I fixed the dome light in the Jag and it was a massive pain

"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
07/05/2020 at 20:11 • Filed to: The Hot Mess

Like seriously. What the hell!?

A few months back I noticed the front dome light in the Jag went out. The map lights, puddle lights, foot well lights, and rear lights all still worked, so it was probably just the bulb.

So I go to pry off the lens to get at the bulb and check it...

Nope. The lens doesn’t come out. You have to drop the overhead console to get at the bulb.

Ugh. Ok. Fine.

Months later I give it a go. One screw and six clips are all that hold it in. I undo the screw and get my fingers under the housing to give it a- SON OF A BITCH THAT IS THE SHARPEST PLASTIC KNOWN TO MAN!

Hard to tell, but I assure you the cuts are not pleasant. Like... double thick paper cuts.

After removing the blood from my hands and headliner, I succeed in pulling down the console using trim pry bars.

Bulb is fine.

Crap.

So now it is either a problem with the car wiring or the overhead console.

After playing with it for a few days I decided today to go head and head to the junk yard and grab a new one.

When I get home I plug it in and TADA! Works great.

But it is the wrong color.

So I go about taking the old one apart.

Stupid weird plastic rivet-like things.

Unfortunately the old one is assembled using some weird plastic rivet things. Oh well, no time to be gentle! The drill made short work of them and quickly revealed the problem!

One burnt trace!

Hella burnt and lifted trace and new helper wire. (I clipped the trace after this)

Ignoring for the moment WHY the trace is burnt, I go ahead and repair it and...

IT WORKS!

Ok. So now time to put everything back together. Obviously I don’t have plastic rivets, but I do have sheet metal screws!

Test great!

Time to reinstall.

Wait whats that smell?

CRAP. Magic smoke.

Back out!

The speculation is either the bulb housing is faulty as all of the wiring is actually just metal incased in the structure of the bulb housing, which is very... breaky, OR there was a fault with the PCB itself because it only freaked out when I inserted the housing in a certain way.

Ok... new plan! Time to swap over the new PCB. I drilled out the plastic rivets on the new one and quickly had them swapped over.

Then tested it and they’re OK.

Ok... install!

Wait the left map light isn’t working.

Ok new bulb now it is working.

Ugh but the new bulb is brighter than the old bulb.

New bulb for the driver’s side too!

Long story short I removed that thing about 20 times today, cut the tips of four fingers, rained headliner dust all over everything, and generally regret life right now.

But I have a dome light.

DISCUSSION (6)

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/05/2020 at 20:18

light is good, repel s the darkness of wrenching madness.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/05/2020 at 20:35

This is good Oppo. It’s not like the TV shows where they cut out the hours of trial and error and swearing and redoing and more swearing. I just spent an hour trying to create new pins to hold the laser level on the wall so I can get an accurate level line to put on the French cleat that holds the upper cabinets on the wall. All the helpers are refusing to help so doing this job with a long level by myself wasn’t working. The hour before was spent trying to get the eight 16-penny nails out of the old French cleat without destroying the wall. I need the cleat off the wall because we’re moving the cabinets up and that space is about to be a blank wall once again. Curses!

notsomethingstructural > TheRealBicycleBuck
07/05/2020 at 21:38

You gotta get one of the projecting line lasers and a tripod. It’s like $60-70 for a generic one with a tripod and is immensely helpful

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/05/2020 at 21:57

Managed to get new bulbs in the fogs of my SAAB which normally requires partial bumper removal. Had the splash guards off for cleaning up the mess left by a leaking transmission cooler hose and just managed to do it with long forceps. Right one is still dead despite the old bulb definitely being bad.

Also, did successfully fix the left high beam. Was not bulb, relay, fuse or wiring but a cracked solder joint in the SAAB bulb check module. Fortunately easy thanks to the internet and it being a common problem.

Now just have to figure out why the high beam indicator in the cluster doesn’t work.

Oddly I’ve had virtually no electrical gremlins in my Jag apart from the trunk lid harness being mangled (easy).

TheRealBicycleBuck > notsomethingstructural
07/05/2020 at 22:26

I looked at them when I started my building project. I decided then that it wasn’t really necessary. Part of that decision was the small laser that I’ve had for at least 10 years and I’ve used maybe three times.

CompactLuxuryFan > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/05/2020 at 23:16

Sounds like this car’s a keeper!