When I bought the car several months ago I've had issues with the headlights not working. When I turn the switch to "on", all I get is the outermost lights (small ones) the inner lights (big ones) do not come on. I don't know if this what i should expect. If I switch on the high beams the innermost bulbs do come on. In addition when I diver her at night and I switch on the left or right turn signal all of the other lights go out, completely "dark" with exception of the turning bulb.

I finally figured out from JTIS that the rear-view mirror controls some of this function. Well as it turns out the rear view mirror was replaced with one from a completely different car. The original mirror was removed and left behind was the mounting stud on the windshield. The replacement mirror was attached below the mounting point where the rain sensor would normally be located. The wires from the original mirror were cut juts where the header panel meets the window. Its a white connector with 8 wires coming form it. I don't know what configuration I have setup in the car.

Here are my questions:
1. How is my car configured. Auto Headlights, Auto w/Rain Sensor? Am I missed anything if so let me know. These are the only 2 options relative to headlights and mirrors that I'm aware of. See Pictures

2. Does anyone know if the mirrors from other jaguars can be "mounted" in the 2000 XKR without any modifications needed? What about ones that can be modified?

3.The replacement mirror was mounted too low and obstructs my view to the right. How can I remove it without damaging the windshield?

4 There is a blue 2-wire connector in the cavity where the overhead console goes. It's not connected to anything at the moment. Does anyone know what that connector is for?


5. Once I replace the rear-view mirror I will know for sure if it is causing my blackout issue. Other than the mirror what else would cause the blackout condition?

 

photobucket pics aren't showing up

 

The mirror portion of the headlamp circuit is only in play when the lamps are set in "Auto" mode on the switch stalk; they should work on all functions other than Auto even if the mirror is gone.

The lights going out with the turn signals tell me the switch stalk in the column is the likely problem. I'd start by looking into that.

The small outer lamps are the low beam [dip beam], and the inner are the high beam [main beam] lamps.

Good luck!

 

What about my configuration? I want to get the correct replacement from e-bay but there are various configurations "Auto dim", "auto-on", "rain sensor" ...etc. How do I know which function to look for when purchasing a replacement mirror. On the left column stalk I see "Auto" so I would assume that I have the sensing function to turn on the headlights at dusk. On the right side stalk I see "Auto" as well. Does this mean that I have the "Auto wipers" rain sensing function? I do not see the rain sensor where I would expect it to be. The previous owner could have removed it and mounted the cheap replacement mirror there. Any ideas on how I could figure this out so that I can get the correct part? Pictures are now showing up.

 

What are the last six digits of your VIN number?

 

"...a01480"

 

You can check to see if you have rain sensing wipers by looking for an "Auto" option on your wiper stalk. From the looks of your windshield I would guess you do not have this option.

 

Your car was built with rain sensing wipers, electrochromatic mirror and auto headlamps.

Best I can tell from your pictures etc., it looks like the car probably had a windshield replaced and an earlier model glass was used. Also, looks like a standard mirror from a 1995-2000 sedan was attached below the mirror attachment that came on the glass. That round base mirror was never used on the XK8.

You could probably use the windshield as it is if you had the correct mirror, it just wouldn't have all the pretty black-out mask around the rain sensor.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for your feedback K.Westra and xjrguy. That makes perfect sesnse to me. I do have the "Auto" setting on the wiper stalk. I also notice that when I removed the passenger seat there were fragments of broken glass that never got cleaned up. I couldn't figure out where those were from. Now I know. The windshiled looks perfect no cracks,chips,specs or stars.

I would like to order the correct mirror with the rainsensor. does that come already attached to the mirror or does it havve to be ordered separately? also is the sensor moted directly onto the mirror or is it mounted to the base of the mirror? I don't mind that the masking is not present on the windshield as long as it does n't affect the funtion of the rain sensor. I wonder if the mask can be a DIY job. Maybe Michaels or Home Depot has something that can be used.

How can I safely remove the old mirror without damaging the glass? It looks like it was applied using crazy glue or some other adhesive.

 

Be careful trying to remove the button. I'd leave t if possible. Years ago I worked at Hertz and when the clean-up guys got lazy they would yank the mirrors from the windshield and put the car in the repair line. We wondered why we had so many cars showing up for mirrors 'falling' off until we began finding a bunch of them with a large chunk of glass missing from the mounting spot.

 

Here is a picture of the rain sensor attached to the window with the mirror removed. There is a small plug that plugs into the sensor that comes out of the mirror.


If you look at the back of a mirror with rain sensing wipers, you see the small plug with a red, a purple, and a blue wire:


These are from my own car when I had the electrochromatic fluid replaced with newer electrochromatic gel. If you find the appropriate mirror, make sure it has gel rather than fluid, or someday you will have to get it fixed. Sybesma offers this fix for $100 if it eventually were to come to that.

 

Shortly after I bought my car I had to replace the mirror and the combination switch...and numerous other goodies that plague Jag owners. The combo switch was serious because when I used the high beam or turn signal it would shut the lights completely off. The replacement requires the R&R of the airbag module in the center of the steering wheel. The switch was about$225 with considerable shopping around (got mine out of San Jose if I remember right). The job is delicate and a pita, but it fixes all those light gremlins for good. My mirror was filling with fluid but didn't have any effect on the lights that I knew of. That was an easy R&R.

Run your combo switch through every kind of combination of use you can think of to see if the lights work properly in some positions but maybe not others. It's more common than most owners think.

 

Well, you might be in a pickle here. As you can see in k.westra's pictures, the rain sensor should go where they have the incorrect mirror stuck to the glass. The rain sensor comes with a clear gel type adhesive button already on it ready for mounting on the glass. The pic even shows the mask I mentioned. That being gone is no problem, just changes the appearance. Once mounted, the correct mirror has a snap on cover that hides the sensor from view inside the car.

As someone else said, it might be a problem getting that wrong mirror off and still saving the glass.......good luck!

Cheers,

 

Or, you could just turn your wipers on when the windshield gets enough rain on it. Much cheaper and simpler than messing with another modern inconvenience.

 

Guys thanks for your feedback again!

I will have to find a way to safely remove that replacement mirror since it obstructs my view. Once that is off I can figure out if will go with the replacement of all functions which is the 8 wire white male connector. If choose to go with the one without rain sensor but with the auto headlight, how many wires is that one and will that male connector work with the yellow female in the overhead panel?

 

Best I can tell, your XKR uses the same harness and connector at the header, regardless of which mirror you have for that year. The X300 sedans had multiple connectors, but not this car. Get the mirror you want, [for your model year] it should be plug and play.

Good luck!

 

I know there are different plugs for the mirrors, but whether that is a difference between cars with and without rain sensors, or whether that is a change that was made in a certain year is unknown to me. I know I've seen a smaller plug and it was an early car without rain sensors.

 

That's correct. I was specifically referring to his 2000 model, trying to let him know that in his case, all the applicable mirrors used the same connector. Just more or less on the number of wires. It's not always that easy.

It's a pain keeping all the model years straight sometimes.

Cheers,

 

I have a 04 XJ8 it didn't come with the rear view with the compass, I been looking at the one's for sale on e-bay are they plug and play if you mach the model and year?

 

The "Blackout" situation is fixed. Based on the comments form "oldjaglover" I replaced the turn-signal switch. I bought the part on ebay $99 and installed it myself following the instructions on the JTIS CD another ebay purchase $6.

Everything, worked as expected after replacing the switch except for the "Auto" headlight function. That was still an inconvenience caused by the severed harness to the rear-view mirror. I bought a similar Donnely part on ebay. I say similar because it is not an exact match for my original mirror. When the time comes I will probably do another check on e-bay to see if there's a proper one available. A new one costs $400 from Coventry West I paid $148 and had to do a little extra modifications to it to get it to work.

When all was said and done I was able to get it to mount up to the existing windshield mount. The replacement mirror was easy to remove. I just tugged on it with light pressure it was being held on to a mount with a spring loaded clip. I left the mount in place since it was glued and did not easily budge. The mirror I bought had a 6 pin (yellow) connector and it came off of a XJ8 with Auto Dim Auto Headlights but not auto rain sensors. I managed to remove the wires and pins form the new mirrors connector. Luckily I had the male 8 pin (white) connector from the original mirror. I was able to figure out which pins went to the original connector for the most part the wire colors matched with the original connector.

I still have a small minor problem. From what I gathered the behavior of the Auto Dim function also controls the dimming of the side-view mirrors. However, this is not working for me. There are 6 wires on the new mirror harness and 8 wires on the original connector. I know that 3 of the 8 wires were meant for the rain sensor so i secured those wires using electrical tape. That left me with only 5 open slots on the original connector. I used the 5 pins that matched the color codes almost exactly (some colors were faded). I'm left with 1 wire brown one that I secured again with electrical tape.

I'm left with 2 questions:
1.Does anyone know the function of the brown wire from the 1996 XJ8 Mirror?
2. can anyone confirm that if the rear-view mirror goes dim so should the side mirrors and should both go dim or just the drivers side?