So if you have one (or both) of the bulbs gone,while fiddly to get the actual circuit board out of the J-Gate it's not impossible to do so, you just have to take your time and be careful.
The bulbs are soldered into the circuit board and they are 12V 50mA incandescent bulbs.
When you start to disassemble your J-Gate, first you need to unscrew the gear knob with your hand.
Hold the base nut using a 5/8 inch spanner,and then the knob will unscrew.
I found that leaving the gear lever in P when removing the J-Gate assembly makes it easier to remove the assembly and since it's locked by the solenoid, the chance you'll damage the tiny micro switches is minimised.
Unsrew the blanking plug(I used a large flat head screw driver).
Now remove the leather cover,I found if you lift it from the top first and then get it clear of the sport and cruise control buttons and lift over the lever.
Now unscrew the 2 bronze-coloured nuts at the top and 2 bronze-coloured bolts(all 7mm) at the bottom and then unplug the electrical connectors from the sport and cruise buttons,this allows you to remove the black plastic trim.
Now you can remove the ski slope by lifting gently from the bottom and then it pulls down from above the climate control unit.
Now you can see the 4 cross head screws that hold the J-Gate in place,undo them(I always use a magnetic screw driver for jobs like these,dropped too many in the past
)and then lift over the lever.Make a point of noting how the cables are routed so you can put them back in the same place.
- Looking at the back of the J-Gate
Using a small flat head screw driver prize off the plastic bracket with the micro switch on(it just unclips)this will give you more manoeuvrability with the actual J-Gate.
If you can undo the electrical connector on the left side of the J-Gate(it's the same connector as is used for the phone connection in the rear of the console) you can remove it from the car,unfortunately my large fingers would not allow me to do this as it is tucked away down the side so I opted to do this with the J-Gate still in the car.
- Plastic disc on the back of the J-Gate
Red arrow points to the single torx screw that holds the disc in place and the yellow arrow points to the little screw that keeps the top cover on along with 2 more torx screws underneath the disc.
Undo the torx screw(T10 I think)that holds the round disc in place and remove the disc.
Now you can see 2 more torx screws undo these and the very small screw at the bottom of the J-Gate and the cover will unclip,now you can see the circuit board and it will slide out through the top of the J-Gate.
- J-Gate circuit board
Using a small point soldering iron just heat up the solder at the back of the bulb and pull gently at the same time and it will slide out and then solder the new bulbs in and trim off the excess wire afterwards.
Put the blue covers back on and then reassemble the J-Gate and your done.
When you come to put the black disc and plastic bracket with the micro switch on it back in I found it better to put the bracket back on first(it just clips in) and then the disc.
Also when I first saw the circuit board I thought the plastic bracket with all the wires going into it was a connector and tried to unclip it,to my horror I found out that it is not and broke some of the connections but was lucky enough to be able to solder them back in(Pheww!)
In the second post there are some more photo's.
Hope this encourages you if your J-Gate does not illuminate and you wish to repair it.
Hope you all enjoy your X308's as much as I do,they truly are a magnificent car
Andy
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