This forum is great! I've learned so much reading the threads tonight! Helpful and non-snarky...unlike other places. But like others, I need help with my overhead light (and footwell lights) that won't go off.

Here's how it started. My 2003 Xtype was behaving purrrrfectly, but I couldn't leave well enough alone. I tried to change the stock center overhead interioir light to led festoon. I put the console back and to my dismay not only did it not work the fan stopped working. After some googling, I checked fuse #99 and sure enough it was blown. I replaced it and switched back to the stock bulb. Now the light (and the footwell lights) stay on, and doesn't turn off, after I turn off the car, for 45 minutes. As you can imagine with the lights on, driving at night can be treacherous. (And aren't Jaguars nocturnal?)

The reading lights work properly, but the center light on/off button does not. I hope someone can point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance.

 

Check the instrument dimmer switch and be sure it is not in the interior light position.

 

Thanks hlgeorge. I'm new to the car and of course it had no owners manual. If by instrument dimmer switch you mean the small dial by my headlight switch, depressed or not depressed, the only thing it dims is the instruments (speedo, tach, etc.). But nothing with the overhead light.

If you mean something on the overhead console, there's the sunroof switch (works fine), 3 garage door buttons (I suppose work...I don't have a garage, and 3 light switches. The 2 reading lights (which go on and off) and the middle light for the "dome" light...which isn't responding.

Any thoughts?

 

OK, try this. Be sure switch is not in the middle position.

 

Okay. I moved the switch from the center. But the interior light (closest to the windshield) and the footwells remain on. Ugh.

Thanks again for helping me. Where should I look to next?

 

One of your door latches is causing the problem, not registering the door as closed. Have you tried lubricating all the door latch mechanisms?

 

dragudo, what you are describing sounds like you pinched a wire in the overhead console. what you will need to do is to pull the overhead console down again and do some looking for a black wire with a pink stripe. You will probably find a few of them up there. But, what you want to do is to hand over hand the wiring to make sure that none of the insulation is damaged (if it is, wrap it up in electrical tape really well). Then you can lay the wires so that they will be away from where the spring clips go. This should fix your problem.

To explain what is happening, all the lights in the car have power applied to them when the car is running (ie, 12 VDC applied). The reason why they do not come on is that there is no ground path to complete the electrical circuit. When you open a door, the computer provides a ground path (through the black wire with a pink stripe). This will allow the light to now light. when you pinched the wire, you provided a secondary ground path from the wire, through the insulation to the body of the car.

Like what sov211 said, it is possible that a door switch is not making up properly which would also lead to the lights remaining on. But, you can prove this not to be the case if you can still lock the doors using the fob. The car is set up to not allow locking of the doors until all doors are shut. You can prove this by leaving a door open and trying to lock the doors. The horn honks at you too as I recall to provide an indication that the doors did not lock and that you need to look at the car again.

 

Looking for a short to ground was going to be my next suggestion. I think Thermo is on to the area now.

 

Thanks for your help Thermo. I've read your other posts on this matter and your knowledge in this area is impressive! That said, I found the black wire with the pink stripe and didn't find any crack in the insulation. But to be sure, I wrapped it in electric insulation tape. No luck. I can lock the car with the fob as you suggested. The light still stays on but does go out after 30-40 minutes, and remains dangerously on when I'm driving.

Any thoughts?

 

dragudo, ok, lets go about this a different way. What I want you to do is to unplug the foot well lights and both of the overhead lights. In this state, plug in one of the footwell lights and close all the doors. Does this light go off when the door closes? If yes, then we know the problem is not in the wiring harness. If no, then unplug this light and then plug in the other footwell light. Does this light go out when all the doors are closed? If no, then most likely you have a problem with the wiring harness or the GEM module. More on this later. If yes, then your first footwell light is shorting to ground and you will need to fix that before plugging it back in.

If you can plug in the footwell lights and they do not come on, the next step will be to plug in the rear overhead light. With all the doors shut, do the lights go out? If no, then your rear light housing has an internal fault and that is grounding, leading to all the lights remaining on. If yes, then plug in your front overhead light. Do all the lights go out at this point (not anticipating it) with the door shut? If yes, then something has been bumped and this is going to be an interesting one to troubleshoot. If no, then this is confirming that your front overhead light has an internal fault and it will need to be replaced.

Of note, try and leave the lights free hanging so we can eliminate any potential problems where the back of the light fixtures are touching the surrounding metal. If you can reach the point where all the lights are plugged in and they are going out with the doors shut, you can try plugging them back into their mounts one at a time till you reach a point where the lights will not go out. The one that causes the lights to remain on is somehow grounding to the body of the car. This is where careful attention to where the light comes close to the body will help narrow down where your problem lies. This may take a little bit of trial and error with applying some electrical tape over spots of the light to see where the contact is happening.

If by chance you plugged in both of the footwell lights and this caused the lights to remain on, the next step would be to unplug the GEM module plug. Do the lights go out now with all the door shut? If yes, then your problem is the GEM module and you will most likely require a new GEM module. If no, then you have a problem with the wiring harness itself and this is going to be a lot of hand over handing of the wiring to figure out where the pinched wire is. I would start in the area of the overhead console to see if something in the area got pinched as you moved things. This is where careful moving of the harness is going to be needed and having someone with some electrical knowledge may come in handy.