2004 Disco 2 TD5 ES Premium Alpine Radio Cassette problem

Hi, just hoping that someone out there might be able to throw some light on a problem I'm having with the radio in my Discovery 2. I purchased the vehicle, which is in all-round excellent condition about 5 years ago. It didn't have the original Alpine radio head unit fitted. It has a Blaupunkt CD radio instead which uses exactly the same connectors as the Alpine unit. This unit has always worked fine for me and still does but the volume cannot be controlled from the remote controls on the steering wheel. There is also an Alpine CD autochanger fitted under the driver's seat which seems to be functioning in itself as it can be heard to go through the CD's when the cassette is inserted. Recently, as I had always wanted to return the radio system to factory specification so that I could use the steering controls and the CD auto changer, I recently purchased a second hand Alpine XQD101430LNF head unit, thinking that all I had to do was pull out the Blaupunkt head unit and pop in the Alpine...not so!!
When I pulled out the Blaupunkt radio, I noticed that the wire had been cut leading to terminal #2 (bottom left hand terminal looking at the back of the radio - steering wheel remote radio controls input) on the lower grey connecting plug (C0098) I turned on the radio and reconnected this terminal which caused the radio volume to fade away. I disconnected this terminal again and proceeded to fit the Alpine head unit which I had purchased. When I switched it on, the words "Land Rover" came up on the display followed by the word "CODE" to prompt me to insert the radio's code number, which I did successfully. The radio functioned fine on tuner and cassette modes but pressing the CD button could not make any communication with the CD auto changer (as I expected as the terminal #2 was disconnected on the lower plug. I turned off the radio and removed it again and reconnected terminal #2. I turned on the radio and again got the words "Land Rover" on the display followed by "CODE". When I pressed tuner button 1 (and any of the other tuner buttons for that matter) to insert the first digit of the code, nothing happened - I was unable to insert the code no matter what I did. The word "CODE" stayed on the display - It was as if reconnecting the terminal #2 on the grey connector plug (C0098) was blocking the signal from tuner 1 button. Obviously, there had been some sort of problem with the radio in the past and someone had disconnected terminal #2 on grey plug C0098 for a reason.
Has anyone ever experienced this problem before or have any idea what might be going on? Thinking that the fault might lie in the steering wheel controls, I borrowed a known working replacement steering wheel control unit from a friend to try it but this did not solve the problem either! Might the problem lie with the steering wheel control ring below the air bag or within the CD auto changer (even though it appears to be working as it goes through CD's when they are loaded?
Thanks in anticipation of a solution,
George.

Hi, here's a link to the radio's fitted to the D2's & I can't find the p/no you quoted on there. Is there any way you can check the link cable between the H/U & CD changer ? Genuine Radio/radio Cassette/cd Player For Land Rover Discovery 2 1998 - 2004 Classic | Jaguar Land Rover Classic Parts It might be of help as there seems to be many options for the ICE low/mid & high line etc in checking your H/U is compatible.
My 01 ES premium sometimes comes up with CD error in the display sometimes (Philips Hi-line R990 H/U) but I just eject the CD cassette under the seat & reload it & all is well.
I'm sure someone will be along with an answer soon, all the best.

Many thanks Andy, I'll look into this and try to check the link cable between H/U and CD. Just haven't had a chance this past few days as I've been quite busy.
G

Here's a pic of my unit MY2001 Hi-line with 6 CD changer.

Andy Warren said:

Here's a pic of my unit MY2001 Hi-line with 6 CD changer.View attachment 259537

Click to expand...

Hi Andy, this is a photo of the H/U I purchased recently.
George

Hi, have a look at this previous post on radio issues Disco 2 2001 radio issue | LandyZone - Land Rover Forum
Can you take a pic of the wiring connectors on the back & the front facia ?
I'll take a pic of mine tomorrow & post them to see if they're the same.

Hi Andy,
I'll take a pic of the wiring plugs in the facia tomorrow but as I have the radio out at present, here are a few pics of the rear of it showing socket layout at rear where plugs slot in. I have also included a pic of the diagram downloaded from online showing socket layout. I know for definite that my Disco has grey plug C0098 at the bottom, brown plug C0092 in the middle and plugs C1354 and C0922 at the top. The pin (#2) that I have highlighted in green, is the one that has the wire going to it cut at the rear of the grey plug. I will also try to check the link cables 19 (I-BUS comms link input/output) and 20 (permanent feed) going from H/U to CD autochanger tomorrow.
George.

Hi Andy,
I took these pics of the grey/brown/blue/green plug connectors that go into the back of the radio. I have also included a pic of the CD changer under the seat showing the make and model number.
Going by the audio wiring information I downloaded from an earlier Landyzone posting for highline systems, there seems to be a difference in some of the wire colours in my grey plug - terminal 2 on mine (the one that has been cut) is Green/brown and according to the diagram it should be Grey/black. terminal 3 on mine is brown/orange and according to the diagram it should be Grey/red. The other wires agree with the diagram.
Hope you can make some sense of it. I tried to check the wires from the H/U to CD changer but access is so poor I couldn't manage it - think I'd have to completely remove the seat - maybe another time as a last resort if all else fails.
George.

A long time ago I swapped my H/U and disc player, in my Disco 1 1998MY Anniversary model for ones I'd rescued from another car.
This because the LR disc player had gone fubar. Mine had the amp and subs in the back door.
When I went to wire the new H/U to the CD player I decided to use the existing cable rather than dig it out and replace it.
I was shocked to find that wires seemed to change colour between the H/U and the player.
Right fecking head ache but managed it, obvs!
In many ways wished I'd stuck with the H/U and bought a secondhand replacement CD player. Would have been far easier.
That homemade connection, i.e. the wire with the red bullet connector, is that to supply +ive in some way?
Anyway, best of luck with it all!

Thanks for your post. No, the bullet connector is only there because that wire had been cut by a previous owner or someone working on their behalf. It was to allow me to connect/disconnect the wire easily as I tried to find out why it had been cut in the first place. If you refer back to my original posting it will explain about that wire.
Thanks,
George.

torquewrench said:

Thanks for your post. No, the bullet connector is only there because that wire had been cut by a previous owner or someone working on their behalf. It was to allow me to connect/disconnect the wire easily as I tried to find out why it had been cut in the first place. If you refer back to my original posting it will explain about that wire.
Thanks,
George.

Click to expand...

Fair enough.
I have to admit to being a bit puzzled as to why it isn't all "plug and play"
I recently had to take my H/U out from my D2, an after market Kenwood and temporarily replace it, so I put in the H/U I just mentioned, the old one out of the D1. It obviously was never going to operate the CD player, but it does work the radio and tape player even from the steering wheel controls!
I have since fixed the Kenwood H/U and will be taking out the old LR one again. I kept all the plugs it came with and once I've done it, if you are still on all this, I'll put up picks of it with all the plugs in the back, don't know if that'll be any use to you. For example I note that you do not have a plug to go to an amp and subs, like mine which has a flat/thin black plug.
If @backinblack hasn't picked up on this thread he may be able to help. He has helped me quite a bit with my problems.

Oops, forgot to mention that the replacement H/U and CD player that I put in my D1 is also a Blaupunkt.
Pure coincidence and yes, without an adaptor it wouldn't work off the steering wheel controls which I confess I have forgotten if it has any!
(I think it does).
Can you not just get an adaptor?
(Being lazy here, I expect I'd find all this up-thread if I wasn't in a hurry to get on!)

@Stanleysteamer I had a read the other day but I haven't got a clue, as said there are many options for the HU so maybe LR stealer could identify the original from the build sheet.
My D1 was an ES but my D2 was a GS and I just replaced it with one with a pop out dvd screen using a harness adaptor.

torquewrench said:

Hi Andy,
I took these pics of the grey/brown/blue/green plug connectors that go into the back of the radio. I have also included a pic of the CD changer under the seat showing the make and model number.
Going by the audio wiring information I downloaded from an earlier Landyzone posting for highline systems, there seems to be a difference in some of the wire colours in my grey plug - terminal 2 on mine (the one that has been cut) is Green/brown and according to the diagram it should be Grey/black. terminal 3 on mine is brown/orange and according to the diagram it should be Grey/red. The other wires agree with the diagram.
Hope you can make some sense of it. I tried to check the wires from the H/U to CD changer but access is so poor I couldn't manage it - think I'd have to completely remove the seat - maybe another time as a last resort if all else fails.
George.View attachment 259627 View attachment 259628 View attachment 259630 View attachment 259631

Click to expand...

Hi, looks like you have the yellow connector missing & my green & blue connectors seem to have more wires,see pics otherwise the front is the same but I noticed it has the EU sticker missing not sure if that has anything to do with the unit itself.

Thanks for the pics Andy. Definitely looks to be a different setup in yours - don't think mine is a high line! There's a lot of differences - as you say, yours has a yellow plug for a start and a lot more wires in the green plug and the wires in your grey plug are different too. I think I'll contact my local Land Rover dealer tomorrow and try to find out if there is a record of what type of head unit was fitted in the car originally, unless there is somewhere online that these details can be found?
Thanks again for your help.
George

What I need to find out now is why my terminals 2 and 3 in the grey connector (steering wheel remote radio controls input and output) are green/brown instead of grey/black and and green/orange instead of grey/red. Those two colours aren't even mentioned in the wiring diagrams I have found. This mismatch is probably one of the reasons why I'm having problems - at least it would explain why my steering controls don't work?

Hi, I've taken pics of the books that came with the car from new, in one it shows a R660 H/U (along with the R990 which we have) & in the other a H/U that has no reference no's but they can all operate a CD changer unit. Pics of the manuals to. I hope you can get it sorted, BTW does it have the subwoofer speaker on the tailgate door ?

torquewrench said:

What I need to find out now is why my terminals 2 and 3 in the grey connector (steering wheel remote radio controls input and output) are green/brown instead of grey/black and and green/orange instead of grey/red. Those two colours aren't even mentioned in the wiring diagrams I have found. This mismatch is probably one of the reasons why I'm having problems - at least it would explain why my steering controls don't work?

Click to expand...

It's no surprise as I had the same issues with wiring on mine not matching the LR circuit diagrams, although mine were to do with the heated rear window circuit, so I wouldn't worry to much as I'm sure @sierrafery will testify. I ended up using a multimeter to confirm the wires as opposed to the colours. Best of luck.

Many thanks Andy, tomorrow's another day, I'll keep searching!
George.

Hello again Andy,
I've been very busy recently and just got round to checking out the back door this morning - it has a sub woofer fitted.
Maybe get out the multimeter today or tomorrow and try to find out where these odd-coloured wires in the grey connector pins 2 and 3 are going to.
G