newbie here,

I have a problem with the bumper lights, whenever the car is in use it operates good however when you finish for the day at night for some reason (when the car is not in use and all switches tunred off) the bumper lights turn on and completely drain out the battery. I had changed the battery because the old had died completely after recharging it many times. The concern/question is has anybody or does anybody know why these lights turn on and how? The keyfob has a light switch on it but I don't think it is that as it hadn't been pressed. Could it be a case of wiring/switching/connector? Do I just need to disconnect the bulbs or remove fuse? Please help

 

I know you dont think its the keyfob but just check. I often press the button by mistake on mine when I am locking the house front door at night. I dont realise till I get to bed and see lights shining through the windows. Not really sure about what use the feature is in the first place....

 

Push in the light switch...it pulls out two stops and one of them is for those lights.

 

xtype2000, give me a little bit more info and I am sure we can get this solved for you. First, what year is your X-Type? Based on the name, I would have to assume 2000, but X-Types were not released back then that I am aware of. Different years have slight tweaks to the wiring. Also, do you have the trailer wiring package or not? Finally, do you have daytime running lights, automatic headlights or just the basic headlights? There are slight differences between these three styles and it can help me eliminate possibilities.

 

Thank you all for replying. I will check if the button on the keyfob does the trick or not. I think it maybe used to identify your car in a parking lot? I will also try pushing in the light switch to see if this makes a difference and will let you know of the results when my battery is fully charged that is. My car is Y reg and it has the basic headlights where you have a switch on righthand side of steering wheel. The first notch puts the first sets of lights, the second puts it on full and the stick besides the wheel you pull to yourself is the fog lights. No auto feature included. No trailer wiring. Thank you once again and have a good bank holiday.

 

2000, the next time you see this going on, I want you to try something so we can start narrowing down where this problem lies. What I need you to do is the next time you can catch the car with the running lights on when they shouldn't be, I need you to get into the interior of the car and access the fuse panel. I need you to locate 3 fuses: F63, F64, and F97.

What I need you to do is to remove one fuse at a time. We'll start with fuse F63. By pulling this fuse, only the lights for the right hand side of the car should go out. If they remain on, then we know the wiring issue is associated with this wiring (should also note all the other lights will turn off). If only the right hand side lights go out, reinstall fuse F63. Now, remove fuse F64 and repeat the same checks, but this time for the left hand side of the car. Finally, re-install fuse F64 and pull the fuse F97. F97 powers the glove box light, license plate lights, and the status light on the dash. If these do not go out, but all the other lights go out, then we know the problem is located inside the cab of the vehicle or at the license plate and we can go from there.

Once we get that done, we can get you on your way to getting this issue resolved. Not to ask a silly question, but have you had any work done on the car recently like another wiring issue or the installation of a car alarm/aftermarket stereo? Just trying to rule out possibilities.

 

Thanks thermo i will try and let you know. I had a new heater motor and variable switch wiring fitted in at Nov 2009.

 

2000, did this issue start right after that or was it a few months later that you first noticed this issue. Just trying to figure out the most likely possibility so you don't have to spend tons and tons of time hand over handing the wiring.

 

I noticed the issue a few months later and that's when it started to drain the battery out, also the hazard lights don't work too. Thank you for your advice it means a lot to me.

 

Okay Thermo, my battery is fully charged and I haven't seen the lights on yet (an intermittent issue by the way). What I have done is put all lights on and checked those fuses. F62-64 come in a brown 7.5 amp rating not 10 amp not sure if this would affect it? Also I had pulled out F63-64 and only the rear tail lights were off not the front side light or side markers, could be a problem? I will come back to you once I see those lights on and run those tests. Thanks for your help so far.

rstallard, Pulling the light switch out once puts the front fog lights on - these are the lights that I'm having a problem with. Pulling the light switch out twice puts the rear fog lights on. Thanks for pointing this out as I've never knew this.

Bolly, The keyfob button puts the main beam lights on and not the front fog lights which I'm having a problem with.

 

2000, I think we are going on two different paths here. The lights that are coming on when they shouldn't be, are they the white fog lights (very bottom of the car, under the bumper) or are you having issue with the running lights (ie, the small white bulbs above the bumper on the inner housings, the yellow lights up front and the red lights in the rear)?

If it is the fog lights, then that changes things a little bit. That actually makes it a little bit easier to troubleshoot.