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MurrayG - thanks for this excellent post. I am searching Amazon UK right now for the LEDs you used, or their equivalents. I will post a list of equivalents, or the exact same if I find them, for Amazon UK members later.
OK - for UK members, here is MurrayG's list from Amazon UK. In all cases the LED bulbs are either identical, or look to be the same but in different packaging.
EDIT: MurrayG has pointed out that Bulb D above is extremely expensive compared with the Canadian counterpart, so I have sourced this as an alternative
Barnsie - it is interesting to note that BULB D (the H11 / H8 I really like) is almost four times the cost in the UK for some reason - while all the others are more or less the same price as they are in Canada. Maybe an excessive Brexit currency hedge :-)
I realize this is not very useful information - but you might want to see if there is a supplier with a lower price. Mind you - spending 60 minutes web surfing eats up much of that difference.
$35 Canadian for two bulbs, shipping included
$135 Canadian dollars for two bulbs, shipping included
Barnsie - it is interesting to note that BULB D (the H11 / H8 I really like) is almost four times the cost in the UK for some reason - while all the others are more or less the same price as they are in Canada. Maybe an excessive Brexit currency hedge :-)
I realize this is not very useful information - but you might want to see if there is a supplier with a lower price. Mind you - spending 60 minutes web surfing eats up much of that difference.
$35 Canadian for two bulbs, shipping included
$135 Canadian dollars for two bulbs, shipping included
Gosh, I hadn't spotted that huge difference. There are certainly alternatives to that exact same unit. I will search around and amend my earlier post if I find cheaper alternatives. Thanks for the heads-up!
Barnsie - it is interesting to note that BULB D (the H11 / H8 I really like) is almost four times the cost in the UK for some reason - while all the others are more or less the same price as they are in Canada. Maybe an excessive Brexit currency hedge :-)
I realize this is not very useful information - but you might want to see if there is a supplier with a lower price. Mind you - spending 60 minutes web surfing eats up much of that difference.
Following on from your comments, this alternative is a fanless projector-type bulb, similar to the Alla, but significantly less expensive, and more in line with the price you paid in Canada.
Cross-posted from another thread as more relevant here.
Originally Posted by MurrayG
It is really not that bad, and is something that anyone can tackle themselves if they choose to - even those with 10 thumbs. The "learning" is mostly just how to access each bulb. So for anyone who wants to try it - I'd suggest just bite off one at a time, and feel free to reach out to me either in the LED replacement forum or by PM and I'd be happy to give more of a detailed account of what that particular bulb required. There is always a small chance you'll break something (just as I broke the side-repeater housing when removing it, and blew a fuse when replacing one of the vanity mirror bulbs). But that goes along with the territory and the risk is HUGELY reduced by getting advice beforehand. The best part of doing it yourself is that you'll get to know your car.
And if you do, here is a list of the easiest ones to start on (though none are hard):
It is really not that bad, and is something that anyone can tackle themselves if they choose to - even those with 10 thumbs. The "learning" is mostly just how to access each bulb. So for anyone who wants to try it - I'd suggest just bite off one at a time, and feel free to reach out to me either in the LED replacement forum or by PM and I'd be happy to give more of a detailed account of what that particular bulb required. There is always a small chance you'll break something (just as I broke the side-repeater housing when removing it, and blew a fuse when replacing one of the vanity mirror bulbs). But that goes along with the territory and the risk is HUGELY reduced by getting advice beforehand. The best part of doing it yourself is that you'll get to know your car.
And if you do, here is a list of the easiest ones to start on (though none are hard):
Trunk interior lights
Footwell interior lights
Glovebox light
License plate lights
Have fun!
Thanks for that. I have had a look around the car this afternoon and those you mention do look pretty easy (I have already done the license plate lights, which is what started me down this route. Loved the effect!).
I have checked the service manual for how to get at the fog lights and it seems straightforward enough - did you do it with the wheel in place or did you remove it?
I have also looked in the user handbook and removing the headlamp unit seems easy enough -just three nuts to remove, so I am expecting the bulbs in there to be easy enough.
The vanity lights just prise carefully out of their housing in the visor I assume?
How do you remove the overhead console to get at the map lights and interior light - is it just a question of carefully prising it off?
Thanks for all the help and advice - much appreciated.
I did it with the wheel in place. I turned the wheel hard to the side, and from there was able to gain access to 5 torx bolts. With those removed, I could pry the lining enough for acces. As I recall, the left side had more components to work around than the right side. But both were very doable in this way. Removing the bulbs was a simple matter of twisting them out of the hole, and then you had to bend the two plastic tabs to undo the connector from the wiring harness to the bulb.
Yes - I used a small reading-glasses screwdriver to carefully pry out the plastic covers. There is a very small indent to place the tool into. They snap in but none broke when I removed them. Pulling out the bulbs themselves was made easier using a pair of latex gloves for grip.
Yes. For this, you want a plastic non-marring tool. Be careful not to pry unnecessarily against the headliner as it will damage it. Slip a thin tool between the headliner and the console, and pull the console straight down. As I recall there are 5 tabs. There is a picture that will help here: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...urgery-223268/
The light bulbs will then be exposed on the "ceiling" (they don't come down with the console).
For future reference purposes / ease, this thread may be best moved to the LED light replacement thread - up to you.
All the best and good luck! Let me know if I can help.
MurrayG - from the image below, it looks as though the lens covering the lamps themselves might pry loose. Do you happen to recall if that is so? (I believe you had to remove the entire unit previously as you weren't simply replacing bulbs. There is nothing I can find on this in the User Manual!).
MurrayG - from the image below, it looks as though the lens covering the lamps themselves might pry loose. Do you happen to recall if that is so? (I believe you had to remove the entire unit previously as you weren't simply replacing bulbs. There is nothing I can find on this in the User Manual!).
Good point. To be honest, I did not even try that - so I cannot say for sure. It is very easy to pull the whole console down - but yes, it might be an alternative to see if you can gently remove the lens cover instead! Let us know how it goes.
EDIT: looking at the image more carefully, it appears that the lens cover comes out the back (top) of the console - not the front (below). So I am guessing you will have to remove the console after all. Let us know if I'm wrong (because that never happens - so we will need to document it if this is the first occurrence)! :-)
Good point. To be honest, I did not even try that - so I cannot say for sure. It is very easy to pull the whole console down - but yes, it might be an alternative to see if you can gently remove the lens cover instead! Let us know how it goes.
EDIT: looking at the image more carefully, it appears that the lens cover comes out the back (top) of the console - not the front (below). So I am guessing you will have to remove the console after all. Let us know if I'm wrong!
I think I'll go with the tried trusted method and remove the entire console. I have a reasonably good trim removal kit. As soon as the LEDs arrive (not all were on Prime so it may take a few days) I'll replace all the bulbs we've discussed and report back to the thread. I can't thank you enough for your help with this.
To complete the new look, I have ordered chrome turn signal bulbs to replace the original yellow bulbs. This will get rid of the 'fried egg' look and give a crisper appearance to the whole headlight unit. Also, will avoid any error issues that the turn signals can apparently be prone to, while still looking really sharp.
They are readily available but these are the ones I went for - I prefer a branded item where possible.
I also think it's a good idea to replace the turn signal bulbs while you have the headlight off. If not, you can guarantee a week after you've re-installed the light, the turn bulb will blow!
Today I successfully completed the first part of my upgrade to LED by swapping out the two sidelights and the cornering light in the headlight unit. I also replaced the turn signal bulb with the chrome units shown above, to preserve the 'all white' look of the headlamp unit.
I encountered no problems in removing or replacing the headlight units, but as others have noted, the sidelight bulb above the cornering lamp is incredibly fiddly to replace and in the end a certain amount of brute force was needed to get the back of the bulb holder past the small white plastic piece that tries to block you from re-inserting the bulb and its holder. In the end it all went together nicely. The difference it makes to the appearance of the car (my primary motive rather than any performance gain from the lighting) is astonishing and IMO well worth the cost and effort. My 2008 MY XKR has no DLR but these new LEDs are so bright that running with sidelights on during the day is now pretty much as effective as having proper DLRs. My car is Lunar Grey and I have always been conscious that a grey car, against a grey road and in a typically English grey day, is not the most visible. So for this benefit alone, the LED upgrade is worth it.
Tomorrow I hope to tackle the front fog lights. Once they have been done I will tun my attention to the interior lamps.
Thanks everyone for the help and encouragement with this!
A quick update which may be of help to anyone considering this LED upgrade.
As others have mentioned, it can be very tricky to insert the LED into the side lamp which sits above the cornering lamp in the headlight unit. This is due to the LED bulbs being slightly bigger and/or fatter and space being extremely limited inside the headlight unit.
I have tried two different types of LEDs now (as did MurrayG I think before me).
This type is an excellent bulb with a good appearance and very bright. I have used this all over the car where this type of fitting is required. However, it is very difficult to insert into the headlight unit as mentioned above.
They other type I have used is this one - which you can see is a sort of 'flat' design. This is also very bright but has the advantage that it can be considerably easier to insert where space is tight. As well as in the headlight unit, I found it necessary to use this type of LED in the glovebox light fitting, as getting in the 'round' type proved impossible for me. There are various 'strengths' of this type of flat bulb so if you want brighter or dimmer choose accordingly.
Both the bulbs are listed in my earlier post for UK members who wish to purchase from Amazon UK,
Not sure if you guys seen it, but my post #13 gives a replacement option for the bulbs that fit without any problems...
I did see it, thanks. But I couldn't find a direct replacement for that bub here in the UK (although more diligent searching may have done). The bulbs I listed in my post (and above) are all available from Amazon UK to satisfy the UK member contingent
I didn't thank you for your initial post BTW, which was very helpful to me and inspired me, along with MurrayG's experience, to tackle the upgrade in the first place. So a belated thank you! A great upgrade and one I am very pleased with.
I hit a snag today. I was going to swap out my front fog lights for LED bulb units. Removed the wheel well liner partially to gain access but my fog light doesn't resemble the unit shown in the workshop manual and appears not to have the connector type I expected to find. They look as if they are sealed units.
I couldn't take a useful photo of the back of the units, but this is the unit that is fitted:
The photo shows the unit 'upside down'. The screw adjuster for aiming the lights is at the bottom in my installation (left hand side). On the back is a connector held with a metal spring clip. When the clip is removed, the connector pulls off to reveal a two pin socket. But that's it. There is no evidence of the H11 light fitting that is the same as the cornering bulb. I tried grasping the entire unit and twisting to see if it opened up but it didn't.
This is what I was expecting to see - you can see the H11 fitment in this illustration...
I know this is the fog lamp from a different model, but it's what I was expecting to see - the H11 unit which simply needs to be rotated a little and pulled free so that the new LED bulb can be fitted.
Can anyone shed any light (no pun intended ) on this? My car is an early 2008 MY coupe, 4,2 supercharged XKR.
I started a new thread for this query to throw it open to the full forum audience. If I get a resolution I will post the link to it here.
MODS - if you wish, please delete the post above due to cross-posting (although it may add some value to this thread in case anyone else encounters the same issue). Thx.
To add to the knowledge base, the XK uses the light fitting shown above that has the H11 bulb. The XKR uses the light fitting like mine. They are not interchangeable.
So has anyone with a pre-2010 XKR successfully used an LED H11 in their fog lights please? (Post 2010 models have air scoops where my fog lights are).
If so, then my car has a type of fog light fitting which it seems cannot be upgraded. The owner handbook has no mention of bulb type or bulb changing for the front fog lights, which feeds my suspicion that they are sealed units.
On this thread, MurrayG has an XK, which IS upgradeable and TexasTraveler has a later XKR which doesn't have front fog lights anyway (or at least not separate from the headlight unit).
Looks like I have to keep my fog lights 'yellow'.
Unless anyone else has any suggestions?
EDIT: I am wondering now if I can modify the XK light unit to fit the XKR. The fog light in the XKR is held by just two screws as far as I can tell without totally dismantling it. It should be fairly easy to make a bracket that matches the screw holes and then fit this to the XK unit using its own mounting holes. If you look at the photos of the two you can see what I mean. Maybe not worth it?
Last edited by barnsie; 11-02-2019 at 08:23 AM.
Reason: Added copy
To add to the knowledge base, the XK uses the light fitting shown above that has the H11 bulb. The XKR uses the light fitting like mine. They are not interchangeable.
So has anyone with a pre-2010 XKR successfully used an LED H11 in their fog lights please? (Post 2010 models have air scoops where my fog lights are).
If so, then my car has a type of fog light fitting which it seems cannot be upgraded. The owner handbook has no mention of bulb type or bulb changing for the front fog lights, which feeds my suspicion that they are sealed units.
On this thread, MurrayG has an XK, which IS upgradeable and TexasTraveler has a later XKR which doesn't have front fog lights anyway (or at least not separate from the headlight unit).
Looks like I have to keep my fog lights 'yellow'.
Unless anyone else has any suggestions?
EDIT: I am wondering now if I can modify the XK light unit to fit the XKR. The fog light in the XKR is held by just two screws as far as I can tell without totally dismantling it. It should be fairly easy to make a bracket that matches the screw holes and then fit this to the XK unit using its own mounting holes. If you look at the photos of the two you can see what I mean. Maybe not worth it?
10-28-2019, 09:58 AM
