Ok, so the clock on my XJR doesn't work - no surprise there then!
And half on my climate display isn't lighting up..... But these issues are not a problem. I am having Jaguar Repair Services - SIDMASTER do the repairs next week.

But my stereo causes me more concern - It works perfectly and the LCD display lights up. But none of the buttons light up, and it really bugs me.

The chap at sidmaster informs me it's not something he has heard of before (normally its the LCD display that stops working) - and they don't deal with the radios anyway.

Is there a fuse that just controls this display? I'm guessing not as the climate buttons all light up and the J-gate illumination if fine.

I don't really want to fit an aftermarket headunit - and a friend tells me that fitting aftermarket head units in cars with factory head unit always leads to interference (like alternator interference)??

 

There is no 'backlighting' fuse. The fault is in the radios circuitry. Sometimes the backlighting will illuminate and not turn off, even without a key in the ignition and the radio powered off. After 19 years, the electronic unit has simply exceeded it's shelf life. There is no reasonable cost repair. A properly installed aftermarket unit is far superior and will not present any noise interference.

 

Unfortunately I've thrown out all my old, broken X300 radios so I can't verify....but I vaguely recall some backlighting bulbs soldered onto the circuit board.

You'll have to take the radio apart, obviously. A little tricky, but doable. I opened up a couple to replace the bulbs for the display screen.

If you're not pretty darn confident about doing this type of work I'd leave well enough alone. At least the radio works.

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks...
A friend, (who is an installer for a car audio and security centre) told me about these on
e-bay

jaguar x300 radio facia rebulb kit | eBay

So i have purchsed a pack and he is going to take my unit into work and have a look at it.
It was my friend who told me that in his experience you can suffer an alternator type interference when changing the stereo for an aftermarket item (on Harman Kardon equipped cars).

Fingers crossed the repair will work.

 

I too need my climate unit fixing soon, but I have had the clock done. Damone at sidmaster.co.uk is great!

 

Having now received the stereo bulb kit, my friend will hopefully have my radio returned to me (fully illuminated) soon....

I also ordered 3x dashboard bulbs from SNG Barratt and sorted my Climate control display and clock illumination - Whilst i had the unit out i had a little inspection and found the ribbon cable had come completely separated from the pcb... I noticed though (when i came to re-assemble) that the ribbon cable naturally wanted to sit up against the pcb. I inserted some thick card behind it, and now my clock display works perfectly..... Result!!!

 

Hi I'm just wondering if you ever sorted the illumination out on the car stereo as I have the same problem after removing it and trying to fit a phone kit. Also it doesn't operate my aerial.


I bought a secondhand unit and this has the same problem so not sure if it's the stereo or not

 

My radio also had no illumination, and I dissected a junkyard radio and found the real culprit. The problem is poor soldering of a chip on the underside on the main circuit board. I resoldered it, and my radio has had illumination at night ever since.

 

I'll take a look. It would be really coincidental if this is the problem especially as I have the same problem on the replacement but I'm certainly not ruling it out.

 

I had the bulb burn out on mine, and I took it apart and soldered in a new bulb.

Look at hobby shops that specialize in model railroads, you're looking for a "grain of wheat" bulb. Model trains are 12V as well, so no problem using those bulbs directly.

 

Many thanks to all.


It turned out the connector on the back of the unit was not pushed in far enough, a bit strange as it's one of those yellow connectors that has a lever on it and clicks when in place