Jaguar XJ40 CD Changer E-01, E-02 or NOT CONT
The boot changer on these cars is a rebadged Alpine, and its codes are specific: E-01 a disc-change failure, E-02 a disc left in the player. I'd cut its power for a moment, free the magazine with a ruler or a card and let it cycle with an empty magazine before anything else. If it's truly dead, any Alpine CHM M-Bus changer plugs straight into the factory lead, often for well under $100 used.
How bad is it · Safe to drive
Safe to drive, only the changer is affected
Radio and tape keep working. Be gentle with a stuck magazine: forcing the eject strips the small plastic gears inside.
Which one applies to yours depends on your symptoms, your model year and what has already been done to it.
Likely causes, most common first
Read the check cost before the odds: a free check that rules a cause out beats a likely guess that costs money.
A disc stranded outside the magazine, E-01 or E-02
A disc left in the player stops the magazine ejecting, or leaves it no free slot to go back to. The handbook reads E1 as a disc-change malfunction and E2 as a disc caught in the player mechanism. It can start when power is cut mid-cycle, for example with the radio out.
E-01 or E-02 when you press Tape/CD, the magazine won't come out, and the radio and tape work normally.
Unplug the lead at the back of the changer for a minute and plug it back: with power it usually finishes its cycle and returns the disc. If not, power off and slide a thin plastic ruler or a credit card under the middle of the magazine, all the way back, to trip the catch.
Free the magazine, then load an empty one and let the changer cycle so it hands back the stranded disc. If a disc stays inside, the case has to come off; lift it out with long-nose pliers, or turn the drive gear by finger, and note where the small springs sit before they jump.
The changer lead never plugged into the radio
The changer takes both power and signal through one 8-pin DIN lead from the back of the radio. Left unplugged after a radio removal, or never connected when a changer was added, it leaves the changer completely dead. Some cars also have a second boot lead that goes nowhere.
A newly fitted or used changer shows no sign of life, the magazine won't eject at all, and the radio won't switch to CD.
Check for 12 V at the boot plug. The fuse is rarely it, since the radio and changer share one. None at the plug: take out the ashtray, console trim and radio, 10 to 20 minutes, and look at the DIN socket behind the radio. On a car that never had a changer, the factory lead is often tucked behind the fuel tank on the right side. The thick lead with the round DIN plug is the changer's; a thin single-pin wire beside it isn't.
Plug the lead into the back of the radio. A changer that looked dead often comes to life at once.
A dirty, dry mechanism or laser, NO DISC
Dust and old grease build up inside with age. The laser stops reading, the transport slows, and NO DISC or E-02 follows with perfectly good discs.
The changer loads each disc, spins it and hands it back, then shows NO DISC; or discs play only after a prod; worse in a damp boot. A wet boot carpet or spare-wheel well points the same way.
First a power reset: unplug the changer for a minute. Then out and opened: contact cleaner on the mechanism and a lens clean, gears worked by hand, a touch of white lithium grease.
Clean and grease before replacing. For a damp boot, cure the leak and put silica gel bags round the changer. If the laser or spindle motor has gone, a replacement changer costs less than a repair. Usual water paths: the screw holes of the black trim between the rear lights, the chrome trim round the boot lock whose two small bolts barely compress the gasket, the filler cap area and the sill between rear window and boot lid. Seal them, then dry the changer out before testing it.
The changer itself has died, a standard Alpine plugs straight in
The factory unit is an Alpine on Alpine's M-Bus; the original part is DBC10432, later LXF4160CA. Every Alpine CHM model from CHM-S601 to CHM-S634 uses the same M-Bus lead and cartridge, so it plugs straight into the factory plug. Not the RF versions, and not CHA models without an adapter.
Nothing clears the error, the jams come back within weeks, or it's completely dead with 12 V at its plug.
Find the lead: usually at the forward left of the boot behind the trim near the filler neck, or behind the spare wheel cover; on some cars at the right, behind the fuel tank trim near the lid hinges; on 1993-model-year cars with the battery in the boot, near the battery. No CD button on the radio means no changer provision.
Fit a CHM-S620, S630 or similar: plug-and-play with the factory controls. The factory brackets fit only the Jaguar-badged unit, so expect to make brackets or trim the boot lining. Cartridges come from Alpine dealers for about half the Jaguar price. A larger 10 or 12-disc changer gains nothing: the factory radio can select only six discs. Later CHM models cope better with ride vibration.
One disc the changer can't handle, the code can point to its slot
The number in E-0x can match the magazine slot at fault: an E-02 that keeps coming back may be the disc in slot 2, or the slot itself.
E-02 returns after every reset with the same magazine loaded.
Take the disc out of slot 2, leave that slot empty and reload.
Leave the slot empty or swap that disc; the error clears and the other five play normally.
Worn transport, small gears, microswitches or a loose magazine
After years of use the small plastic gears wear, the drive gear stops meshing with the worm, and tiny microswitches of about 3 mm lose their contact. The changer loses track of the magazine or jams the same disc again and again.
E-01 with a ratcheting noise as it tries to pick a disc; the magazine keeps ejecting; or it no longer sees a loaded magazine at all.
Case off, turn the plastic drive gear by hand through a full cycle and watch which parts touch which switches; test them with a meter, some open and some closed at rest. Don't overtighten the gear's screw, its seat is plastic.
Adjusting the carriage can bring the switches back, and a small folded card wedge can press a loose magazine home. Worth trying, but treat these changers as five-to-seven-year parts: repeated jams mean a replacement.
The link cable damaged along its run, NOT CONT or no response
The changer lead is a separate cable taped to the harness, running from the radio under the console and back seat to the boot. A broken core or a poor contact at either plug cuts the data line, and the radio reports NOT CONT or simply ignores the CD button.
NOT CONT, or no response to Tape/CD and no message, while the changer works when wired straight to the radio.
Reseat both plugs, then ring the lead through pin by pin; one pin reading differently from the rest points to the cable. On the 8-pin plug, read clockwise from about 7:30, the first pin is battery feed and the seventh ignition feed; the centre pin is power ground.
Repair the damaged section or fit a new link lead, a straight swap. A new changer won't cure this. The plugs are standard 8-pin DIN, so a lead can also be made up from plugs and cable for a few pounds.
A replacement that powers up but won't answer the radio
CHA-series changers use Alpine's Ai-Bus, not M-Bus, and need an M-Bus adapter. Late-build cars, after 1994, may also need one even for a CHM; earlier cars don't.
The new changer takes the magazine and whirrs, but the radio never selects CD.
Check the model letters: CHM plugs in, CHA doesn't. On a late car, try without an adapter first, then with. An MP3 changer such as the CHA-S634 works only through the KCA-130B adapter.
Fit the Ai-Bus to M-Bus adapter where needed; worth trying before blaming the changer. If a CHM still won't answer, suspect the head unit.
Home-burned discs the laser won't read
Older changer lasers struggle with CD-Rs, especially computer-burned discs on non-music blanks; a CD-R is also the disc most likely to jam.
NO DISC or a jam only with copied discs; factory-pressed CDs play.
Try a magazine of factory-pressed CDs only.
Use pressed discs or Music-rated blanks; a later CHM-S630 copes with CD-Rs better.
No changer provision: an early radio without a CD button
Changer wiring arrived with the CD-capable radio around the 1990 to 1991 model years. A radio with no CD markings on its buttons has no changer input at all, and most earlier cars have no lead in the boot either. A few late 1990 cars have the boot lead paired with the older radio, which still can't use it.
A changer bought for an early car does nothing, no lead turns up in the boot, and the radio has no Tape/CD button.
Look at the radio buttons for CD markings before buying anything. Then look for the round 8-pin plug in the boot; its absence on an early car is normal, not a fault.
Either fit a later CD-capable factory radio and run a lead to the boot, at least 8 m, or use an RF-modulated changer that plays through the aerial input. An RF changer picks up local stations, so its frequency may need changing as you travel.
Our product · Jagaux
Jagaux Bluetooth adapter for the XJ40
Plugs into the back of the factory radio in place of the CD changer: Bluetooth music and calls, AUX and USB, track changes from the radio buttons. No cutting, no new radio.
1992–94 cars whose radio has a CD button
The order to check them in
The point of the order is money: each step either rules a cause out or makes the next one worth doing. Green is free, amber costs a little, red is the one to arrive at last.
Read the code against the handbook
E1 disc change, E2 disc in the player. NO DISC with good discs points to reading, not jamming.
freePower reset at the changer
Unplug the lead at the back of the changer for a minute; with power back it usually finishes the eject.
freeRelease the magazine by hand
Power off, a thin ruler or a credit card under the middle of the magazine to the back. Never force it with the eject button.
freeEmpty magazine, then slot by slot
Let it cycle empty to return a stranded disc. If E-02 comes back, leave slot 2 empty and use pressed discs.
freeNo life? Check 12 V at the boot plug
None means the lead at the back of the radio: ashtray, console trim and radio out, about 10 to 20 minutes.
freeNOT CONT? Ring the link cable through
Reseat both plugs, then check each pin end to end; a new link lead is about $20.
freeOpen it: clean, grease, check the switches
Contact cleaner, gears turned by hand, a little lithium grease; test the microswitches. Note where the springs go.
freeReplace with an Alpine CHM M-Bus changer
CHM-S601 to S634 plug in; RF versions don't, CHA models need an adapter. Plan new brackets.
$35 used upwardsWhat it usually isn't
Don't spend money here first:
If none of this finds it:
On jagaux.com
- XJ6 (XJ40) 1993–94 radio pinout and wire colours
- XJ6 (XJ40) 1991 radio pinout
- Jaguar XJ40 Radio Not Working or Cutting Out
- Jaguar XJ40 Radio Replacement and Stereo Upgrade
- Jaguar VIN decoderConfirm your exact model year, engine and factory options before ordering parts — free.
Ratings, fuse numbers and torque figures vary by model year and market. Read the legend on your own car before pulling anything, and use the figures in the manual for your car, not the ones in a video.
Check your VIN: exactly which car you have and which bulletins apply to it.