So an update on the electrics; I was able to get the replacement radio fitted and powered on; I had two wires that I had to marry back together that were cut and taped up; when I plugged in the radio as it was, I didn’t get anything but after reconnecting the two wires (purple/blue and black) on the right hand side I was able to get the radio come come on and the SatNav screen lit up with the “Land Rover” logo; it didn’t go past that; I think the optical cable ends may be dirty, they certainly are really wobbly so it’s possible that I just need to replace them… open to some suggestions there. I could switch between FM/AM/CD, but could not tell if I was adjusting volume because no speakers were hooked up and I didn’t know if there was a visual indication of volume adjustment.. also it appeared that the steering wheel controls didn’t work… could be a bad fuse. It’s all a work in progress.

This is shaping up to be an exploratory project… I’m going to get a GAP TOOL ordered this week if I can make sure I am ordering from the correct site…

I noticed there was a rogue red wire coming up from below the center console and a soft blue 00 gauge casing with a dozen wires in it… it doesn’t help much that when I was replacing the right passenger door lock actuator I noticed that the high tweeter was disconnected and there was a JL audio component set in the subwoofer spot with custom holes drilled… all of the wire feeds into the amp have been cut and paired running somewhere… not entirely sure where at this point.

Pictures to follow… any observations are welcome

 

Most of the time an LR logo only on the display means the MOST network is offline. So your suspicion is correct. You can sorta diagnose by looking at the ends since it is a ring. Incoming optic will be red on the tip. So if you disconnect the connector from the radio and both are out, then the previous item on the network is not sending. That can mean disconnected, blown fuse, broken optical cable, etc. You can get MOST stuff pretty cheap on Amazon, like connectors and such. Also if you have no MOST then you also have no audio or controls since the in dash is just a dummy module, the AMP is the brains of the entire audio portion.

 

Just to make sure I am following you here; the MOST operates on the fiber optic lines… if my head unit is blasting lasers in but I am not getting any light shining through on the amp end of the fiber optic it’s likely a broken cable? Or if I look at the open end of fiber optic from the head unit side with the cable plugged into the amp it’s either a broken cable or a bad fuse?

I went onto the gap diagnostic website (I hope that the right one and not a scam) and sent them an email to make sure the BT G3 was in stock and if it is I will likely do a rush order to help with this.

The next part is going to be figuring out how to make my audio mess work with these aftermarket speakers. As I was looking at the pictures to upload them (I’ve got to shrink them first, the file size it too big) I noticed that blue wire casing I was talking about was under the dash… so the guy I got this LR3 from has spliced off certain speaker pairs into this group of wires and ran it up to the radio DIN area to fit the speakers for an aftermarket harness / head unit. I just hope that Land Rover isn’t as picky as BMW with its POWER 9 speaker/amp setup… mother of pearl such a dumb thing.

 

Yes, MOST is an entertainment network that is not critical to truck operations. It is a fiber optic ring. If the ring is broke, network no-go. The instrument cluster is the head unit/timer of the network although I dont think it itself connects to MOST. So never figured that out.. lol. Devices themselves will light up when active even if not active on the network. Basically they all have a MOST hub. And in and an out. The out should always be lit red if the device is working enough to power up. I have a module, for example, that is disabled but it still passed MOST data. So if you amp is not lighting up at either end, then the amp may be dead - which is super common. I am on my second and shocked it is lasting as long as it is. You can put a bypass on the network connection there to complete the MOST loop, if you do the navigation display should get out of "logo mode" and start working.

The GAP tool is super handy to own, but may not really help you with this diagnosis because it is likely a physical issue, bad network or dead amp. Network damage is not common, FYI.

The audio system is very simple. The amp gets inputs over the MOST network, that include radio signals, phone, navigation commands, etc. So that is pretty much its only input. There are two large multiword connectors on back. One goes off to in-door headphone ports and controls if installed. The other goes to speakers. The ones going to speakers are just two wires simple straight forward connections. But they are all only two dang colors. So you have to sort them out and trial/error to see which speakers they go to. I had to do this with a friends truck. Took time, but was not hard. The real question might be if the amp can handle the speakers that are installed, like if they are the correct Ohms, etc.

Edit: And speaking of BMWs... yeah, a pain. I had a 92 750iL with a very, very rare 14 speaker system. Only a handful in the US ended up with this option. So there was no info at all to help me. And some of the wiring was HORRIBLE. It is what trigged me to post in a forum asking. Only one person knew what I was talking about and said the tape and poor install was 100% factory for that rare setup. Horrible...

 

DakotaTraveler

you’ve certainly been insightful and I appreciate all of the information.

I ordered the IID Gap Tool this afternoon and put a rush on it; after looking at the connector as it was flopping around on the end (the fiber optic) I’m going to use sometime tonight since I was spared the project of a rear tailgate actuator and see what all goes into running new fiber lines. I.e. where those go to and how I can route a new cable where it needs to go between devices for that loop. It was such a long day I’ve got absolutely no energy to go out and tear into it like I wanted to so it’s all mental work tonight haha… I’ll check for the light on both ends of the fiber connector tomorrow; I will say it’s probably a broken fiber line with how floppy it is, but maybe not. I don’t have any mini fuses laying around so a trip to orielly is order since I need wiper blades and it’s going to rain every single dang day..

anyway.

I did have one question for you beyond the MOST system and you kind of touched on it already. (Anyone feel free to chime in here.)

I bought a matching factory head unit and matching factory amp both of which were tested before being shipped. I intend on keeping that portion of the car in its heritage state. However I have noticed with my repair or the rear passenger lock actuator that my door tweeter is unplugged and there is a JL Audio component speaker with custom holes drilled into the subwoofer space. Doing some reading I have deduced that the subwoofer that came with the LR3 is generally 2Ohm… this component speaker is a C1-650x 4Ohm.. I’m guessing the previous owner had planned to bypass the original HK amp. I’m trying to bring it back to baseline; getting to my question here… what are your views on keeping the stock head unit alive and well, amp too… while upgrading or updating speakers across the car? I don’t necessarily want to buy a set of OEM LandRover speakers… but if I can get by with matching specs like for like or stepping down some wattages with some electrical wizardry.. I’m not opposed to that either. I just don’t want to spend a bunch of time for the LR to pull a BMW and say “Nah, all OEM or bypass, no middle ground. “

any input would be appreciated.

 

I can't comment on speaker upgrades, I would start a new thread on that because others may be interested. My system is 100% stock but the speaker quality is sub-par. They are old and some have torn cones. So I am looking to upgrade. I do know the stock subwoofer is very unique and difficult to upgrade without doing modifications. Mainly because it is sooooo shallow. I will say that if you have the highland audio setup, it is pretty good. Not sure exactly what you have though. Mine has two speakers in both doors and dash has a center one. Then way back on the last pillars I have two more speakers and of course the sub. Before this I had twin 12" Alpine systems, so I like good sound. But I am getting old maybe, and found the LR3 stock system decent actually. So my thoughts are in upgrading speakers, it will sound even better. But I have not looked into it yet.

 

That’s fair, I’ve got a coworker that had a roller disco setup back in college setting up all his own PAs and such, I’m going to run it by him and see what he would recommend possibly doing, I know how it should work out from a technical standpoint but there may be a better way to do it. I’m looking forward to getting the gap tool so I can see the different circuits and how they’re behaving. Depending on how the speaker journey ends up I’ll likely make another thread as you mentioned. Generally wanting to get the LR3 in a passable state so I can hurry up and gut the two X3SI I have waiting on me to make one good one. I know what I’m doing with those, this just happened to end up as my daily after my wife had an accident and we lost the Outback and my X5 laid down thanks to a water leak shorting out some bits. This truck just fell into my lap at the perfect time, it’s unfortunate that it just happened to be someone else’s work in progress that I have no documentation on so it’s just learning as I go.

The speaker gambit is just a separate train of thought on the journey to getting four locking doors. Haha. Which I have now. The IID tool will help me hopefully navigate any future errors and give me the ability to program my key fob finally… so I’m checking off boxes, just not as fast as I would like.