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Yesterday the wife took the Jag and I took the other car, heading in different directions after we got out of our neighborhood. I was behind the Jag and noticed the brake lights are on constantly. Before we drove our separate ways I watched as the passenger side brake light burned out, the 3rd passenger side brake bulb to burn out over the last 5k miles. I have been out of the house for three minutes and I have 2 new things to fix on the Jag. I realized the bulb was no big deal, last time I replaced that bulb I bought a 2 pack and put the extra one in the glovebox. Last night when she got home I went out and opened the back (it is a wagon) to get at the burned out bulb and had to push the headliner out of my way, it was fine a couple of days ago and is now hanging down so much it is starting to block the view out the rear view mirror. Undaunted I got that bad bulb out and then pulled on the glovebox handle to get the spare bulb. The glovebox handle fell off in my hand.
Now, on a car that seemed fine 2 days ago, I have:
-bad brake light switch
-burned out bulb
-sagging headliner
-glove box that I can't open
Does the factory service manual have an exorcism section?
A quick review of the JTIS System shows no exorcism procedures. Most likely the Cat doesn't like the way your wife drives and is tired of you ignoring her. She wants your attention and has decided coughing up a couple of hairballs and having a hissing fit will get your attention.
Get on with your repairs and show her how much you still care.
The Cat and I can agree we don't like the way the wife drives.
-The glovebox turned out to be easy, just fished around with a little screwdriver in the opening where the handle was and it popped open. The handle slid back in. I greased it up a little and it feels fine, I am crossing my fingers it stays put.
-The brake bulb was easy once I managed to get the spare from the broken glovebox. I'd still like to know why I have to replace it every few months.
-I removed the brake light switch and confirmed with an ohmmeter it was acting funny so I cracked the switch open and sanded and cleaned the contacts. Works like a champ now.
That leaves me with a sagging headliner...Does anyone have advice on fixing that? Contact adhesive? Those little screw in pins?
The brake light bulb could be from an excessive current draw caused by (1) dirty contacts in the socket, (2) dirty contacts in the connector and (3) a bad ground connection.
The only correct way to repair the headliner is to remove it, get rid of the old foam and glue in a new liner. This is a common problem for the X308. Do an advanced search for "headliner" in the X308 forum. There is a lot of good info for repair. The original headliners have a layer of foam and are then glued to the actual headliner board. If you use spray adhesive it dissolves the foam and creates large stains in the headliner material. The screw in pins are a good way to buy some time but eventual you will tire of the distressing look, especially after a few friends comment on the fix. LOL