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I recently broke the right front marker lamp on my 07 XJR. I ordered a replacement (part #C2C2048) on eBay but when it arrived it had a blank in the spot where the bulb should be inserted. I contacted the seller and was told they had mistakenly sent me the wrong part, the correct one being #C2C2051. I've spent more time than I care to admit trying to determine WTF the part with the blank is used for.
I finally found an entry on "Automotive Lighting" in good old Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_lighting) that shed some light on my conundrum—the laws governing the subject varies from country to country. In the US and Canada side markers are mandatory—the rear must be red and the front, amber—whereas in Europe they are optional but, if present, must all be amber.
Since Jaguars are manufactured in Europe, this explains why, whilst searching online for X350 side markers, one often sees a description such as "fits right rear and left front". But this still doesn't explain the mysterious blank. The only explanation I can think of is that there is some place in the world where operational side markers are illegal and that these are just used to fill the space, perhaps with some reflective value? (Note in the photo, my old broken part is stamped "USA" whereas the new one with the blank is stamped "EUR".)
I recently broke the right front marker lamp on my 07 XJR. I ordered a replacement (part #C2C2048) on eBay but when it arrived it had a blank in the spot where the bulb should be inserted. I contacted the seller and was told they had mistakenly sent me the wrong part, the correct one being #C2C2051. I've spent more time than I care to admit trying to determine WTF the part with the blank is used for.
I finally found an entry on "Automotive Lighting" in good old Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_lighting) that shed some light on my conundrum—the laws governing the subject varies from country to country. In the US and Canada side markers are mandatory—the rear must be red and the front, amber—whereas in Europe they are optional but, if present, must all be amber.
Since Jaguars are manufactured in Europe, this explains why, whilst searching online for X350 side markers, one often sees a description such as "fits right rear and left front". But this still doesn't explain the mysterious blank. The only explanation I can think of is that there is some place in the world where operational side markers are illegal and that these are just used to fill the space, perhaps with some reflective value? (Note in the photo, my old broken part is stamped "USA" whereas the new one with the blank is stamped "EUR".)
Can anybody help me out here?
Do UK x350s have the EUR type above? I.e, is it just a matter of drilling a suitable hole in the unit and fitting a bulb holder?
You still might have been able to use the side marker lamp with the blank. If it were me, I would have simply used a burr, a rat tail file and a straight file to make the hole for the bulb.