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JAG Members,
On a 2003 XJ8 Sport, what colors are the OEM interior display colors? It somewhat bugs me that there are so many different colors. I changed some lights to LED , but didn't get the outcome that I was looking for.
I changed out the blown out instrument lights to bright LED whites , and the cluster is still blue.
Change the blown out Climate light to bright LED white and its displaying a soft white.
Radio is green.
Map light still original -warm yellow, I want to go bright white.
Interior cabin still original - warm yellow.
Basically, it is possible to have all of the interior display to be one color (except for the warning and emergency light of course) ? Did anyone do this?
Does anyone have the same light colors in their interior to show a picture of?
I personally really like the warm blue color of the Jag backlighting, probably the best looking color while still being practical (as opposed to an annoying bright cool blue, deep red, blinding white etc. like in many modern cars; or a boring but functional amber).
Anyway, the coloring in the gauge cluster is in the cluster itself, I don't know if you can change it, but removing the coloring would at least require full disassembly of the gauge cluster. The climate display is going to tint your output color slightly, just due to it being an older LCD screen (think the yellowish gray background color of a calculator screen). In most of the rest of the backlighting, the coloring is on the bulbs themselves, so just changing those out with a certain color LED, the button or whatever will be backlit the same color.
The radio backlights are very difficult to replace. I don't know about the rest of the climate backlights, but I don't think they're much easier. Aside from the J gate backlights, every other backlight not mentioned yet is pretty straightforward. The door switch lights may require some creative mounting.
Here's pics of OEM lights, one with a wider shot, before I fixed the J gate lights, and one after with working J gate. wide shot j gate backlights working, sport mode and cruise buttons accidentally swapped sides
Plus 1 on what Nilanium said.
The radio lights are soldered in and of a totally different type, so any change of color should start there.
There is a very old thread of a guy who replaced each and every light for LEDs, with lots of pictures and instructions, you might find it using the search function of this forum.
Nilanium; seems you miss a blue cap over your right side dash button (the ODO one), the lack of the cap makes them shine much more bright ... or it is the pic, but I doubt.
It's a mix of both, the color condom was torn (oh dear) so those buttons appear half blue half white. It's not as obvious in person but noticeable if you look for it. The bulb has been acting up recently, so I'll just swap it out with a more intact colored one soon.
Oh how I wish they could reproduce themselves .... They are bloody expensive at the dealer, and luckily I found replacement bulbs since then.
I put the whole bulb+holder is some hot water, then use a toothpick to slowly work my way around to release the cap from the bulb, releasing whatever makes them stick to it.
Never broke a cap.
I make a point of collecting the dash bulbs at every opportunity I get. I've got a little pot full of them, working and non working. You can get the bulbs without the "condoms" but as in life it's good to have a oversupply of covers
The Jaguar dash lights are a beautiful shade and it's one they still use today. I was pleasantly surprised when I got in my friend's 2015 XF to find the switches and ambient lighting was the same colours as the X308.
I personally really like the warm blue color of the Jag backlighting, probably the best looking color while still being practical (as opposed to an annoying bright cool blue, deep red, blinding white etc. like in many modern cars; or a boring but functional amber).
Anyway, the coloring in the gauge cluster is in the cluster itself, I don't know if you can change it, but removing the coloring would at least require full disassembly of the gauge cluster. The climate display is going to tint your output color slightly, just due to it being an older LCD screen (think the yellowish gray background color of a calculator screen). In most of the rest of the backlighting, the coloring is on the bulbs themselves, so just changing those out with a certain color LED, the button or whatever will be backlit the same color.
The radio backlights are very difficult to replace. I don't know about the rest of the climate backlights, but I don't think they're much easier. Aside from the J gate backlights, every other backlight not mentioned yet is pretty straightforward. The door switch lights may require some creative mounting.
Here's pics of OEM lights, one with a wider shot, before I fixed the J gate lights, and one after with working J gate.
Do you know what bulb & how many are needed to replace the trip/odometer switch, thanks.
I did a total led interior conversion and it's a time consuming job, as mentioned the radio console has around 30 led's that require soldering along with their resistors to run on the 5V rail. The only one I couldn't change was the radio screen.
I had a number of aborted bulb matches, but found daylight white carried through well for almost all applications, w5w's mini twist-loc's etc.
All 4 door switchpacks, puddle lighting, overhead, C pillars, complete dash and added footwell and door pull lights.
The 3 components to be careful with are the instrument cluster, gear shift module and climate control pack. They run through the CAN-BUS so care is required when working with them.
First picture is of a completed climate pack, but radio yet to be converted, you can see the difference in brightness and colour.
2nd picture is of both converted to led's.
I should do an update at some point. Camera's don't do it justice, the impression of colour shade differences but there isn't in real life.
TRON.