Just bought a 99 XJR from a family member and when I was driving at night I noticed none of the center console buttons light up. The instruments do have a light and the radio and climate control also have a backlight, but they do not dim when I play with the dimmer switch. I checked all the fuses and they are all good. I'm thinking it could be an issue with the dimmer switch. I would be surprised if the bulbs for most of the center console and the clock went out at the same-ish time. Any thoughts?

 

So you bought it from a family member...hmmmm, must of been practicing their used car sales techniques. Just check the bulbs, the car is 23 yrs old after all and folks tend not to notice such things or ignore them because they are lazy.

 

Just put a disco ball behind the sunroof if it’s too dark in there.

The instrument cluster (speedo, tach, etc) most likely needs new bulbs. 22 year old cars need love. It’s not hard to pull the cluster out to change the bulbs. Just move the steering wheel towards you as far as possible and tilt it down as far as possible before you start taking the cluster out. There’s write ups that detailed this procedure when you search for it.

 

So the instrument cluster is fine and has backlight, but the buttons on the radio, climate control, etc as well as the clock do not. Could it be the bulbs on all those?

 

Yes. I replaced almost all of mine when I restored my 98 XJR because most of them were burned out. Many of those bulbs have a blue rubbery "filter" that covers the bulbs. You'll want to save those. They slide off and you can reuse them on the new bulbs. Replacement bulbs are easy to find, but it might be hard to find the blue rubber filters.

Edited to add: those little bulbs are everywhere in the car - Besides the instrument panels, I replaced them in the window switches at all four doors, maybe even the ash tray area if I remember right. They were almost all burned out in my car. The interior looks very nice when all the bulbs are working.

 

Cool beans. I'll look into this and hopefully it'll solve the issue. And I'll actually be able to see the buttons at night =)

 

Then you can go over to Rey's and get some taco's....

 

This got me thinking. Has anyone figured out the best way to add lights in the front and rear footwells? I tried searching but couldn't find anything.

 

Are you speaking of having them come on when the door is open and off when closed? If so, there are LED kits around for that (whatever color you want) and by using LED, you should be able to find the bottom corner door leads under the dash and tap into them.