It has been working fine for over 13 years but recently started giving me some problems.
BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Today I decided to see if I could get my iPod FM modulator on my Jaguar going again. These Jaguars have a pretty decent sound system to start with. But it is all from the late 90s or early 2000s. This car is from 2002. So whereas the system itself is pretty good, radio/cassette/CD changer/8 speakers including tweeters etc, it was never designed to play music from other devices such as iPods and or iPhones, or any other device for that matter.
When I bought this car in Kansas City in 2009, iPods were still THE thing. iPhones were only just introduced a couple of years earlier. They did not go mainstream till a couple of years later with the introduction of the iPhone 4. (I know as I was one of the first to have one!)
So in those days, apart from listening to the radio, you would carry cassette tapes and CDs in your car. But I wanted to listen to my iPod music. You might be familiar with these sorts of cassette like adaptors. You shove it into the cassette player, it has a little wire trailing to which you connect your iPod or any other music device. So the music plays over the head on the cassette deck. It works, in fact, I still use it on the 1980s radio cassette deck in my Mercedes W123 and Alfa Spider!!
You can also get these little FM broadcast devices. Essentially it broadcasts on the FM band and your radio just picks it up. But an even better solution is a so-called FM modulator. An FM modulator injects the signal directly into the aerial, so it is hardwired into your aerial system.
I got mine based on the recommendation from a couple of fellow Jaguar owners on a USA Jaguar forum. Ordered it and installed it. It also powers/charges the iPod/iPhone and displays the artist and song name on the radio display. You still use some sound quality, but it is probably the best solution if your car audio system does not have a separate input for external music devices.
It was one of the first things I did to my Jaguar when I bought it in 2009. So it has been working fine for over 13 years by now. But recently it has been giving me some problems. It would not always tune in properly, or rather somehow the radio was on the correct frequency, but no sound.
I vaguely remembered you can change the frequencies on which the FM Modulator broadcasts. So I decided to open up the centre console to take it out. I knew I managed to install it behind the audio system. With a wire running into the centre armrest to plug in my devices.
When removing trim on old cars you want to be very careful. Make sure you know how it is supposed to come apart. This old plastic becomes brittle over the years and will snap easily. The quality of the plastic trim used by Jaguar is not very good. So I looked up the procedure in my X308 workshop manual.
It is really simple.
First thing is to move the gear lever out of P. It needs to be out of the way or you won’t be able to get other parts out. You need to have the ignition on to be able to move the lever. Once in the correct position, I switched off the ignition and also disconnected the battery.
In this image, the bezel surrounding the J-gate has already been removed. It just clicks into place. Two fingers on each side and you pry it off easily.
Next, undo 2 bolts and two nuts and the retainer plate comes off. Undo two electrical connectors for the cruise control and Sports mode. Also, remove the knob on the lever. In this case, it just screws off.
Very, very carefully pry off the veneered panel. It is known as the ski slope due to its shape. You really want to be very very careful. If you damage it and need to replace it, it is going to cost a vast amount of money, if you can find one in the correct colour and grain.
Next, the complete radio and climate control come out after removing three small screws. Except it did not, the climate control stayed in place as I pulled on the radio. The plastic frame holding the climate control unit and the radio unit together had broken!! Can’t be helped.
If you look carefully you can see the FM modulator at the far end. It sits behind the radio once installed.
Here you see it. It’s made by a company called Dice. Not sure if they still exist. Used to be a UK-based company that specialised in this sort of car audio stuff.
At the back of the FM modulator is a diagram showing how to set the different frequencies. Set with two small toggle switches.
Funnily enough, my radio has never been tuned into the frequency set! The idea is to find a frequency that is not in use and put it into your radio memory. As the modulator injects the signal directly into the aerial it is usually much stronger than any signal in the atmosphere. So interference tends to be a none problem.
But I also seem to recall that you could actually set the frequency to any value by means of a potentiometer or so.
So I disconnected the modulator and opened it up. My memory must have been wrong as there is nothing that can be adjusted other than the toggle switches.
So tried a different setting
With the radio still out of the console, I connected up the FM modulator, hooked up the battery and put the ignition on. This is what the radio showed.
I forgot about that!! Radio theft from cars has always been a huge problem. So many radios, even factory-fitted ones do come with some sort of anti-theft protection. Like a code.
Luckily I have all the original Jaguar documents and manuals. The previous owners were very careful and had kept everything.
So punched in the code:
I tried a few different settings of the toggle switches.
Tested each one with my iPods. Yes, I still have multiple iPods, on a 2002 Jaguar they are considered period. And I am a bit of a retro-tech nerd of course as well. So I tend to keep things like that.
I found that the system appeared to be working best on 107.7MHz. So that is how it is set up now and stored in my radio memory.
Put everything back together again. Dropped one of the screws. Which can be a real pain, because it will drop alongside the side of the transmission tunnel. So it could cause a rattle, worse shorten something eventually.
Luckily managed to retrieve it with one of my handy little “grabbers”.
Everything works great again. Very happy I finally managed to get around to this little job. Tomorrow we are leaving for a long weekend of touring Belgium, so we can listen to all our music and just stream Spotify from my iPhone onto the Jaguar’s sound system. Of course, being an old git, I also have several thousand songs stored on my iPods and iPhone. All bought and paid for before we ever heard of streaming. And 6 CDs in the CD changer in the boot.
As I rummaged through the car documentation looking for the radio code, I also came across this poster. In the USA car dealers are obliged to have these displayed on the cars for sale. It is (or was) a sort of standardised way of informing the public on the details and price of the car.
These Jaguars came with a lot of owner and driver documentation.
Looking forward to driving my Jaguar into Belgium. We will be staying in Namur, a very nice old citadel town. On Saturday we are visiting nearby Temploux. This weekend sees what is probably, if not the largest, certainly the best, brocante market. 7 km of brocante market stall strung out all over the village.
Keyword: Fixing the iPod FM modulator on my 2002 Jaguar XJR