Jaguar and Daimler XJ6/12 Series I, II and III (all variants) 1968 to 1992

Steve Wood owns a Series 3 XJ6 and noticed that failure of the cigar lighters is a common problem, so he has offered this advice to other owners.

No-one lights cigars in my Daimler; it might discolour the doeskin! However, I reckon if anything is fitted, it has to work. Apart from that, the sockets are a useful source of power for phone and sat-nav.

My S3 Daimler Sovereign has two sockets, one on the centre dash panel (picture) and one on the rear end of the centre console with the rear passengers' window switches. It is very common for the rear socket to blow the 20A fuse which protects both lighters. The (inline) fuse on RHD cars is behind the driver's side footwell trim panel, easily removed after taking out the two screws in the footwell heater vent.

In this case though, the socket itself had failed, and I acquired a used socket, complete with insert, from jagbreakers.co.uk for £10 plus postage. New ones are listed at £30.50 plus VAT.

Fitting:
Disconnect the battery. Check electrical continuity between the socket centre pin and ground. If it's there, you have a shorted-out socket. NOTE: If there's a short circuit in EITHER lighter, continuity will show in both units!

The rear lighter socket is removed by undoing two screws (low down) one each side of the transmission tunnel. Lift the released section upwards to disengage two plastic pins at the top front of the unit. Then it's best to get everything else out of the way, like the ashtray and the window switches. The tray unscrews from above; the switches push out and you can pull off the multipin connectors.

There's a knack to releasing the lighter socket. Get two fingers firmly behind the unit and push hard against the bucket which is held by a strong spring. Rotate the bucket against the actual socket (you can also get a bit of twist by jamming a thumb in it) then after about 90 degrees, it all drops apart. (Three tangs on the socket fit through slots in the bucket, then rotate to click into position in smaller slots).

Access to the front socket is more complex, so check the rear one first! Aircon knobs off, unscrew their nuts (no flats - I made up a tool from an old socket), release radio escutcheon, pull radio forward. Do not damage the fibre-optic cable, which should have just enough slack to allow you to pull the centre panel clear after releasing the two large Phillips screws at the bottom. Then you can get at the dashboard lighter socket without further dismantling.

Remove unit as previously described. I did all this before finding the short was in the rear socket - we live and learn!

I understand the position of the dash socket varies from model to model, so some of the above may not apply. Here on my S3 it is to the left of the square clock.

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