I purchased a damaged 2001 XKR with 51k and repaired it for my wife to drive about 6 months ago. Several times during the repair the battery went dead and had to be charged, 2 or 3 times it had to be jump started. When the repair was complete the navigation and stereo were dead, as if there was no power to them. They worked fine before the repair. I read on a forum that the 4 pin connector at the back of the stereo had to have 2 of the wires 12v, It does and the advise was to replace the head unit (stereo?). So I did, twice with used units from EBAY. No luck, still dead. Sent two of the units to a repair shop, out of town, and they checked out fine. I did a Hard Reset and I thought it was fixed, stereo and Nav working perfectly, until I turned the car off, when I turned the car back on, stereo and Nav dead again. I tried 6 more hard resets and the units would not come back. It was not clear to me weather to have the ignition switch in the first on (accessory) or second on (ignition) during the reset so I tried it both ways. The units came back on after the 7th attempt with the key in the first accessory position. This time the units stayed working for 3 start ups during a period of three hours. I let the cat sit overnight and in the morning on first start up the Nav came on but no stereo. I performed another reset and both the nav and stereo came back. After 1 more ignition shut off, the next restart nav came on but only would go to second page, and stereo dead. 20 ish more hard resets and no luck, still both units dead. My wife is becoming impatient with me for a lack of radio in her car. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you Scott Olsen, New Jag owner and member.

 

I assume when you say dead, the headunit LCD display is dead also.

Unplug the large round round connector at the back of the headunit, and see if the the stereo lights up the display consistently now after a hard reset. The audio will not work this way. If it lights up the display consistently, then the power amp likely has an intermittent problem, because removing the large round plug removes the connections to it.

 

Thank you for the response WhiteXKR, yes dead as if there is no power. I took your advise and pulled the large round plug from the back of the head unit and then turned on the ignition and the head unit and nav light up. No functions, does this mean I should replace the power amp? If so, do you recommend another factory unit or are there aftermarket options? Also where is the amp located in the car?

Thanks, Scott

 

Because of the intermittent nature of your problem, try it a few times and make sure the results are consistent.

If so, replace the power amp with a like used unit. Usually they are on ebay and not too expensive. Make sure it is the Alpine version from a 2000 or later. There is no aftermarket unit that is compatible.

The amp is on top of the CD and navigation unit, behind the RH carpet wall in the trunk. There are two bolts on each side of the equipment rack. If you remove the 4 bolts, all of the audio equipment slides out as a unit.

Try to avoid jump starting this car, but if you must, at least make sure the source vehicle engine is off.

 

I have exactly the same problem - absolutely nothing from the radio - no lights, music etc. My car is a year 2000 XK8 without Satnav. I also have a couple of XJ's - but they only have the Amp (in the boot) if you have the Premium sound system. Does the XK have it as standard?

By the way - I think I blew the radio/Amp because the car had the ignition shutter sticking problem and the battery kept going flat. Whilst faffing about in the boot one day I'm pretty sure I crossed the leads! Everything still worked fine, except the radio.

 

I have taken WhiteXKR's advise and ordered a used amp on EBAY. I removed the old amp from the car to make sure I was ordering the correct unit. Now the nav and radio light up and work, just no sound. I will post again when the new (used) unit is installed with a report.

 

The new amp arrived and I installed it with key off and battery hooked up. Turned the key on and head unit dead and nav working on start screen only. Did hard reset and head unit and nav dead. Unhooked amp from system (all wires), hard reset and nav and stereo came back, no sound. Left key on and reconnected amp and sound is back, started engine and head unit dead, nav first screen only. disconnect amp, hard reset start engine, reconnect amp, notice that all wires are connected except for the cable that goes to the cd changer? sound is back, go for 1 hour drive with sound, turn off car, start car, after several days and drives the sound is still working, with the cd changer/player disconnected.

I am reluctant to connect the cd cable in fear that it has has been causing the problem all along. My wife is delighted to have a working radio and is willing to live without the cd player.