New member, new (and the third) owner of a 2008 XJR, 52K miles, amazing condition but more on all that in a different thread later. But now I am ready to scream regarding getting my factory satellite radio to connect. I have done much research and found no similar issues, but forgive me if I missed something. Here is the problem summary:

--Sirius was working (apparently on PO's account) when I bought the car from Jaguar dealer
--Called Sirius to transfer the account from my old Sirius-equipped Audi to the Jag (prob my first mistake, should have just left it alone)
--10 mins later I was in the car when apparently the transfer took place, music was on and then all quiet, nothing except a banner across the top of the screen saying "Unsubscribed"
--I then sent a refresh request to Sirius from my phone (not connected to car), waited 5 mins, nothing
--Repeated above step, again nothing
--Tried one more time but got message on my phone that I had exceeded max number of refreshes in 24 hrs
--Called Sirius and after explaining situation to two different people, was finally moved up the ladder to "Advanced Technical Support" who suggested I wait and try again in the morning
--In the morning, still could not refresh myself since I had exceed max tries. Called Advanced Technical Support (they had provided a special number the night before)
--This person went though the laundry list again (double check subscriber #, parked in open area, phone not connected to car, etc) and sent a refresh signal. No help
--The tech people also asked me to tune to Station 184 (or something) but I could not do that since all the channel select buttons are greyed out. The only active buttons on the satellite screen are "Options" and "DSP" buttons
--Also, when I first power up and select the satellite band, the banner at the top says "Acquiring" for about 1 sec but then changes to "Unsubscribed"
--The tech person was certain it was nothing on their end and suggested there was a failure in the car somehow (that I completely disagreed with). She also suggested finding some way of resetting the unit in the car.

So, I have looked for some way to reset the unit in the Electrical section of the manual available in the links from this website but could not find anything too relevant.

I also found the way to get into the Nav system "secret menu" but there don't seem to be any settings in there reset the satellite system.

Sorry about the length of this post, I tried to summarize as best I could. Any ideas? Other than this, the car exceeds my expectations and I will post more details on the car and purchase process later.

 

I am happy to say that I have resolved this issue on my own.

After spending several hours over a few days on the phone with various Sirius representatives (which ultimately would always end up with "there must be something wrong with the car"), I decided to try the old computer trick of "turning it off and turning it back on".

I cancelled my subscription to the XJR which was in itself an account transfer from my previous car, a 2017 Audi. I waited 24 hours+ to resubscribe the Jag on its own new account and (perhaps not-so-amazingly) it now it works!

Reminds me of the old joke about "Q: What if cars were like computers? A: If you have a problem, simply pull over to the side of the road, turn the car off and then turn it back on again!"

 

pfrank, I know it's been over four years since your post, but I have an '08 XJ8L that is doing exactly what you described. The satellite radio works great when it's working. When it isn't working it displays "Acquiring" or "Sirius update". The dealer says I need a new XM module of which is no longer available from them. Based on your last post you got the issue resolved. I was curious if you ever had any troubles again. I've not tried doing any refreshes with Sirius, so I'm thinking I may need to try that. Thank you.

 

Ryans, yes it has been four years and I still am enjoying my '08 XJR. I have put 36K mostly highway miles on it during that time, my favorite highway cruiser ever. But supercharged fun around town as well.

My original Sirius problem was due to the fact that the previous owner had not cancelled his service on the car as I tried to update the radio to my own subscription. Seems like I had to rid the unit of his info (with a call to Sirius) before I input my subscription.

Since then, I do sometimes get the "Sirius Updating" and "Acquiring" messages but they usually go away after a minute or two. And sometimes Sirius doesn't start at all, but after I turn the car off and restart it, Sirius is back. So perhaps not surprising that cars of this era may not play well with the latest satellite technology, but so far I am just living with the few glitches that I encounter. Sorry I could not be more helpful.

 

Ryans,
I, like you, often have the ACQUIRING or UPDATING messages. I attribute it to the collision of old technology with modern technology. Is it more than that? I can’t say… but I find that it happens less often when I switch off my radio before turning the car off. I can’t say that makes any sense but there you go. I find that it often loses signal when passing through areas of larges trees overhanging the roadways. I take that to be antennas that are old-school and not as effective as modern cars… this does not gapped in our newest cars with satellite radio.

i would like to know more about this too if other juggernauts can fill in the blanks or correct my false assumptions! I do enjoy my Sirius XM tho.

thanks!

 

pfrank and chemosabe, thank you for responding and your comments. Unfortunately, I agree with both of you that the majority of it is just that it's older technology. I too will lose signal while driving under a canopy of trees, but it will come right back in that situation. But sometimes when I get in the car it sometimes won't come on at all and stays that way the duration of my trip. That's when I know something is not acting right. I have taken it to a car audio repair business to see if they come up with a diagnosis. Based on my description to the them they are wondering if the satellite antenna may have some issues. I'll report back if they find something out and can fix it.