luck with resoldering connections that fail due to micro cracks you can"t even see. Just reheat and let it cool.

I dno't know much more than that, really...

 

I am new to this forum and you seem to be the expert with XKR and XK8 Instrumentation bulbs. I have a question concerning my Tach lights up all the numbers and below "X 1000" is the word "Supercharged" I don't drive this car often and I noticed that the word "Supercharged" doesn't light up and I am not sure if it ever did and before going through the hassle of pulling out the instument cluster to replace this bulb if there is one I was wondering if you wouls be able to answer this question if the word "Supercharged" should light up as all the other numbers and the "X1000" that is right above "Supercharged". Thanks for your time.
jeryoda51@aol.com

 

"Supercharged" on mine is not illuminated.

 

Thanks I wasn't sure I don't drive mine to often I have a 1999 xj8 for work and every day driving you saved me allot of work pulling out the instrument cluster to try to replace a bulb that isn't even there what year is your xkr? Mine is a 2002 with 30k and it is a convertible new paint job a d interior it is like new very nice I'm afraid to drive it. Sometimes it seems like a waste!! Thanks again hlgeorge

 

As indicated in my signature, it is an 01 XKR Conv. It has 62K miles on it now.

 

Well, here is it 3 years later and the same bulb quit working. I thought I'd refresh my memory as to how to replace it and came across this thread I started.

Worked well enough, I removed the cluster, found that the bulb just needed to be reseated. Put the cluster back in, checked it - yep it worked.

Buttoned the whole thing up, gave it a final check and.....the bulb isn't working. In fact, just as before, another one isn't lit - the one for the fuel gauge. One bang on the top of the dash and the gas gauge is lit. No luck with the other one though.

I'll mess around with it a little later...

 

I guess you know how to do it already, but for those of you who don't, click on the link in my signature. I have a video which shows how to do it.

 

You can make RS p# 272-1141 work with little effort to back lite the temp display area. They are $2 and the Jag lamp is $8 so I suggest the jag lamps

 

Anyone upgrade the gauge lighting to LED's when replacing them? If so, what LED bulbs did you use?
Thanks,
Ray

 

See page 32 of Gary VanRemortel's XK8 Bible in the stickies. Screenshot below to pique your interest.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-bible-177827/

 

Wow, thanks!