THE INTERNATIONAL JAGUAR 'S'-TYPE REGISTER FORUM

Point well taken. Required bulbs out should be an issue, but what lights are on with certain switch positions, not so much.

John F. Quilter
Eugene, Oregon USA

That is what I thought that the fog/driving lights were not affected by whether you had main or dip beam.

As for the Police, and I speak from thirty years experience of being a front line traffic and incident car driver, I caught more wanted people, drug users, drug sellers, drink drivers, thieves, disqualified drivers and drivers without insurance by stopping people for minor offenses such as bulbs out on their cars at night then I ever did sitting by the side of the road watching cars drive by. A bulb out to an innocent person is advice as they were possibly not aware it was faulty. A bulb out to a criminal driving an uninsured car is a direct route to court. Would you prefer your police officers to sit in a layby and eat doughnuts all day watching all these defective cars drive by. I could guarantee that 4 in 10 cars I stopped for a minor bulb out also had bald tyres.

FWIW, I just tested my 1965 3.8S and the main beams can be turned on with by pulling the turn signal lever even with the fog lamps on. But having said that I'm just glad I live in a place where the police and local government officials have better things to do than concern themselves with the 50+ year old lighting arrangements on my car. Better they deal with tweekers, DUII drivers, speeders, parole violators, and a host of other society issues.

John F. Quilter
Eugene, Oregon USA

Ok I stand corrected on the 1986 C&U regs.

You are correct in that the fogs will switch off when main beam is selected on modern cars, I cant remember how our cars behave and can't check mine at the moment as I have the battery out.

What you say is correct Nigel but the front lights on the S Type could be construed as driving/spot lights which is how I treat them. The construction and use regs only came in in 1986 so any vehicles manufactured prior to this date do not have to totally comply with them as long as they have not been radically altered. I would love to see someone try to get a 1920s Vintage car to comply with even a fraction of the modern construction and use regs. For instance any vehicle built prior to 1986 does not have to have seat belts fitted but if they are fitted then they must comply with the Construction and Use regs and work correctly and would be a part of the MOT examination.

If you had a retro fitted rear fog light that could be classed as altered and you might have to comply but if it was not working on the day of the MOT you could remove it and the car would revert back to being prior to construction and use regs 1986 and the car would pass. The front lights were standard in the 1960s and have not been altered so are just being used as driving lights. As additional driving lights they are not a part of the MOT and one year I took the car in and one of the FT6 bulbs blew but as they were classed as auxiliary driving lights they were not covered by the MOT and the car passed. The 1960s S Type was never fitted with a rear fog light as standard as far as I know.

You also point out that [b][quote]if fog lights are lit then a warning light must show on the dash[/quote][/b] Where on the dash is the warning light for our front lights if being used as fog lights? This again was brought in in 1986 so our cars do not have to comply with this regulation unless they are retro fitted as in the rear fog lights or you had a set of front fog lights hanging from the front of the car that had been retro fitted.

I am not sure yet as I have not wired up my front lights on a different circuit for the four position switch but modern front fog lights cannot be used with main beam. If you hit main beam the front fog lights turn off I think. In the S Type I am assuming that when you turn the switch to the fourth position for "F" the front lights come on and the dip and main beam can still be selected using the foot switch which does not turn the front driving/fog lights off.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

Rob as as an ex-cop you should know the rules on using fog lights as they should not be hooked up to main driving lights. I was stopped once for using fogs when it wasnt foggey. By rights it should fail an MOT if presented in this condition.

See highway code:

Rule 226

You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). You may also use front or rear fog lights but you MUST switch them off when visibility improves (see Rule 236).

Rule 236

You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226) as they dazzle other road users and can obscure your brake lights. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves.

Forgot to say if fog lights are lit then a warning light must show on dash - construction and use regs.

[quote="John Quilter" post_id=5142 time=1573327705 user_id=3510]
My US spec 1965 car had no front fog lamps from new. I fitted them and installed the four position switch. All the needed wiring was already in place. With the four position switch the fog lamps only come on with the F position on the switch, they do not operate with the headlamps.

John F. Quilter
Eugene, Oregon USA
[/quote]

That is correct & as it should be.

My US spec 1965 car had no front fog lamps from new. I fitted them and installed the four position switch. All the needed wiring was already in place. With the four position switch the fog lamps only come on with the F position on the switch, they do not operate with the headlamps.

John F. Quilter
Eugene, Oregon USA

I have a UK spec 1968 3.4s and it has the fog lights fitted on the front. The lights switch inside the car is just the three position switch ie, O for Off, S for side lights and H for headlights. I now have a four position switch I contemplating fitting with the extra F position for the fog lights.

When I rebuilt my car I wired the fogs up with the main beam so they are off on dip beam and on with full beam. I cannot remember any extra switches that had been fitted or any extra wiring leading back to the dash but the car and all the lights had been striped out prior to me buying the car.

My questions are;

1. If a car was fitted with the front fog lights from factory would they all have been fitted with the four position light switch as standard?

2. If they were not fitted with the four position switch how were the front fog lights controlled?

3. Are the lights classed as FOG lights or are they Auxiliary driving lights so they way I have wired them up to come on with the main beam is actually correct?