Hi! I have come across a problem with the radio.. it is wired as the pictures show (yellow and blue goes down to the radio) and everytime I turn the radio on now the fuse for gauges and horn dies but the radio stays working. How do i resolve this and what could cause it?

 

is the car Positive or Negative Earth / Ground ?

is the radio Positive or Negative Earth / Ground ?

Disconnect all the radio wires from the fuse box, does the fuse blow again when the engine is running ?

 

It is negative ground!
The fuse does not blow if the radio (blue wire) is removed

 

not sure about Series 1 XJ but the blue wire is normally for electric antenna OR for radio display light sometimes.

Is the radio itself Negative Ground ?

 

It seems to be a job done by the previous owner.. so color can’t tell me much, the antenna is a much thicker gray wire though!
but I don’t know.. I would guess it is negative earth.
I can’t figure out though why there would be both a yellow wire and a blue one running up to the fuses.
I might have to take the radio out entirely to try it with a different battery and rewire it in to the car after..

 

the yellow wire is normally 12 volt by ignition, the red wire is for preset memory, so the preset stations don't get erased when you turn off the car.

do you have a picture of the rear of the radio where the wires come out ?

 

Nothing more then the pictures posted..

 

that blue wire passing through the metal bracket hole is suspect. Insulation could be damaged and copoer could be shorting with the bracket. Check it and re-route it

 

It doesn’t pass through the bracket and the wire is fine, I suspect it connects with the radio somewhere else..

 

the radio will either be powered when the ignition switch is set to ACCESSORY position in the fuse box, or connecting it to an ALWAYS HOT position in the fuse box.
If the radio has memory presets, then one 12 volt wire needs to be connected to an ALWAYS HOT position in the fuse box. If no memory presets, then all you need is one 12 volt wire connected to the fuse box.

 

Hi,
From just the pictures it looks like the blue wire that's spliced into the dark green wire at the fuse block ( with blown fuse ) is connected to the radio case which is grounded. That's creating a dead short ( hot wire to ground ) which is blowing the fuse. I don't know what the blue wire should be connected to, but it's not the radio case. The connector tab on the case should have a wire connected to a good body ground point instead of the hot blue one.
Are there any other loose wires or connectors inside that area ? Does the car have a power antenna ? I've only owned & worked on series 3, so not sure of these details for a 1.

Just wondering, are there any more spots to connect wires below the red wire plugged into the radio case ? The bracket in the picture blocks the view of that area. It almost looks like there might be another connection spot just to the left of the red connection ? Any labeling if so ?

Cheers,
Brian

 

oh I see, then the yellow wire must be for memory cause I’ve never disconnected that wire, and the radio has not lost its memorized frequencies.
the blue wire is only hot when the ignition is on.

 

hello Brian!
no it does not have anywhere else to connect the wires, I thought it was weird to that a hot wire was connected to the “shell” of the radio. But the radio itself does not become hot when the cable is connected there, and the radio works when it is connected there

EDIT:

I just found this picture, maybe you’re right Brian! But I can’t understand why the radio would still work even though the ground is wired to a positive and it doesn’t throw sparks everywhere when you put it against ground..

 

doesnt may a lot of sense but you did say that the fuse blows whenever you turn it on with the blue connected. I would be tempted to dump the unit and maybe upgrade?
Con244

 

the blue wire must be a ground.

 

The radio works without problems now!
All I had to do was remove the blue wire and rewire it to ground.
Now all I need to do is get an antenna and find a 6 pin din to 3.5mm phone adapter so I can play something better then what the local stations are playing.