Hello again and thank you for watching my latest video. Today I am changing the headlight bulb in my Jaguar XF. You have to remove the headlight unit to get to the bulb. Thanks again and take care, Jeff
Thanks for this! I'm not very handy but I've just managed to do both dipped headlight bulbs. They're H7 bulbs and Halfords did a pair for a tenner. Couple of notes for anyone else doing this for the first time and is handless like me. When taking the headlight out: The harness is behind the headlight and accessed from the bonnet side. It has a release clip on the top dead center so you can squeeze it down towards the ground and it will come off without using a screwdriver. The bolt at the bonnet badge - be careful you don't drop it into the engine. Didn't have to use a magnet. Just be careful. The bolt on top is easy. The bolt under the wheel arch - if you completely unscrew it and hold it in place, you can pull the headlight out with one hand and then grab hold of the bolt so it doesn't fall inside the engine. When swapping the bulb, make a note of how the bulb screws out so you know how it screws in later. To get the bulb out, I was holding the black wiring and trying to pull the round silver metal part off which is wrong. If you hold the dead bulb and pull that while holding the wiring it should pop out. You'll see then that there is a disk on the bulb and a disk on the holder. New bulb pushes in on 2 prongs OK. Screw the bulb into the headlight - you'll see it has nou shaped clip which is fiddly the first time you do it. When putting the headlight back in, if you line up the door side of the headlight first, you can lift the tab for the top bolt up with your thumb and it will release enough soace for the badge side of the headlight to slide in. Don't ivertighten the bolts as the plastic tabs can snap. Hose this helps someone thinking of doing it yourself. It's easier after you do it once.
That's great I'm glad to hear it. I have spent ages trying to fit bulbs in normal headlights, fumbling around with clips at the back. Although it sounds bad having to take the headlight out, it's easier in the long run. Take care, Jeff
WARNING - my 2008 has 106000km - the insulation on the lamp wire was extremely brittle from heat, and literally crumbled away as the wires were moved. I removed the metal holder from the bulb holder - I handled it too much - and lost 25mm of insulation from the connector end. I couldn't remove the terminals from the connector, so I cut the wire, slipped heat shrink over the bare wires and soldered it together - more handling of the wires. When I had finished, I noticed that at the cable tie mount 150mm from the connector, the insulation had crumbled away. The situation was getting worse. I resolved it by applying hi temp (appliance repair) silicone to the bare wires and putting it all back together. It is not a repair I am proud of, but it is serviceable and should not fail. Thank you for posting this video - it helped a lot! And thank goodness the early lamp units are easy to remove - the caution about dropping the bolts, as mentioned by Hank, is important.
Hi Mathew and thanks for watching. Thanks also for the heads up on the crumbling wires. They did seem OK, but as you may have seen on my video on the reversing camera, some of the wires in the boot connection were not in the best of condition. Take care, Jeff
Take out the bolt in the wheel arch first and put it back in last. You can access the passenger side bulb by taking the airbox out. Got an XJ now, but had a 60 plate XF for four years.
Thanks for the tip Pedr. I did hear the other side is easier. Why they have to make them so awkward I don't know, but there is a lot of equipment in the engine compartment. Take care, Jeff
Thank you Adrian I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was supposed to be doing the front brake pads today as the light came on about week ago, but never came in again. I ordered the pads checked the old ones and they were fine. I normally do the annual service in April, so will film that and may replace the old pads. Take care, Jeff
Thanks Jeff for your reply, there must be 2 variants of headlight then, on mine the bottom silver panel comes out and sprays the water, then retracts. Good video very interesting.
Thanks Simon, yes I don't know why they have to make things so difficult. I have had a lot of headlights over the years which are not easy to fit. I normally end up with cut hands. Take care, Jeff
Hi David and thanks for watching. I was going to go down that line if I could. My Father in law has the car now, but I still do work on it. I'm looking after it at the moment whilst he is on holiday for 3 month's. Still love to drive it, it's a lovely car. Take care, Jeff
Hi, just found this video. I changed over to an HID kit on my XF, vast improvement. it can be a little confusing on the XF as they have projector lenses but can have inside either a Xenon bulb or a normal halogen bulb. Mine were halogen bulbs so thats why i upgraded with the HID kit. If i ever did it again Id put LED bulbs in as they will give the right beam pattern inside the projector lens. Its been mentioned before but at 4.30 that is the main beam bulb you're changing.
Hi and thank you for your comments. My Father in Law owns it now, although I still work on it. I have a video coming out next Saturday. It had a major coolant leak. It turned out to be the Thermostat housing. It's fine now though. If I still owned it I would probably have gone for HID bulbs, is I didn't find that the normal bulbs project well at all. I don't think that my Father in law would go down that route. The bulb I changed was the normal dipped beam. Take care, Jeff
@@DiecastPowderCoating hi, my XF dumped all its coolant instantly once. It wasnt the thermostat housing it was a coolant junction box , top of the engine between the V and underneath where the EGR pipes meet the intake. Split all the way round the seam. 50 quid and changed it myself. Its worth upgrading the headlights as the standard bulb set up is very poor.
@@1970sthrowback Hi maybe I was wrong about the thermostat housing, the replacement was called that. It is directly under the throttle body. It had split in half almost. I will persuade my father in law regarding the lights, but at the moment he doesn't know whether to sell it or not due to the London ULEZ. Take care, Jeff
@@DiecastPowderCoating it sounds like it, youre right it was under the throttle body. If your FIL decides to do the lights do some research and find the most suitable LED bulbs. Less load on the battery than the HID kit i fitted as well with winter coming up. Think ill get round to changing mine as well. Thanks Jeff
@1970sthrowback I will definitely mention it to my FIL. He doesn't really want to sell the car, it's beautiful, but he has to go in the outer London area quite a bit, so he doesn't like paying ULEZ. Take care, Jeff
You're changing the high beam, but it's dimmed. The high beam can be changed quite easily without removing the light. I was just wondering about the dimmed one and what bulb is in there, whether it's a classic H7 ?? I'm replacing the LED I put on the high beam and it shines incredibly like a new car. It has 2 mil lumens. I'd like to put the same on the dimmer then, but I don't know if there's an H7 in there too.
Hi, a few people told me I had changed the main beam. There headlight was out so I just replaced it with a H7. My Father in law owns the car now, but I was sure that the two inner lights were the main beam. I have tried to convince my Father in law to change to LED, but he doesn't want them changed. If I could I would have changed them to LEDs, as they weren't the brightest of lights. Take care, Jeff
Thanks for the video though have to ask is there a washer version and a non washer version, seen a fee vids and there is no mention of fitting the washer hose to the headlight, am i missing something. Thanks
Hi Tony and thanks for watching. I'm sorry I'm not sure about the ones with washers. My father in law owns the car now, but I don't think it had them. I always thought that they were in the bumper. Take care, Jeff
Great video, this really helps Thank You. The bulbs are H7 in the 2009 as others have mentioned, can I fit H7 LED main headlight bulb without any problems, or should I keep to the original bulb fitted ? Thank you in advance. Regards
Hi and thanks for watching. The car is my Father in laws now, but I still get to work on it. If I still owned it, I probably would have gone for LEDs. I did find coming home from work late at night that they weren't the brightest bulbs in the world. I'm sorry that I can help with the fitting of LEDs, but I would be inclined to look for bulbs that don't get too hot. That's not a Jaguar thing just things I've seen on other car video. Take care, Jeff
@@DiecastPowderCoating Thank you for your quick response, really appreciated. As this is my first time in changing these bulbs, following on from your comment, I will stick with the same bulbs that are installed at present. See how that goes and maybe look at LED’s at a later date! Again, thank you. Regards
The drivers side bulb can be changed without removing the headlamp unit, have done it twice once on my car and once on a friends. The problem side is the passenger side which I havent done yet but may have to have the headlamp unit removed due to the position of the air filter box.
My wife's C30 Volvo takes 1 minute and no tools to change a bulb yet my XF takes 10-15 minutes with a socket set with a magnetic extension bar. Are you lads at LRJ watching this????
Hi Aardvaark, yes it is amazing how they could design it that way. They probably want you to take it to JLR, just to change a bulb. How much would that cost? Take care, Jeff
Thank you for your video. I’m wondering is this a low beam light bulb or high beam one? I have trouble find one in US. I replaced my whole head light and brought the second hand one from UK, unfortunately, there is one low beam light bulb burned after arrived in US. That’s why I need find the right bulb for low beam. In US H7 is high beam light bulb and H11 is low beam. What about in UK? Thank you in advance
Hi Emma, sorry you are having trouble with the correct bulbs. I have had a quick look to see if I could find anything about equivalent bulbs in the US. The H7 is the same in UK and US. The H11 is the same as the H8, H9 and H16, but you would have to check that it is the same wattage. Just seems strange that they would have different numbers. The bulb that I changed in the video was definitely the outer H7 low beam light. I hope this helps a little. Take care, Jeff
@@DiecastPowderCoating thank you so much for your help. In US H7 voltage is 12.8v, wattage is 55w but In UK voltage is 12v and wattage is 55w I believe that’s why I had trouble find right bulb for my low beam light. And H11 in US is 12v, however, the connection part is different and I can’t put it on. I will have to order some H7 light bulb from UK ;)
Hi Gary, I would think that they hope you might go to a dealer. Probably £20 a bulb and £80 fitting. I might be doing them an injustice though. Take care, Jeff
Hi. Between the headlights and full beam lights there is a small white light with a blue light above it. 1 of mine blew then the other did. How would I go about taking them blue bulbs out and replacing them? Do I have to take the whole unit out? Only had car 4 months and these ain't fog lights, just small blue lights above a small white light. Don't know what they are for apart from it looks good next to headlights when they come on
Hi Mark, that's a strange one. I don't think the mk 1 had any other bulbs fitted other than what's fitted in the two main lights. Maybe some fitted them as you say to look good. If you can give me a couple of hours I will go and have a look at my one. Take care, Jeff
@@DiecastPowderCoating Ok thanks. Yep my car is 2010 xf 3litre petrol. I was going to take a photo a few weeks ago at night of the lights to show someone the 1 blue light I had that was going but now that's blown so I have no blue lights. Maybe it was originally white and previous owner put in blue lights?
@@markgallagher1621 Hi Mark, my son wanted me to fit blue LED side lights on his former Seat Ibiza and they did look good, but there were several bulb holders dotted about for side lights so it was easy. The Jaguar is now my father in laws, its outside so will have a look later. Speak to you later, Jeff
@@DiecastPowderCoating Ok i had another look and its yellow small light between the headlight and full beam light. Its not the indicator yellow as that's on the edge of the front of the car. Above the small yellow is a blue light. One of my yellow lights has gone now too. There are 7 lights on the front left and 7 lights on the right. 14 lights all up
@@markgallagher1621 I'm sure someone may have upgraded the whole unit. I know that the later models had a ring of white lights around the headlight, but will double check later.
Hi Adrian, yes I did hear from someone later that the bulb can be done on the offside without taking the light out, but I believe it still has to be done for the nearside. Take care, Jeff
Hi Neil, I did think about going down that route. I find that Xenon headlights tend to blind other drivers and always moan about them, so I didn't want to be a hypocrite. Take care, Jeff
@@DiecastPowderCoating forgot to THANK YOU for the great video. I truly appreciate it. I am looking forward to replacing the dingy old super yellow Halogens with something more vibrant. Hopefully the LEDs can fit in there w/ no issue.
@@3030hp I'm glad it helped. My Father in Law has the Jag now. He lives with us so it's great to have it in the family still and to work on it. They are beautiful cars. I was thinking before about trying to get some brighter head light bulbs. I just thought it was my eyes getting worse, but realised it was the street lights not being as bright as they used to be. Along with the not so bright head lights. Sometimes Coming home at night it was difficult to see the difference between the road and the kerb. There is a chap on RU-vid from South Africa that I think put in led's, his channel is called CarFan Hilton.
@@DiecastPowderCoating Excellent thanks, i've sent him a message to make sure. Now that I know how to remove headlight, I will be restoring them so they look new before throwing in some new bulbs as well.
No Mark, I think you'll find it was the headlight, I've never had to replace a main beam in that car. It wouldn't make any difference anyway, it's still the same way of changing it.
I replaced my Jaguar xf headlight bulbs yesterday in 15 minutes - why are you stripping your light out - there's no need. You can easily replace headlight bulbs insitu. Your car is a Mk1 like mine so I know that you don't need to do all of that!!.
Hi Kamil, If I could have done it without taking the headlight out, I would have done it. The manuals and videos that I had seen before it changed the bulb all pointed to taking the headlight out. I do believe that it is possible to change the left one without taking the headlight out, but the bulb has never gone on that side, so haven't tried. Take care, Jeff
@@DiecastPowderCoating Jeff, I changed both headlight bulbs out - right/left. On the passenger side all I had to do was get a 10mm and undo the air box nut and take it out then change the bulb and put everything back . On the drivers side - just undo the cover, pull out the connector, extract the bulb, insert the new bulb into the connector, put connector and bulb back into place, replace cover.
