When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hello all and thank you for allowing me to join as well as access your knowledge and experience as this is a completely new adventure for me. With that being said my wife has begged me for almost 20 years to buy her a 1991 Jaguar Canden Plas. I finally found one and abided by happy wife happy life protocol and purchased it, surprising her with it for her 38th birthday. Upon bringing it home o found the radio security light flashing with absolutely no radio response whatsoever. I opted to switch the radio out to an aftermarket head unit and after hooking up power and 2 speakers the radio turns on and the antenna goes up and down but it has absolutely no sound at all. It appears that the radio factory radio had a CD changer wire plugged into it but I cannot find one anywhere in the car nor can I find any indication of a factory amp and all inline fuses appear to be good. I am at a total loss as I have no clue what I could have possibly done or where to turn next. I have put I a hundred car stereos in and never experienced this problem. She wants to take the car to Hershey, Pa. for our daughters dance competition next weekend as it is a more comfortable ride than our 2014 Ford Flex however for me four hours in a car with three screaming and fighting kids with no radio would be the the equivalent of severe dental surgery with no anesthesia. I hope I have put this post in the correct place and if I havent feel free to correct me and delete accordingly. With that being said thank you all in advance I hope to here some life saving tips(lol) soon.
Upon bringing it home o found the radio security light flashing with absolutely no radio response whatsoever. I opted to switch the radio out to an aftermarket head unit and after hooking up power and 2 speakers the radio turns on and the antenna goes up and down but it has absolutely no sound at all. It appears that the radio factory radio had a CD changer wire plugged into it but I cannot find one anywhere in the car nor can I find any indication of a factory amp and all inline fuses appear to be good. I am at a total loss as I have no clue what I could have possibly done or where to turn next.
Hi Galaxie390,
Welcome to the Jaguar Forums! It's great to have you with us!
First of all, at the link below you can download the wiring schematics for your 1991 XJ40, which will give you all the speaker wiring pair colors. See the color codes near the beginning of the manual. Basic colors like Red, Black, Green and Yellow are easy (R,B,G,Y), but some are less intuitive (U=Blue, N=Brown, K=Pink, etc.). In a two-letter color code the first letter is the main color and the second letter is the color of the tracer line (if any). The letter L stands for "Light," as in "Light Green."
The stock head unit combines a cassette player, tuner, preamp and power amp. If your new head unit only has a preamp and no power amp, you'll have to add an amp because there is no separate factory amp.
Most original head units were wired for a CD changer but the changer was optional and many cars either never had them installed or the changers were uninstalled and sold on eBay at some point. The CD changer mounted to the forward lip of the trunk with brackets that were part of the installation kit.
The speakers and speaker wiring tend to fail over time, so it's possible you have connected to two speaker circuits that aren't functioning. Try different speakers to see if they work.
Regarding your original radio, the security light may have been telling you it required a four-digit code be entered. This code was often on a card or label affixed inside one of the manuals that came with the car. This security mode may have been triggered by low battery voltage, so be sure to check the health of your battery before taking the car on a road trip.
Please keep us informed, and if you get a chance, please post some photos of the car so we can admire it!
P.S. Please consider adding a line break here and there in your posts - large blocks of text are difficult to read and discourage others from taking the time to read them in their entirety.
Thank you for the advice and information, I figured out that was the problem earlier today as I was overloading the head unit and am currently looking for an amp. I had the code for the factory stereo however it would not even give me the option to enter it and it felt as if the radio selection buttons didnt depress properly. I didnt want to take a chance with it and I would prefer since this is going to be here Sunday driver that bluetooth was in the car which is why I wanted to go aftermarket. Here are the few pictures as I am at work right now
05-05-2019, 01:27 PM
Radio Issues.....please help
