P38 Harmon Kardon

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Will, thanks very much for that very complete explanation, it seems to tie in with almost everything and would mean that the dealer I bought the RR from didn't lie to me, which is good as he seemed like a decent enough guy!

I think I may have found someone with a 2000 MY RR Alpine CD changer for sale, I am just waiting for them to confirm that it has a connector that matches the one below and it fits in the bracket (somehow) !

RR_10.jpg
 
There could also be the possibilty someone has added a CD changer other than the original spec Alpine system that would have been fitted, if so all he needs to do is find out what make of changer and plug it straight in, if he chooses to go for the alpine then he may need to put a whole new wire and control unit in to get it to work....
 
When I had my Alpine (with a round plug) changer advertised I had loads of people call me up said they needed one with a square plug, one guy even said he doubted square plug ones even existed as all that ever came up on ebay was round plugs

so it could be that the Autochanger you had fitted was a none alpine if this is true, the only reason the cable is still there is it was probably more hassle than it was worth to remove it
 
TWEETS said:
When I had my Alpine (with a round plug) changer advertised I had loads of people call me up said they needed one with a square plug, one guy even said he doubted square plug ones even existed as all that ever came up on ebay was round plugs

so it could be that the Autochanger you had fitted was a none alpine if this is true, the only reason the cable is still there is it was probably more hassle than it was worth to remove it
Click to expand...

I have just done a deal with a guy for a standard factory-fit 1999-2001 Range Rover CD Autochanger which will fit straight in and mate with the Alpine head unit (not sure yet who made the CD unit itself). He sent me a picture of the connector on his CD unit which I've included below as it appears to match the connector I have in my boot space. Apparently these units were only fitted to the later (mid '99 onwards) P38's.

rr_11.jpg


Thanks for all your help folks :D
 
Thing are not boding well for my long-term relationship with the Range Rover ......

I got a genuine RR Alpine CD changer for the RR, it was marked up as "2000MY Vogue" and had been fully tested before dispatch. I opened up the boot and plugged it in and it started whirring away. Ignition was off but doors were unlocked. Didnt worry too much about, just disconnected it again and installed it properly. Then I powered it up again by connecting the lead, ejected the empty cartridge, filled it then reloaded it.

Went and turned the ignition on and nothing happened with the stereo, it looked completely dead. Started the engine but nothing changed, still nothing from the stereo, front panel was still dead. No more noise from the CD changer either.....

Thought .... must be a fuse, but when I checked the handbook, all of the stereo fuses are under the front seat and they are all monitored by the BECM. I had no error messages. Also, they are shared with other things like the A/C and that all still worked.

I've obviously been a bit of a d*ck head and done something wrong, but I'm damned if I can see what it is, and more importantly, how to fix it.

Any ideas or suggestions gratefully received ......

Thanks in anticipation, Brian
 
The Land Rover multi changers usually have a small fuse located inside on a circuit board. Take the cover off (normally 4 or 6 screws) and check that also the radio itself usually has a fuse at the back beside the multi plug give that a check as well.
Failing that petrol and matches!!
 
wills said:
ok, go back to how it was before, unplug the changer, does the radio come on then??

-Wills :)
Click to expand...


Tried that and it made no difference, the radio was still dead.
Tried taking it out of the rack and powering up like I did when it made it's first noises and that made no difference either.
 
bwarb said:
Tried that and it made no difference, the radio was still dead.
Tried taking it out of the rack and powering up like I did when it made it's first noises and that made no difference either.
Click to expand...

hmmm, take the radio out and check the fuse in the back of it, you will need the two flat key things to get it out, if you are cheap go along to Halfords and ask to borrow their keys and they will take the radio out for you. If you aren't so cheap then buy a set of keys to keep for use in the future as it sounds like you may need them.

When you have the radio out have a look at the plugs on the back and take a photo if you can so we can see whether everything looks normal behind there.

-Wills :)
 
OK, keys arrived today so I whipped the head out. Picture of the wiring shown below ......

I pulled out the red 10a fuse on the back of the head and it had blown. Thinking it may have blown due to the additional load from the CD, I replaced it with a 15A one and put the head back in. Radio now powers up OK but I don't have the code ... Doh!

Just spoken with my nearest LR dealer (Yeovil) and they can get the code, but not until Monday .....

So, what does the wiring reveal (if anything) and is my assumption regarding the fuse valid ?

RR_12.jpg
 
bwarb said:
OK, keys arrived today so I whipped the head out. Picture of the wiring shown below ......

I pulled out the red 10a fuse on the back of the head and it had blown. Thinking it may have blown due to the additional load from the CD, I replaced it with a 15A one and put the head back in. Radio now powers up OK but I don't have the code ... Doh!

Just spoken with my nearest LR dealer (Yeovil) and they can get the code, but not until Monday .....

So, what does the wiring reveal (if anything) and is my assumption regarding the fuse valid ?

RR_12.jpg
Click to expand...

hmmm, I would replace the 10 amp fuse with another like one - you should never put a higher rated fuse in, the existing one blew because too much current was being drawn across it and did its job to protect the rest of the radio, if you uprate the fuse you will let more current flow and if there is a short circuit or whatever you run the very real risk of damaging the radio.

I think that the 10amp fuse might even be the wrong one, Im pretty sure on the back of my Clarion radio I have a 7.5amp fuse. I suppose the Alpine radios might be a bit different though, hopefuly someone else who has a Alpine radio will know.

Put a 10amp fuse back in and try hooking the CD changer back up (the changer will still load accept the mag and check the CD's even if the radio is waiting for the code) and see what happens. The changer could be the part at fault. Does the connector for the changer look ok?? The blue plug on the back of the radio is for the changer, depending on how DIY you are feeling I would try and trace this wire back to see if there is any damage to it. It will run back from the radio, behind the glovebox (you can drop this down and see behind by releasing the screws round the edge) down behind the plastic finisher by the passengers feet (where the bonnet release would be on a LHD vehicle) and then back along the channel underneath the plastic sill finisher thingies and then back up into the boot. If that looks ok, all the way through then I would pop open the changer and look for any signs of corrosion or damage.

See what you can come up with but above all dont uprate the fuse on the back of the radio, you risk damaging it, as I said before I hope someone who has a working Alpine radio will be able to say the correct fuse that should go in the back there.

-Wills :)
 
wills said:
See what you can come up with but above all dont uprate the fuse on the back of the radio, you risk damaging it, as I said before I hope someone who has a working Alpine radio will be able to say the correct fuse that should go in the back there.
-Wills :)
Click to expand...

OK, I replaced the 10a fuse with a 10a breaker and got the radio code from the LR dealers in Yeovil (nice people - no problems at all).

Powered the whole lot up and it all worked immediately. CD's selected OK and they played OK with the exception of "home-recorded" CD's that seemed a bit hit and miss.

So, hopefully I've reached the end of this particular P38 saga:) , thanks again to everyone for all your help !

Best Regards, Brian
 
bwarb said:
OK, I replaced the 10a fuse with a 10a breaker and got the radio code from the LR dealers in Yeovil (nice people - no problems at all).

Powered the whole lot up and it all worked immediately. CD's selected OK and they played OK with the exception of "home-recorded" CD's that seemed a bit hit and miss.

So, hopefully I've reached the end of this particular P38 saga:) , thanks again to everyone for all your help !

Best Regards, Brian
Click to expand...

Glad to hear you got it working in the end, always good when something turns out ok!

Next thing to do is goto a good audio shop, not Currys or something but a proper audio store that specialises in home entertainment and get a cleaning cd, run it through then try your home-recorded CD's again to see what happens.

I had skippy playback that got worse and worse and using a good quality cleaning CD cured it and every disc now plays fine. If it still doesnt play ok, make sure you use good quality media, not cheapo, non branded CD's and burn them at a slightly lower speed than normal and lastly remember they have to be CD-R's.

Do all that and you should have no problems with home brewed CD's anymore :)

-Wills :)
 
On this subject, is it possible to fit the HK system (changer/sub etc) to a base DT? Are the connectors already on the loom or would it need the wiring through the full length? I do have a LR head unit that came with the RR but I replaced it with a Sony unit with Bluetooth handsfree.
 
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