Originally Posted by mherman346

Buy bulbs in advance of this procedure. You will need
4 Large bulbs: Sylvania 2821 LL or Philips 194,
4 Small bulbs: Sylvania 2723 LL or Sylvania 37LL or Philips 37.


I found the Sylvania 37LL lasted about 4 years. I therefore replaced the Sylvania 37LL and 2821LL with Philips 37 (=37LL) and 194 (=2821LL) on July 11, 2014. Cost is $5 for 2 bulbs, at Pep Boys, a nationwide US chain.
Tools: 7mm and 8 mm sockets (shallow sockets are fine) and a socket wrench to drive them. You need a 10mm wrench to disconnect the Battery ground terminal. You also need a long magnet (such as a magnetic screw retriever tool common in auto repair work) to prevent screws from dropping. Philips #2 screwdriver. The entire procedure will takes about an hour the first time, or could be done in about 35 minutes with practice.
Video Jaguar XK8 Instrument Cluster Bulb Replacement - YouTube 1.
Use the button on the left of the steering column to move the steering wheel UP and out.
0 min (start)Remove the 2 bolts holding the knee bolster… nut driver or ratchet. These need an 8mm socket
1 minPull the bottom and top of the knee "bolster" -the black panel below the steering wheel - toward rear of car (the top has a lip that holds in into a groove - so only the bottom has 2 bolts holding it in place with the top lip). There is one connector (valet switch) on the left side of this panel that will need to be unhooked.
5 minPress the two plastic black clips to release and remove the black Valet switch connector on the left of the steering wheel – pulls off. The entire Valet switch may come apart...it is easily put back together later.
7 min(You do not need to Remove the white temperature sensor connector on the right - the cable is probably long enough to just leave the knee bolster on the floor of the drivers side.(Not necessary to remove the bolster – note that it has a female horizontal tang at the bottom facing front, and two large plastic male tangs at the top left and right. So just pull the knee bolster directly toward the rear of the car to remove this . )Use the steering wheel motor button to move the steering wheel DOWN as far and OUT as far as it will go.

Then turn the steering wheel knob control to OFF so it does not park back in when you open the door.
8 minRoll down both front windows about 4 inches, so that when the car battery is disconnected, you can open and shut the doors.
9 minShut off the car and remove the key.
KEEP THE DRIVER DOOR OPEN or retract its glass down so the doors will open and close without power.
10 minDisconnect the battery rear connector (the one closest to the rear of the car, which is the ground terminal ) – 10mm wrench for this bolt. KEEP THE CAR TRUNK OPEN SO YOU CAN RECONNECT THE BATTERY LATER. Put a plastic bag or other insulator over the terminal so it cannot accidentally reconnect.
12 minNote that once the battery is disconnected DO NOT close either door – the window will no longer retract properly.Where the top of the knee bolster was, remove 2 black colored Phillips #2 screws on bottom edge of wood trim. One each on the left and right of the steering wheel.
14 minPull the center instrument panel wood grain colored cover toward rear of car, but you must first disconnect the electronics cable before removing it fully.
16 minDisconnect the black Trip Computer connector on the right side rear of the instrument panel wood colored cover. Remove the wood colored panel.
19 minThere are 4 copper colored bolts with 7mm hex heads, that hold on the Dashboard electronics panel. Before removing those 4 bolts, pull off the small triangular shaped wood grained vent cover that is to the left of the dash cover. This helps you get access to the leftmost 2 copper colored bolts.Now remove the 4 of 7mm bolts; use a magnet touching the 7mm socket to ensure the bolts don’t drop.
22 minBefore you remove the electronics panel which contains the light bulbs, you must first disconnect the right hand Yellow and left hand Black instrument panel connectors. They are at the bottom left and right of the electronics panel. To remove them, there is a thin black lever that must be released and slid over away from the cable side. There is a small plastic tab that holds the lever in place. Push down on the small tab, and then lift and move the lever across the connector to release it. Lift off the yellow and the black connectors and pull them down and away from the electronics panel.
24 minCarefully pull the instrument panel out – you will need to pull its top toward you and then rotate it to face downward, and then pull the unit out to the right of the dashboard to remove it.
30 minUse a needle nose or other small pliers tool to untwist the bulb connectors. The bulb holders just unscrew in the normal right-hand screw direction. About a quarter turn is all that is needed to release them.Once you have the bulb holder removed, the bulb pulls directly out of its socket. They are held in by the pressure from the copper connectors below them. The bulbs are not polarized; either direction works. I recommend that you replace all 4 small and 4 large bulbs at this time, since you have the entire dash disassembled already.If you wish, and if you have an electronics meter, after replacing each bulb in its socket, you may test for bulb continuity to the copper connectors of each socket. I measured between 7 - 15 ohms for each of the small bulbs.
40 minReverse procedure for reassembly.

You rotate the display dashboard panel (which has the light bulbs) facing downward, above the steering wheel, so it can be pushed into the cavity. Push it back in and rotate it to face forward, reversing the way you removed it.

Before you secure its 4 copper colored bolts (with 7mm heads), be sure that you pull the wiring for the black connector above the electronics panel, so it can be reconnected to the front woodgrained panel.

After you put the 4 bolts (7mm heads) in, re-install the triangular vent cover to the left.

Then install the electrical connector for the trip on the top right of the woodgrained dashboard cover, and slip the two large top tabs under the top of the dashboard. Then screw down the 2 philips head screws.

Then slip the top of the knee "bolster" into its top groove, and re-attach the valet switch on its left. Then install the 2 copper colored bolts (8mm heads).

Finally, reattach the battery terminal, and put its battery panel back on top.

All done...
About 60 min

Originally Posted by Markmbaha1

With LED BULBS how to mark polarity please.
thank you

Originally Posted by zray

have you checked to see if they are already marked from the manufacturer ?

like in this photo which shows Sylvania bulbs pre-marked:

They came from Amazon, no availability issues.



Otherwise you can just connect wires from any battery, 12v or less, to the bulbs. It will only light up when the correct polarity wire is touched to the bulb. A 9v square battery works well .