Just noticed this morning that our 2005 S-Type drivers side front fog lamp assembly is completely missing. My wife swears that she didn't knowingly hit anything on her recent trip to and from Florida, and I see absolutely no body damage to that external area. I reached my hand into the round hole as best I could to probe around for broken glass, plastic, or metal that might be lodged in there, but I didn't find any loose broken pieces of any type. Maybe someone who knew what they were doing actually stole the fog lamp by reaching underneath the front lower fascia somehow and ripping out the entire assembly since I do seem to see the very small remains of plastic mounting brackets left in place from where the fog lamp assembly was ripped away from its mounting frame. Very, very strange indeed....

For those of you who have replaced your fog lamp bulbs or perhaps even your entire assembly as I am going to have to do, what is the procedure for getting to them? I have huge hands and in order to be able to get in there and still have enough working room to remove the fragments of the mounting brackets left in place and then install the new fog lamp assembly, I know that I'm going to have to do some significant disassembly underneath the front left corner of the car. So what are the step-by-step instructions to do so?

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide....

 

Jon,
The plasic surround pulls out from the face. Note the seam on the lower black plastic grill. That is how the bulb is changed. Remove the bezel first and you should have plenty of room to work. You may not need to get under the bumper.

 

It probably happened when she was on her Blutooth!........


All kidding aside, I would assume someone grabbed it, especially if theirs were cracked or something. On mine, the front lower bumper cover has access panels that just come out, it doesnt look like they would just looking at them. That is how I got access to the back of the foglight housing to install my lower mesh grill. Do you have a pic of the front bumper you can provide?

 

Thanks, guys. Pulled off the black plastic drivers side lower grill per Jeff's suggestion and improved the visibility quite a bit. Then I unbolted enough of the T-30 Torx bolts holding the lower plastic bezel in place to drop the drivers side of the bezel down and out of my way. Found the fog lamp assembly tucked away on top of the lower fascia, cable still attached and bulb still working properly. The fog lamp housing is black plastic and has three black plastic brackets molded into the housing. These brackets hold the fog lamp housing in place using three hex bolts. My wife hit something hard enough during her latest Florida trip (maybe a pothole, maybe tire retread debris on the highway) to cause all three of these black plastic attachment brackets to break away at the same time from the fog lamp housing. I doubt if any glue or epoxy will bond these plastic brackets back onto the plastic fog lamp housing in a strong enough manner to make it durable enough to be held in place again by the three hex bolts. My guess is that another jolt like a pothole would snap these three plastic brackets again at their glued seams. Maybe I'll try epoxy, though. I really have nothing to lose. A new drivers side fog lamp assembly is $144 at my dealer, and I sure hate to spend this if I can avoid it....

Any other glue ideas, guys? I'm sitting here with the fog lamp housing and the three broken-off brackets and if there is a way to securely glue them back on to where they can survive road jolts, it's worth a try....

 

I used 2 part plastic bonding epoxy from Advanced Auto Parts when i broke the tabs off of my front bumper access panel. Bonded well, and has been through multiple rain storms. Try that out.

 

Good idea. I'll keep that in mind....

Just talked with my local Jaguar service manager to see if they will cover this issue under the factory warranty. My wife cannot recall hitting anything with the car (even a moderate pothole), Jaguar acknowledges that although this case is unusual, plastic gets brittle over time so they will at least look at it to see if they'll cover these snapped-off plastic brackets under the factory warranty. So I'm taking the car in next Tuesday with my current warranty punch list and to get the final free oil & filter service that we're entitled to before the factory warranty runs out on July 18th....

If Jaguar won't take care of the fog lamp issue under warranty, a buddy of mine is going to try to fabricate some metal brackets to replace these plastic ones. He was a tool-and-die expert at a GM plant in New Jersey for more than 20 years and he believes that he can come up with something that will work. There's nothing wrong with the fog lamp, the lens, or the housing itself except for the fact that the brackets are plastic and apparently become easier to snap off as they age. If we can figure out a good way to attach metal brackets to the plastic housing body, this problem is solved and I'll retrofit the fog lamp assembly on our car's passenger side as well because as my buddy pointed out, it will just be a matter of time before that side gets weak enough to snap off also. Spending $150 apiece for new fog lamps just because the plastic brackets break off is foolish if we can solve the issue with $2 worth of metal brackets and a good way to attach them to the housing....

 

Good news - after inspecting the broken fog lamp assembly, the dealer replaced it under warranty. If the attachment brackets were metal rather than plastic, this problem would never arise....

 

Sounds like you have a good dealer like mine. They really didn't have to replace that since it really could have happened from an impact. It is nice to hear about another dealer out there that really takes care of the customer. I'm curious, did you buy the car from them?

 

Yes, I purchased the car from them but drove a very hard bargain that they still remember. They haven't always been as cooperative as you think. They originally were going to "fix" my wife's Limp Home debacle simply by applying the J004 recall reflash even though the trouble codes pointed directly to the throttle body. I jumped down their throats and complained to Jaguar Corporate with a long, very descriptive e-mail and a call to the Customer Center. Corporate then called them on the carpet for that slackassed approach. Ever since that happened in mid-May, my dealership's service staff all snap to attention whenever I show up there. When I mentioned that our moonroof drains probably had some debris in them, they blew them out with compressed air for free as a warranty fix even though this is not technically a warranty item....