The 'E' Type Forum

I live in Europe where daytime running lights are mandatory. We drive a BMW as a daily car, start it up and the lights come on, as a consequence I tend to forget when in the Jaguar.

Has anyone modified their car to bring side lights on automatically at start up, or should I just put a sticker somewhere to remind myself.

Haven't done it myself but seems to be quite a straight forward mod to work out if you have the electrics diagram. Probably no more than moving one wire.....I would also change the front and rear bulbs to LEDs.

David, if you search on here for “drl” you will find quite a few responses. If you need the full headlight on not just the side lights then a suggestion is to replace the headlight bowls with ones containing a sidelight with a led which will give a good brightness for you.

This might help:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3539&p=23785&hilit=Daylight#p23785

Geoff

Upgrade front and rear side lights to LED bulbs and headlights to halogen etc. Don't go too bright as it will cause issues for other drivers at night. Manually switch them on, with a sticker to remind you, and fit a warning buzzer to the side light circuit that comes on with door opening (via the ground/neg side). This will ensure you don't leave them on when exiting the car and potentially flattening your battery, over time.

Thank you everyone. LEDs are a good move regardless, although I doubt I will drive the car much at night, especially as my current DK classic insurance does not cover road use during the winter months.

I am fitting a new radio next week, it will be a good opportunity to look at the lighting circuits at the same time.

Surely you’re not required to retro fit daytime running lights in Europe to pre 2011 cars so yes you can modify your car so they come on at start up, but the age old method of the driver judging what lights are required for the conditions apply to older cars, don’t they ???

Indeed it is, I had a old 60's racing car which was road registered, you really are alert anyway because of it, but we're talking lights. There is no switch order to the lights, they all have their own switch, so you can select what you want, headlights with or without sides, but the most useful was the ability to use the lower mounted spot lights without main beam and in Fog this was just extraordinary, the whole road was lit from the base of the fog and this would project light so far you might as well had been driving on a sunny day, without the main beams giving a useless face full of haze.

dlgis wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 05, 2025 5:46 pm

Surely you’re not required to retro fit daytime running lights in Europe to pre 2011 cars so yes you can modify your car so they come on at start up, but the age old method of the driver judging what lights are required for the conditions apply to older cars, don’t they ???

That is a really good point actually. I have noticed a couple of 70s cars without lights on recent. I will ask the question.

I've driven thousands of miles across Europe in France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands - never once have I put lights on in the day in my E and never once was I stopped and queried. Been stopped by a few Gendarmes and Polizia who said "Nice car", but never mentioned lights.

Since I replaced my side and rear lights with LEDs and added the brake light conversion to the reverse lights, I always drive with sides on which are bright enough to identify as DLRs

DWW wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 09, 2025 2:35 pm

Since I replaced my side and rear lights with LEDs and added the brake light conversion to the reverse lights, I always drive with sides on which are bright enough to identify as DLRs

I do the same, with buzzer fitted to door light switch.

My car spends most of its time on the road in a highly polished condition. DRLs would not increase its visibility by much. That said, I do find myself switching the dipped headlamps on when passing through shady woods or tunnels, and switching them off again. I’ve noticed many modern cars doing the same automatically, probably unnoticed by their drivers.

I also use dipped headlamps when driving out of the rising or setting sun. I’ve done this for decades, since the first days of Volvos fitting DLRs in the 1970s. Then my only vehicle had just two wheels. To be seen in the shadows was a matter of survival.

I have LED sidelights at the front. They aren’t hugely bright, not like today’s LED DRLs.

I used a DRL controller module and LED sidelight bulbs. The module was under £10 and very easy to wire in. The LEDs are bright enough and the module power them when the engine starts and stops after 10 second after the the engine stops.