FINALLY got my AM/FM reception back...

OK... not sure anyone else has had this problem. But on my '96XJ w/my aftermarket Alpine Unit... the AM reception cr@pped out on me about 1 yr back and the FM reception has been getting worse and worse... and for the last month or two I've barely been able to pick up even the strongest local stations.

I had thought perhaps my Alpine HU receiver had gone bad due to the fact it's about 6 yrs old and had been in 2 vehicles now... well that was ALL wrong.

I had been searching here and reading... and someone mentioned they fixed their radio reception by simply plugging the antenna cable back together. There is a 'connection' behind the passenger side kick panel where the antenna cable that plugs in to the back of your Head Unit connects to the cable that connects the actual antenna mast on your fender. Well... mine had simply come apart. Don't really understand the design, but there is a spring that was in-between the HU cable and the Mast cable and they had simply come un-plugged. Well I plugged them back in, taped them up w/electrical tape so that they would NOT come apart again and WALLAH!!! AM and FM signals at full-strength again. It's amazing how refreshing the small things are once you've gotten 'used' to them being gone.

I'm glad I didn't buy a new radio or antenna before getting to the bottom of the problem first.

I'll have to look into that, my 88 with the factory tape player gets the 2 stations in town and thats it.

hmm, I've been having this problem and was about to go buy a new antenna. I'll try this first.

Wow. I've had mine for over a year and had bad reception.

THAT WAS IT!!!!

What a poor friggin design. The spring pushed it apart. I removed the spring and wrapped Gorilla Tape aroung it. Good to go!

Thanks!!!!

Same problem, same fix. I fixed mine a couple of years ago. I left the spring out and taped it together. Mine is a 96 also.

:thumbup:

is the design the same on the 97+ xj's?

danw77.... not sure, but I'd guess it is. An easy, easy... did I say EASY way to check is pull the lower inner passenger side kick panel off and it really is pretty obvious where the cables connect. I had mine off after removing about 3-4 screws and a little pulling... took me all of 1 to 2 minutes worth of work.

My 96 had the same problem too. Thanks for the info. Nice to have a radio again

My reception was going down hill lately too on my 90 XJ I read this n found the plug same place as everyone else in the passenger kick panel great post

HaleYes said:

Same problem, same fix. I fixed mine a couple of years ago. I left the spring out and taped it together. Mine is a 96 also.

:thumbup:

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hmmmm....
i just fixed my '96 as well. bad design used in 96, maybe?

h2opete987 said:

hmmmm....
i just fixed my '96 as well. bad design used in 96, maybe?

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Same on my '93.

Man every XJ I've owned has had this problem. Been fixing them first thing have to have tunes.
hasta

Okay so I am thinking im going to walk out to my parts jeep & strip a wire plug 2-4 pin like maybe from the rear wiper motor & just replace the stock plug were all fixing, after cutting it apart i found that its a relatively small gauge wire & resembles a coax cable perfectly but rather than goin out n crimpin on some cable quick connects im just going to convert it to a traditional wire harness.

Alucard226 said:

Okay so I am thinking im going to walk out to my parts jeep & strip a wire plug 2-4 pin like maybe from the rear wiper motor & just replace the stock plug were all fixing, after cutting it apart i found that its a relatively small gauge wire & resembles a coax cable perfectly but rather than goin out n crimpin on some cable quick connects im just going to convert it to a traditional wire harness.

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I don't think that's a good idea. It is a coax cable because it's carrying RF (radio) signals. If you splice in an unshielded piece of wire you'll probably have all kinds of noise.

I wish i would have seen this before, but I like my fix. I pulled the antenna completely and bondoed the hole on the fender. then I installed an amplified antenna on the inside of the windshield above the rearview. drilled a hole in the dash from below to make sure I didn't hit anything important and wired directly into the radio. No more problems.

Tdad said:

I don't think that's a good idea. It is a coax cable because it's carrying RF (radio) signals. If you splice in an unshielded piece of wire you'll probably have all kinds of noise.

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(+100) Correct!!! :yelclap:

To revive a old thread: What kinda of connection should I be looking for? Pics anyone? My radio reception died after a wheeling trip and I have a feeling that I rattled it loose. I took off the passenger kick panel and don't see anything that looks like a radio connection. 1997 XJ with "Infinity" stereo option.

large round black wire with silver ends like a cable wire without the screw fittings

It's not just Jeeps. All kinds of Chrysler products use this same weak connection. I've fixed about 50 of these in all sorts of vehicles.