I just purchase my set of bulbs. I wonder what the company will think when all these orders come in for the same number/color combination? I think that this is the best improvement that will done to my car this year (barring the installation of my Alpine Stereo).
Jomo

 

Jomo,

Who have you purchased from? Also, do please let us know if:

- you already have a dimly lit Sport Bulb at all times
- if you get the problems previously mentioned about Sport, 1st gear lock and MIL after you've changed to LEDs.

Tks

Paul

 

Paul,

I'm guessing you're right. As I said, it never occurred to me. I would never knowingly support someone who pirates someone else's work.

I'm excited to see if I can install those lights today. I think I'll leave the original bulbs in for the sport and 1st gear lockout lights. Don't really care about those anyway.

 

Danny,

Hi, please change them all! I really want to know if you have the constant dim Sport and Engine Check Light glowing etc plus no 1st gear lockout if there's an LED in Sport.

Go on, it will only take you another minute and we'll have one more case to confirm the issue or otherwise!

After messing around, I really am going to order mine tomorrow and will order enough to do the Sport bulb etc!

Paul

 

I replaced my bulbs with LEDs and they work great. I am so excited about seeing my Parking Brake light on with my top down, I can hardly stand it! It was the perfect sunny day to drive in the Pacific Northwest with the top down today and I had no problem seeing my warning lights. I kept putting my parking brake on just for the fun of seeing the light haha. I kept the Sport light bulb original per SouthernGypsy's recommendation. It's near the left turn signal, which now has an LED. What a difference comparing the two. Wow.

Many thanks to SouthernGypsy, Paul, and Greg for their help. As SouthernGypsy recommended, I didn't put LEDs in the Sport, /1, Check Engine, and Seatbelt lights. I did try to put an LED in the Check Engine socket but it stayed on all the time pretty bright so I put the original bulb back in.

All is happy in my garage today.

 

Paul,

Sorry, I just noticed your most recent post. I didn't change them all as I said in my post above but i can confirm on my car the Check Engine light stays on all the time with an LED as did SothernGypsy's. Mine was very bright. His was dim. Problem solved putting the original bulb back in.

LED's are a HUGE improvement in these cars. I bought my bulbs where SouthernGypsy did and I am very pleased with the product and quick delivery.

 

I just installed 16 LEDs tonight (The 20 in the panel less the "First gear lockout", "Sport", "Check Engine", and "Seat belt", where I left the useless original bulbs, in accordance with the experience of everyone else.)

Problem is that only five of the LEDs work ("Transmission", fourth from the left, the left and right turn signals (positions five and 16, counted from the left), "High Beam", position six from the left, and "Bulb Out", position 18 from the left)

I assume the reason for the others not coming on is that I've got them oriented the wrong way, LEDs being polarity sensitive.

Looking at the circuit board I've made the following assumption on how to orient the LEDs, with UP being toward the sky, and DOWN exactly that. Those of you who have successfully installed LEDs, can you confirm these orientations?

From left to right, on a 1995 XJS:
Meaning Ground
1. Exhaust temperature UP
2. Low gear lockout UP (Keep bulb)
3. Sport UP (Keep bulb)
4. Transmission DOWN
5. Left turn signal UP
6. High beam UP
7. Anitlock UP
8. Charging UP
9. Brake UP
10. Low fuel UP
11. Parking brake UP
12. Low coolant UP
13. Check engine DOWN (Keep bulb)
14. Oil UP
15. Seat belt UP (Keeping bulb)
16. Right turn signal UP
17. Fog light UP
18. Bulb out indicator UP
19. Fog light UP
20. Washer fluid DOWN

Is this in accordance with your experience?

 

I didn't note the orientations of all of mine but that sounds about right, they are not all oriented the same way. It seems a few more of mine was down than that but like I said I didn't note them exactly. I thought I had them right on my bench by looking at the circuit board but that didn't work out so hot, so had to just plug in the dash and click the key on and off to make it do the test sequence and turn on different things doing one by one until I had them all working.

 

What I' obviously forgot to mention was that the UP and DOWN represent where I thought ground was, and where I put the negative, -, side of the diode... :-)

 

Hi,
I installed the lights from www.superbrightleds.com yesterday. I checked each and every bulb for ground and marked them. I checked each socket for the ground before inserting the bulb. After putting the bulbs in I see that they match exactly like AndersA installed them.
But all is not well. When I turn my ignition key to the on position my bulb out turns on for a second, the seat belt light turns on for about 2-3 seconds and the check engine light is on all the time. When I start the engine the check engine light stays on but nothing else. My right turn signal works when I signal a right turn and the high beam indicator illuminates when I turn on my high beams. Nothing else works. I did not replace the bulbs for the sport light, 1st gear lockout, check engine and seat belt light. Of course I triple checked to see if the two plugs are attached nicely and they are. I even verified that I did not put them in backwards.
Please advise.
Jomo

 

Jomo,

Ignoring anything that you might think about which way round the polarity is, why don't you just turn around all the LEDs that don't appear to be lighting correctly. That's where I would start as a simple option.

Paul

 

Paul, I should have mentioned that I did turn a couple around (left t/s and parking brake). This should not cause my check engine light to stay on while using the original bulb. I verified that there is no question about the original bulb being in the engine bulb socket by taking out that (original) bulb and seeing that the check engine light went off and then re appeared when I put the (original) bulb back.
Here is exactly how I got my results. I used a 9v battery to test the new bulbs. One direction they worked the other direction they did not work. When the bulb lit I but a mark on the bulb that was by the - side of the 9v battery. Using an ohm meter I placed one end to a screw (ground) and the other end to one of the two contact on the circuit board for each bulb opening. When I got continuity I said ground. Then I placed the bulb so that the marked side went to the ground contact. I did this for each of the 20 bulbs (I did all 20 initially because you asked me to I can tell you my results). When I had the trouble described above I removed the four 'problem' bulbs and still the same problem.
Jomo

 

Jomo,

Very comprehensive! Some people do seem to have had problems with some LEDs seating properly. I think that if you're seeing current on the bulbholder contacts for the non-working circuits, then you have to start considering the alignment and positioning of the LEDS first.

The only other thing I can suggest is to scan for any fault codes in case bizarrely there is some reason why the MIL has lit.

Really interested to hear the outcome.

Good luck

Paul

 

I will try that. I actually never though that would be the case. Tomorrow I will check to see if the left t/s has 12 v going to the circuit board and then I will conclude that it is the new bulb not making contact that is causing me this headache.
In the 95's how do I get the MIL code that is in the computer?
Jomo

 

Here is my 1st update. I pulled the led from the left t/s socket and put back the original bulb. The bulb lit under the correct condition (ign turned on and turn signal switch in left turn position). So (once again!) Paul is correct that 13 out of the 16 new bulbs are not making good contact. I am really not happy about this as even if I do get them to work today it may not be permanent. I will try my best to seat all the bulbs nicely.
I really thought that this was going to be a quick fix especially with Paul's steps on how to remove the dashboard. I actually had the panel out in 5-7 minutes. Putting in the bulbs correctly took a bit of time as I had to find the ground of each bulb, mark it and then figure out how to orient the bulb in the socket correctly. Now I will be checking to make sure that each bulb is making contact in each socket. Maybe 30 more minutes? I really want to drive my car and see the dash lights. One day I will figure out precisely why me and so many other people just love these Jaguars. I guess the answer is that there are so many nice things about the car and when put together it is just the greatest car around (I wonder if I would put an XKE ahead of my XJS).
Wish me luck and expect my next (and final?) update shortly.
Jomo

 

i have just replaced all the lamps in my 89 coupe , as in another post i made today with pictures

LED polarity is quite easy , as the two contact wires are different, the thick wire is the positive, and the thin the ground

the top row of lamps point the same way apart from one horizontally mounted lamp , and the bottom row all point the opposite way to the top row , if that makes sense

IMG_1966 by MyPix on Talk Photography



IMG_1963 by MyPix on Talk Photography

BB

 

Hi,
I am sorry to say that this mod was a complete waste of my time. The new bulbs do not make contact with the circuit board. I will be contacting superbrightleds for a refund. I am glad that this worked for others!
Jomo

 

Hi,
I just thought that I will give you something to think about. When most of the bulbs were seated incorrectly the check engine light came on and stayed on while driving the car. Now that the bulbs are all working again the check engine went off after I started the car 5 times in a row. It stayed off for the minute I let the car run for.
I am wondering what triggered this light to come on.
Jomo

 

Jomo,

I have no personal experience of the company but a few people seem to have seating problems with the LEDs from that company.

I am using a UK company and will report back in a few days how I got on.

Paul

 

I wish that someone would have mentioned this as many of us would have purchased just one bulb for testing purposes. Come on forum members we are here to help one another.
Jomo