I have acquired a replacement set of wood for my XJR.

The original set turned milky.

I have all the dash wood pieces off and the passenger air bag cover is off and hanging there.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the air bag out.

Any advice would be appreciated.


Also, my steering column quit working. I bought a complete used steering column and swapped out both the reach and tilt motors.

Everything works perfectly EXCEPT for there are what looks to be two dash lights out.

The far left light at the tach and the far right at the water temp gauge.

I pulled the cluster and tested the bulbs one by one. They are all good.

Could this be the dimmer switch?

I double checked under the column to see if anything is unplugged, and everything looks okay, but there are A LOT of wires under there.

Thanks in advance for your help.

I haven't been able to work on the car since October due to injury and illness. Physical therapy has helped so much that I can finally work on my Jaguar again

I appreciate any suggestions.

-Stewart

 

Have you got the JTIS? from memory you remove the glove box then undo 2x10mm nuts and lift the cassette out.

To remove the facia which hangs on 2x parabelts, find a hard plastic trim removal tools and work around the edges until the spear clips let go.

You should be able to see exactly what I mean when you have the replacements in hand. The airbag itself connects with a little grey 2 pin connector, ignition off preferably with the battery disconnected to be super safe - as in the JTIS, 'disconnect battery' at the start of every procedure, been around workshops long enough to know accidents will happen.

 

I have this joy to come, however, not sure it would be the same but on the XK it requires the removal of the glove box, you will then get to the back of the air bag, if you look up from underneath you should see 2 black 10mm hex bolts, remove these, there also should be 2 at the front. On the XK the veneer clips into a frame work which needs to also be removed once all this is out of the way the air bag can be removed. Then underneath there are 2 nyloc nuts, these hold the veneer strap retainer in place, this will allow the veneer to be removed....

Like I said what I have described is for an XK but I would not be surprised they are very similar to the XJ

 

Thanks guys.

I'll remove the glove box next.

I have the wood piece off, and it's dangling by the two straps.


Anyone have any ideas on the cluster lights?

Seems strange that bulbs on the opposite ends of the cluster are out and the bulbs are good.

Thanks again!

Stewart

 

Stewart there's a ton of posts on replacing the bulbs, over a decade on filament globs is good. Just pull the ipk and change them all T5 and W5W low watt from the dealer. They're in twistloc bases and might need a nudge to release. Or go the l.e.d route...

 

Sean, I know how to replace the bulbs and all of them are GOOD.

That's why I am stumped.

Before I dropped the column and swapped the tilt & reach motors, all instrument lights worked perfectly.

Now, the bulbs at the far left and far right don't light up, and the bulbs are good.

I have searched and have seen some discussion on the dimmer switch, but I am not certain that it could be the culprit.

Stewart

 

Bad connections mostly, very common also in XKs what I do is remove the instrument binnacle then reattach the electrical connectors, then put your side lights on, you can then get to the back at the same time and carefully wiggle each bulb holder in the circuit board, you can see them light up when you get a connection, just be careful not to touch anything that may cause a cross circuit

 

Sounds like the plan.

I just finished installing the air bag cover and the door panel wood.

The passenger air bag removal was very straight forward once the glove box was out.

I have two more instrument lights out now.

I think you are right on the connections.

Also, I think that Sean B is right.

I am going to order some LEDs for the instrument panel.

Get the dash to light up correctly and be done with it.

Thanks for your help guys!

Stewart

 

Got the car done today!

All new interior wood.

Tilt & Reach motors swapped out.

Instrument cluster bulbs ALL work now.


To remove the passenger air bag, you must:

-Remove the glove box by removing four black phillips screws along the top.

-Remove the two T-30 Torx screws underneath the glove box.

-Pull the air bag wood straight out, just like the other dash pieces. This cover comes off the same way, but it is MUCH harder to pull off. I used some plastic pry bars used for removing dashes and door panels.

There are two 10MM bolts under the airbag that you can see once the glove box is removed. Remove them. Also, there are two 10MM bolts that you can see if you look straight at the air bag, directly under the air bag metal box. You will need a long extension bar to reach them.

Once all four fasteners are off, you can now remove the air bag. My particular bag would only come out right side first. Dunno why, but it wouldn't come out straight. Anyway, once the right side of the air bag is out of it's metal box, the air bag bracket can be slid out. I didn't bother taking the air bag completely out of the metal compartment. I just slid the new wood's bracket back in, and then pushed the air bag back in place. Now all to do is to replace the two screws and two nuts. The air bag pushes straight on. Just make sure that the straps don't get in the way. I had to push mine in a bit.

On the instrument panel lights, I tried several things to get them to work.

First, I removed each and every one, cleaned the bulb holder with electronics cleaner, and I cleaned the bulbs too. I also took some Q Tips and sprayed them with electronics cleaner as well. I plugged in the dash, and NONE of the lights worked!

So, I next added new 168 and 174 bulbs in the same Jaguar bulb holders. This time about 1/3 of the instrument panel lights worked.

Finally, I took some GM bulb holders that I had left over from a mid 1990's GM car. I repeated the same cleaning procedure, and installed another set of brand new bulbs. This time most of the bulbs did not work. I still had the large and small bulbs at both ends not working and the ODO light not working.

I replaced the bulb holders and bulbs once AGAIN. This time I wiggled the bulb holders a bit once they were in.

I did a little prayer, and VOILA! I now have 100% of the dash lights functioning!


I did A LOT of searching and reading on this subject.

One thing that some posts did NOT address is that the two plugs that attach to the gauge cluster have little flip away arms that must be flipped from their locked position, and THEN one can pull the plug straight out. I tried this without flipping the little arm, and thought I was going to break something. I went back and did some more reading and found a thread that pointed this out. The little arm is visible on the yellow/right plug, as the arm is black. On the black plug, it's not noticeable.

Thanks to everybody who helped me with this!

It is so nice to have all the dash lights and fully functioning tilt / reach functions!

I was able to purchase a complete used steering column for $60.00 shipped, so I also have a spare reach cable. I plan on taking the reach and tilt motor gear assemblies apart and lubing them up for spares.

Thanks guys!

Stewart

 

Well done!