I bought a 98 XJR almost 5 months ago and have been slowly replacing an entire laundry list of parts. When I bought the car, a prior owner had cut the factory wiring harness connectors to the factory premium stereo system off, both in the front and in the trunk.

I wanted to replace the entire wiring harness but was unable to locate one. My next option was to re-pin the wires but after purchasing no less than 5 different connector pins, none were correct.

The factory head unit was missing but the amp and CD changer remained in the car. I can't stand aftermarket car stereos so I began the process of figuring out what came with the car from the factory. No one could help me, or was willing to, not even Jaguar. I have finally figured everything out after purchasing 3 head units, 4 wiring harnesses and many other things. I now spent many hundreds on this silly project.

I have re-spliced all the cables back on and everything should but work but no power to the head unit. Splicing cables together was really a last resort.

If you know this car and want to make some serious money, contact me. I want to get this factory stereo in the car and sell it ASAP. I have messed with this 4 months now and it's left a really bad taste in my mouth. I can't sell the car with the sound system like this.

 

I've checked the fuses. I believe the pin out is correct, although no one has been able to positively tell me which is pin 1 on the factory wiring connector dash side. I was able to get a photo of a wiring harness for a standard head unit and the wiring color codes match what I have. I have tested pin 1 for 12 volts and that's a yes as well. I don't know what else to do at this point. It's not the head unit either, as none of the 3 get power.

 

I've studied the wiring diagram and I believe I have everything correct

 

Bob (motorcarman) is in Decatur or Bill (Brutal) is in Houston...

 

May be a anti - theft feature as you are using a head unit from another vehicle . There is one on the earlier X300 . The " Radio Code " can be obtained from the dealer but call first as there is something about falling out of Jaguar support after this long in service but I faintly remember seeing a private firm maintaining the database . Suggest search box " Radio Code " in both X300 and X308 if the dealer is no help .

See the link below on the cheap DIY repair of the speakers as my 96 was rotted out and sounded real cheap . So I did some research and tossed that salad .

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...woofer-189654/

The 1998 X308 wiring schematic figure 16.1 and 16.2 for both the standard and premium systems show power inputs to pins ICE 10 - 10 and 11

There is a speed bump up wire ICE 10 - 1 if not hooked up may default to no volume .

Pin 1 is a Blue / White wire .

On the standard the speakers are driven by a final amplifier inside the control head . on the premium they don't use those wires but a pre amplified group of wires as a round cable go back to the final amplifier .

Is your final amplifier getting warm after a while showing it has power ?

Pull the carpet on the forward wall of the trunk and above the fuel tank is the place for the premium system sub - woofer . There is a possibility the original factory installation did not come with the separate power amplifier and sub- woofer and the one amplifier installed has a built in crossover network ( band pass filter consisting of a resister and capacitor ) and a separate sub - woofer speaker output post . If you don't have a cross over network you can add one in the trunk as they pull the signal from both left and right side on the very low frequencies to just one sub - woofer . The 6 X 9 original speaker is not a very tall design for clearances so you may have to source one from a X300 or X308 at the salvage yard and repair it .

If you have any questions you can private mail me or the poster on the linked thread

I designed a vacuum tube final amplifier to set on my dash

I don't know what kind of wheels you have but I paint stripped off the clearcoat to bear metal and without polishing it made a difference like night and day even after I polished with a compound the clearcoat before .This will add some appeal as you sell it .

Look for the engine serial number as a buyer will want it .

Hope this helps , Parker

 

I've just read through your other post on this subject. You mention in that post you have a 98 car with Alpine Amp and HardonKardon Speakers. The Alpine Amp didn't come in until 2000 onwards to my knowledge, it was HK until then. There are two different Head Units for the X308, pre 2000 and post 2000. The post 2000 one is very different in the way it connects to the car to the pre 2000 version, as it contains controls for the GPS. I've added a photo of both units so you can see the difference.

I've actually got a full Standard ICE wiring loom in the garage I use for bits of wire when I need it, but sadly its a 2002 version and in all likelihood wouldn't help you out as it's standard.

One more thing to note is underneath the HU there is a small switch that needs to be set to Premium or Standard depending on what you have in the car.






Note Differences in connections, especially the way the amp is connected to the Pre 2000 unit.

 

Parker,

Thank you for the meaningful advice!

I knew I was going to have to deal with the code issue but the unit should power on in order to enter the code, correct? I restore classic Mercedes and know them like the back of my hand, but this is my first Jaguar, ever, so I honestly don't know.

I have attached photos of the completed main audio wiring harness repair. Would you mind verifying it's correct? I followed the wiring diagram exactly, but I may have missed something.

I have completed the amp wiring repair but have not got that far yet, I was just trying to get the unit to come on.

 

Stu1986,

Yes, I have the pre-2000 head unit. I may have been incorrect about the amp manufacturer. The car does have premium sound and I have verified that by the tag on the main audio wiring harness, it says... "Premium Spec" also the car has the sub woofer

 

I personally have not had to enter the Radeo Code myself but some part of the head should have power in order to enter the codes . Have you looked into the speaker repair for later . Do you have the round audio out cable that goes to the final amp as the 8 empty sockets are the speaker output wires as you drive the speakers in the standard setup ? I think I see the tan one in the pic . The X300 has 2 round cables as you use both cables in the premium setup

Verifying wires in pic

 

Yes I have both of those cables reattached

 

Got an appointment and won't be back until 6 pm

 

There's the bunny ,

4 should be red / light green . Factory floor is not perfect .

Is all the lights and displays on in the head lit and is the final amp warm to the touch ?

 

Parker,

I saw that you pointed out a slate/red wire where a red / lt green should have been. I went out to the car at lunch and removed the cloth vibration tape to verify and have attached a photo. I purchased that connector used and it had the wires attached. The used connector was from a car with a standard sound system which has more wires than the premium, because of all the speaker wires being driven from the head unit's internal amp... anyway, the red/lt green was missing so I used the slate/red in it's place as you can see in the photo.

I soldered all the wires, then used heat shrink insulation to cover the wires.

 

All of the factory connectors are now in place. The CD player in the trunk actually ejected the CD tray but the head unit is not coming on. I verified that that IC10-10 has 12 volts as specified in the wiring diagram. Any Ideas? I guess I am going to have to attempt to test the continuity on all the wires I can attached to the primary harness. I am also going to see about going to a junk yard and verifying the pin out. I don't know what else to do at this point

 

All cables have been reattached... When and if I get it working, I will pretty it up

 

I took my volt/ohm meter and found that IC10-1, IC10-3 and IC10-4 all have 12 volts when the key is in the on position or the engine is running. I'm assuming this correct since these control dimmer and instrument pack. I'm assuming that IC10-1 tells the unit to turn on and off???

IC10-10 has continuous 12 volts, no matter key position and must be what powers the head unit?

 

I'm back

Pin 10-1 is a upward bias as you speed up with road noise it will increase the volume

Pin 10-10 and 11 should both be B +

Looking up the fuse location of note 21

Before you run off to the jumk yard just pull cover off the head unit as mine is labeled as wire function . Use the pre = 2000 unit as suggested

 

In case you don't have the whole print for the premium setup .

See earlier edited post

 

Wow this looks like a lot of great information. I'm driving but as soon as I get to my destination I will review it in detail. I did see where you've pointed out two separate fuses I did verify number 10 is functioning I did not verify number one


i'm very thankful that someone with some knowledge on these cars has stepped up to help me out this was driving me insane. And truthfully, I really do love this car but this was just so frustrating

 

This forum has helped me tremendously as my Lady P was behind the curve . Ask questions