Hi all, we have just picked up a 64 plate HSE which is showing no GPS signal on the NAV (red line through the GPS icon)
The car has the panoramic glass roof and has a plastic shark fin mounted at the back of it.
I have been digging around the forums trying to confirm where the GPS antenna is actually located but am still unsure. Is the GPS antenna in the shark fin? Or in the rear brake light as some other places suggest? Or somewhere completely different?
Member Since: 12 Aug 2014
Location: Southampton
Posts: 1832
Hi there - the problem being reported is correct - the GPS unit which is stored in the rear brake light housing (one of my threads details where exactly but i'm on hols atm and don't have time to look) doesn't have a connection to the infotainment units.
This GPS coaxial has two main connections - one from that box in the brake light that runs from the top of the boot roof lining (look for a blue connector) all the way down to the centre armrest (IIRC) then another connection (brown I think) from there that sends it up to the back of the unit that feeds the screen.
All accessible - the dash taking apart needs a leap of faith but having done it multiple times its easy ... I will find you some threads later to see all the steps - or have a look through search - there will be multiple useful threads.
Good luck I will send some links later if you haven't found anything and keep us posted.
Thanks Famousfive! I will have a dig through and see if I can find your threads as well.
We have a 2013 Freelander HSE and hence the same interface. Agreed NAV is pretty useless. Although I find if you enable the little tracing blobs to show where you have been it can be quite useful. That is really the only reason I am kind of bothered about fixing it.
Thanks again
Rob
26th Jul 2022 10:24 am
Hobson
Member Since: 20 Jun 2018
Location: Essex
Posts: 164
Re: 64 plate D4 no GPS signal, antenna location?
Rjefferis wrote:
Hi all, we have just picked up a 64 plate HSE which is showing no GPS signal on the NAV (red line through the GPS icon)
The car has the panoramic glass roof and has a plastic shark fin mounted at the back of it.
I have been digging around the forums trying to confirm where the GPS antenna is actually located but am still unsure. Is the GPS antenna in the shark fin? Or in the rear brake light as some other places suggest? Or somewhere completely different?
I had this exact same issue when I picked my D4 up some 4 years ago. Started at the antenna end (under the high level brake light) and worked back through the coax to the centre console - all good. Pulled the crashpad apart to get to the head unit and screen (as previously said not that difficult). Nothing obviously amiss but I disconnected everything, remade the connections and it has worked fine ever since. I paid particular attention to the routing of the cables to ensure that none of the connectors were stressed. I know the Land Rover sat nav comes in for a lot of criticism but I find it perfectly fine for my purposes.
Thanks Hobson, am I right in thinking removing the brake light to access the aerial is a bit of a pig? Other posts seem to talk about it being glued on and a pain to remove without breaking it?
Thanks
Rob
27th Jul 2022 6:42 am
Hobson
Member Since: 20 Jun 2018
Location: Essex
Posts: 164
Don't even think about it! You will be in a whole world of hurt! The antenna cannot be accessed/removed with destructively removing the brake light - it's bonded in place. You can however get to the connector by removing the upper tailgate trim. This at least allows you to check the coax up to the connector that is located under the centre console close to where the gear selector sits. If I were you I'd start at the head unit and work back. You still have to remove all the centre trim bits but you need only be brave. It does come out OK but you need to be a bit aggressive.
Member Since: 03 May 2022
Location: Reigate & Winchester
Posts: 6
If you are still scratching your head about this one……
I had similar loss of gps signal, and after chasing down and checking all the connections that I could find, I ended up buying an ebay generic gps antenna and plugging it into the back of the head unit and mounting the antenna on the dash. It now works again and the car no longer gets lost!
The antenna was about £10 as I recall. It has a blue “fakra” connector…
As stated above the crash pads etc are straight forward to remove, with plenty of youtube videos available, albeit things looks a bit scary at times!
Hi all, sorry delayed update on this as we are down in Salcombe at the moment and phone signal good enough for data seems hard to find still down here.
Thanks all for the responses on this. Had a quick check of the connection behind the boot trim and all looked good there so next stop was behind the screen. I removed just the passenger side trim panel (which was harder than I imagined) this just allowed me to feel for the aerial plug and wiggle it and bingo back online!
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