Hello,

A few years ago my mom was in a tight lot and hit the car on the front on both sides. A year ago the dealer told me the front orange lights on the side did not light up. I also noticed one of the headlamp washers was left inside the hole. Today I took it to the body shop where we had fixed it and they were very polite. They're actually good people, my brother goes there often since his wife is in a minor accident about once a year. So we know them, once they were nice enough to change the Jaguar hood ornament for free.

So they took the bumper down and could not find any wires for the front orange reflectors. They told me that one of the reflectors didn't even have a hole to put the bulb into which I did notice once, but the other one did have the hole. So they said they were just reflectors and did not light up.

I think it is very odd that they do not light up. The red ones in the rear side do light up. Would one of you be able to check if yours light up? My car is a 2006 XJ8. Oh, and the body shop did repair that headlight washer that hadn't been positioned correctly.

 

They are supposed to light up when the lights are turned on, at least for the NA markets (I think they are just reflectors in the UK). As someone who has been behind the bumper more times than I care to remember, there should be holes for bulbs in both reflectors and the bumper harness should have wires for them. Sounds like someone either didn't know, or didn't care, how to fix it right.

 

Yes your right ours are only reflectors in the uk so no hole for a bulb holder

 

I've seen some XJ8 of the X350 generation that the front orange reflector is lit up, I did see one, on one side that it didn't have the light on. I thought I would look at a parts catalog from a Jaguar dealer to settle if it is a lamp or a reflector but they had both! I wrote to them to see if they have any insight.

SIDE MARKER LAMPS for 2006 Jaguar XJ8

 

The front markers on my 2004 XJ do light up. I would have responded sooner, but tonight was the first chance I had to confirm. I purchased my car in Canada, and I believe the XJ lights are the same in both countries.

 

As mentioned for NA markets they should light up. Have you owned the vehicle from new? If not is it possible that the bumper cover may have been replaced before you bought it?

The reflectors are very easy to dislodge and fall out if the bumper cover is distorted like in most minor car park scrapes. The forwardmost clips tend to weaken and then the reflector needs replacing else it falls out every time a pigeon farts nearby. I could easily believe that someone has replaced one side with a non-bulb version by mistake to fix a broken clip scenario. For the wiring to not be there though suggests the bumper cover or at least the bumper harness has been replaced with the wrong one. (Or your body shop just didn't spot it, but with both reflectors affected I think that is unlikely.)

 

Thanks rhankey and xdave. I think when the body shop fixed the car a few years ago they must have taken off the wires for the front parking lights. I searched a parts catalog and there's a part for the parking lights called wiring harness, I don't remember the price right now but it wasn't expensive. Maybe they forgot to put them back on and when I took it again recently; if they didn't see any wires they must have assumed they are just reflectors.

Next time the dealer sends me a service coupon I'm going to take it in. They're great but a bit pricey, touch up paint is $60.00. I'll see if they let me buy the parts on my own. I will update here when I do it, but it might be months since they don't send service coupons very often, about 2x per year.

Thanks again!

 

Why would you need a coupon to buy a part (parts) over the counter? Just bring in the Catalog and show the parts counter person. It also appears you need a side marker light with the hole to install the bulb and socket into at the very least. These aren't parking lights they are side marker lights. They're on the car to show another approaching car the relative length of your car in poor visibility scenarios. They in fact, do light up, my side markers on my 05 Super V/8 do. Do you have the body shop final repair bill? if so, it should show at least one side marker replacement part number, maybe two. The parts counterman can verify if its correct to the car. I think you have a valid claim to the body shop to fix the car.

 

If it were mine, I'd take it to the body shop and tell them to call you when the illuminated side markers work. Another thought... there must be another XJ8 in south Florida. Ask if you can take a phone picture from that owner with them illuminated to show the shop.

 

Hi grantorino62,

I'm waiting for their next coupons for service, the parts I can get cheaper online anyways. It's a good idea to show them what I can get them online for though, so I'll do that. I took it back to the Body Shop about 3 years after they fixed the accident but they didn't find any wire for the parking lights so they told me they are only reflectors. They're good people, I think they're wrong about this though.

Thanks for letting me knows yours do light up.

BTW if you haven't seen the movie "Gran Torino" with Clint Eastwood, it's really good!

 

My 90 year old Dad is that person played by Clint except he has a Model A Ford! My sign on name is in reference to the movie.

 

Update: So I took it in to the dealer this week and they were able to fix it. The car had the wrong wiring harness installed, they said the part number for it wasn't for my car. I got two new lamps since the one lamp was cracked and the other one was only a reflector.

Thanks for all the comments everyone. Now all the parking lights on it come on!

 

I'm in the USA, now all the parking lights are on all the time even during the day. :-(

I don't think this is normal?

 

...turns out the DRL can be turned off from the Vehicle Settings in MENU screen...

Thanks to jadedragon1800 for his post I learned about it.