Hello,

I purchased an aftermarket ipod adapter from an online merchant that was supposed to work in 1998-99 x100 and x308 Standard and Premium Systems.

The instructions say to plug the adapter into the back of the radio where the CD cable from the trunk plugs in (after unplugging the cable from trunk).

The ipod is then connected via a headphone jack cable into the adaptor. Kind of a mickey mouse solution but wife is desperate to hear her sounds.

To my dismay, pushing the CD button on the radio did nothing. I tried plugging the adapter in to the cable at the trunk instead, still nothing.
Anyway, pulled all the stuff out & buttoned everything up. Tried the CD button and still nothing.
The expectation was that a “DISC NO MAGAZINE” message at least would appear but the radio just stays on FM or AM.
There was no factory CD player in the car when we got it.

Feels like we wasted $75 for a cheap plastic box with a couple connectors that we could have reproduced for around $10.
There was no explanation of how to determine what system was in our XJ8 from the online merchant but my bad for not finding this our first.

So question is, is there a model of 1999 Jaguar XJ8 radio that supports a CD player & how do I find it? I am guessing that the stock radio does not?

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

Is your adaptor double ended? What I mean is, is it meant to sit between the original cable and headunit, or is this meant to be a stand-alone solution?

 

The adapter is meant to plug into back of radio via a male connector & then CD cable will plug into it via a female connector.
In my case, there is a CD cable plugged into the back of the radio & that ends up inside the trunk near the gas filler pipe.
There was no CD player in car when we got it and nothing plugged into the cable.

 

You'll need a CD player to make it work.

In short, the headunit knows if there is or isn't a cd player there, and only activates this source if a cd player is found.

There is a 'handshake' between the headunit and the cd player, so it will only work with a Jaguar cd player. Your cable simply intersects the audio part of the cable and leaves the data wires intact, so that it can still perform this handshake.

 

So, what you are saying is that unless this adapter tells the radio head unit there is a CD player present, the CD button on the radio will never work. Bummer. There is also no charging option with this adapter... Guess I should have did my homework on this.

Has anyone, to your knowledge, ever found a way to fake out the radio head unit into thinking there is a CD player?

 

Short answer is you need a CD player.
However, you don't need the entire CD player... you could get one and cut it up, and hide the circuit board somewhere, like behind the glove box, or under the centre console.

Also, if you're connecting to the ipod through the headphone jack then of course it's not going to charge.
Unfortunately you'll need a proper ipod charging cable if you want it to charge as well. You could either use a cigarette lighter adaptor, or hardwire one in.

 

Yeah, guessed as much.
Fortunately I found one on eBay for $35 + $15 shipping so that is on the way.

I also happen to have a LXF4160BA player with cartridge that I got couple years ago by mistake. Wonder how much call there is for those nowadays - thinks it fits 95-97 cars.

Anyways, thanks much.

 

I have a customer that is looking for a working CD changer for his X300.
Let me know if it works and want to sell it.

bob

 

Did you know Jaguar charges $1,575.00 for the radio (LNF4100AA)
http://bit.ly/2odPc1q
$735.00 for the CD Changer (LNF4160AAE)
Just surprises me.

 

I installed a FM modulator in my XJR. It connects directly into the radio’s antenna input. So the iPod transmit directly via a cable into the antenna input. So no interference or anything like that. It also charges my iPod and it uses even the RDS channel to put the names of the song and the artist name on the radio display.

I bought mine several years ago and it’s not made any more. They have even something a bit more fancy:

DICE Electronics - Universal RDS USB

But if you google for iPod FM Modulator you should find similar ones for less as well. Just make sure it’s hardwired and not just a FM radio transmitter.

Good luck,

Jeroen

 

Hello Motocarman,
Actually, on the LXF4160BA player with cartridge, I checked the box on my back shelf & I got it in Feb, 2008 from some auto wrecker in CA. They claimed it was a working pull...
By the time I realized it was the wrong player it was too late to return the item.
Anyway, I am not sure how to test to verify if the player works. Any suggestions on how to do that? Would not want to sell a non-working unit to anyone. May have to work out an "as-is" if no way to test.
BTW, there are several LXF4160BA ebay at the moment about $90-$150.
Thanks