Jaguar X300 GUIDE to: Replacing a clock in an X300 (Blue LCD)

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

The LCD clock in the X300 is a common problem area, lost 'pixels' and fading display are typical. The root cause of the fault is normally attributed to the ribbon cable which joins the LCD clock panel to the printed circuit board (PCB) itself. You have a few options:

1. Send your unit away and get a refurb (~£100), not very cost effective
2. Open it up and replace the ribbon cable yourself (~£10), OK if you know what you are doing but it will suffer the same demise eventually
3. Cobble together the existing one by applying pressure to the ribbon cable where it joins the PCB/clock - OK for a quick fix
4. Replace the unit for a different kind, this is the route I chose because it is cheap (~£10) and effective for a long term cure

Step 1 - If your clock looks like this then you have a problem! Mine was turned on at this point

Step 2 - Open the lid of the centre console to expose the first screws we remove

Step 3 - Remove the two posidrive screws (fine threaded) completely

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 4 - Open the lid of the ashtray and wriggle it out as shown. You should remove the plastic edging strip (picture 3) as well, the final picture shows the plastic tabs that hold it in place. Be careful not to snap anything, this is probably the most difficult part

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 5 - Underneath the ashtray you will find two connectors, simply pull these off and place the ashtray to one side

Step 6 - Pop the gearstick down into D (you will need the keys in to do this of course with the foot on the brake)

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 7 - Remove the large trim around the gearstick, this takes a bit of squeezing, be careful not to break the tabs (shown in the second picture)

Step 8 - Now remove the outer surround, this is another 'squeeze and pull' affair, don't break off the plastic tabs

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 9 - The invisible bit - there are two wing nuts that hold everything together, they are just underneath the wooden trim. Remove both of these (they are just finger tight) as shown

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 10 - The wooden trim now pulls up quite easily, be careful not to stress it - particularly at the radius towards the stereo. Ease the wood out and when it gets stuck around the top (picture 2) be gentle with it. Wriggle it slowly and don't apply too much force

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 11 - Remove the 6 screws holding the stereo etc. in place, note that 5 of my 6 were broken by a previous owner - do not overtigthen them on refitting!

Step 12 - Slide the stereo assembly forwards and unplug the clock multiplug from the back of the unit. Simply depress the tab and pull the cable out (they are a bit stiff)

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 13 - Now remove the 6 screws holding the clock in place

Step 14 - Slide the unit backwards and remove it from the car. If you are sending away for a refurb unit then your work is pretty much done at this point.

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 15 - Remove the 6 screws holding the clock assembly together

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 16 - Get a couple of small flatblade screwdrivers. Work around the outside just popping the clips up gently and slide the unit into two parts. Be careful when you pull the two parts away from each other because the LCD will be in one side and PCB on the other

Step 17 - Slide the display out and admire the problematic ribbon cable

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 18 - you can see that a conductive strip glues the ribbon cable to the display and board, this can simply be peeled away (if being replaced rather than squeezed back on)

Step 19 - The LCD screen simply unclips from the mounting bracket and can be removed easily

Step 20 - If only you could solder to the LCD screen you would be able to re-make the 28 connections however you will need to get some special cable to fix these connections. At this stage I decided to go down the path of getting a new LCD screen and eBay revealed a 12V LED clock for £10 delivered from China.

I bought "12V Blue LED Digital Electric Clock For Car Motorcycle" from a seller called topthinkstore, it was 9.99 and took a while to arrive (4 weeks) but is an economical way to go

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 21 - First, the two tabs need to go - I just ground them off. This makes it a nice fit in the stock housing as shown in the last picture

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 22 - You get a large green button for setting the time on this clock (press and hold for minutes of press repeatedly to change the hour), which I didn't want so I cut it off at a sensible length to allow me to wire it to the existing buttons (about 6 inches) and removed the sheath

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 23 - I then stripped and tinned the ends of the wire with some solder and snipped them down to size

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 24 - I wanted to use the existing hour button to control my new clock so chose SW2 (switch 2 on the PCB as shown). You need to solder opposite corners as shown in the second picture

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 25 - Add a little solder to each of the pins then solder the wires on as shown. Use some hot melt to cover the solder joint and first centimetre or so of the wire for mechanical restraint

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 26 - Now onto the display, the stock plastic film is quite large and, as shown in the first picture, bigger than our new display. A simple and very effective approach is to just use a permanent marker to black it out (you could paint it if preferred)

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 27 - Drop the plastic film into the enclosure for the clock and apply some hot melt glue to hold it in place as shown. Ensure no glue goes through to the other side (if it does, let the hot melt cool and use a sharp Stanley blade to tidy it)

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 28 - Pop the clock into place and secure with another dose of hot melt (make sure the clock is the right way up!!)

Step 29 - Now pass the 3 wires through the PCB as shown

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 30 - Carefully pop the PCB back into the enclosure and make sure you don't trap any of your new wires when clipping it together

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 31 - I switched the bullet connectors for spade clips as I had more of these. Simply snip off the old ones (picture 1), strip and twist the wires (picture 2), poke this into a female spade clip (picture 3) and crimp with the tool shown which is much better than pliers (picture 4).

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 32 - Now, to make a little wiring loom to connect to the car (note you could have just left the wires long but I like having it modular so you can plug different bits in. Cut the spare wire from the switch and terminate one end with a female spade slip as shown then plug it onto the loom from the control box. Split one of the wires in half to make two shorter leads and you have your loom. Finish by fitting a male spade clip to the ends as shown in the final picture. Note I always fit a female spade slip where voltage feeds something and a male spade clip for the consumer device so when you are unplugging things you have no danger of dropping a live wire and shorting something

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 33 - Hook up to a car battery to test everything works (I did this a few times as I was working), 3 wires are as follows:

1. Green = Negative
2. Black = Permanent live (+12V that keeps the time ticking even when the display is off)
3. Red = Switched live (+12V when you want to light the clock up)

Step 34 - Fit the 6 screws to hold the two parts of the assembly together

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 35 - Now we have made our clock, return to the car to wire it in. Start with the standard connector (picture 1), grip and slide the heatshrink back up the loom so you expose more of the wire (pictures 2 and 3).

Step 36 - Find the black wire in the far corner of the loom (circled on the first picture) and cut it about 3 inches from the connector. Strip the wires and twist them together then fit a female spade clip. This is our ground connection so should be connected to the green wire from the clock (simply plug the two spade clips together)

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

Step 37 - Now we will do the switched live - this is a white wire with a red stripe in the loom. This is our switched live and should connect to the red wire from the clock. Again, cut, twist then crimp together (note picture 3 onwards shows the process of splicing a wire but the first two photos show the wire you are using for the switched live)

JSeaman · May 21, 2012

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Jaguar X300 GUIDE to: Replacing a clock in an X300 (Blue LCD)

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