AM radio/antenna replacement

[wgregt]

The AM band on my non-OEM stereo in the jeep suddenly stopped working, after oh, 15 years without a problem.

Now, the typical American thing to do would just be to go ahead and buy a new one. Instead, I'd like to have someone look at it and fix this one (since everything else works fine). Thing is no one does this anymore. At least not that I can find. Even Sony says there's no one in my area that works on car stereos.

One shop suggested that my antennae itself (or maybe the wire connecting it to the radio?) might be bad. Not sure how they could go bad, but I figure it's worth a shot. Thing is, I unscrewed the whip, but have no idea how to get to the wire/mount portion within the RF fender.

Anyone ever swapped out an antennae and know how to get it out? I figure the wire is threaded thru the firewall of dash somehow in order to link up to the stereo?

 

[NorCalChris]

its Easy. there's a nut on top of the fender. use channel locks or vice grips to unscrew it. then it will fall down into the fender. remove your inner fender. now the whole piece is right here. and it just pushes through a gromet on the jeep. now pull the kick panel on the passenger floor bopard. up in there you will see where the wire pushes through. it is connected to another wire that goes up to your deck. pull them apart. pull your deck and make sure the other wire is hooked up to the back of your deck. make sure all contacts are clean and good.

 

[heyhar]

The antenna wire failure is very common on XJs. But, you say AM. Does the FM still work? If so, it's most likely the radio. As far as anyone willing to fix it, keep in mind that you can replace it with a better piece for less than a reputable shop would charge to diagnose it. And, let's face it, in the last fifteen years, technology has all but made even a good unit obsolete. I'm the last one to be preaching to just buy a new one, because my garage is full of '70s high fidelity gear, and '80s and '90s XJs, but why not splurge on your ride!

 

[orange]

A common fail is the cable from the actual antenna to the radio has a connection in the kick panel (would be to right of a passengers foot). One screw to access behind cover.

Reconnect and secure with zip tyes or other means.

Good Luck,
Orange

 

[wgregt]

The antenna wire failure is very common on XJs. But, you say AM. Does the FM still work? If so, it's most likely the radio.

yeah, oddly enough the FM still works fine. In fact, when I took the stereo out of the dash and disconnected the antennae wire, the FM still worked fine, sitting in a closed garage. No idea why...I would think neither band would work without the antennae hooked up...

 

[wgregt]

because my garage is full of '70s high fidelity gear, and '80s and '90s XJs

What? No 8-tracks?

 

[Pelican]

Just stick any kind of wire--trusty coat hangar--in the antenna socket to see if the AM works.

 

[heyhar]

Time for Sirius Satellite Radio!

 

[joe_peters]

You still listen to AM?

There may not be any "Sony Approved" repair facilities in SoCal, but I will bet a cookie there are a BUNCH of radio/electronic repair shops.

 

[wgregt]

You still listen to AM?

There may not be any "Sony Approved" repair facilities in SoCal, but I will bet a cookie there are a BUNCH of radio/electronic repair shops.

Yeah, huh? The last guy on the planet. Never been a fan of "listening to whatever music was picked for me" or FM, as they call it.

I would have thought so too, but none of them (I called a bunch yesterday) do anything with car stereo repair. Each one said "get a new one." Typical. No one wants to work on anything in this county any more. First step is: Broken? Buy something new. Preferably something Chinese and cheap/disposable.

(And no, I'm not geezerly. I'm barely past 30.)

I'll try the wire in the antennae hole on the head unit trick tomorrow and see what happens...

 

[joe_peters]

Thirty IS over the hill. I am still a youthful 29 (and have been so for the past 29 years)!

Something just occurred to me. Radio Shack up here has an "any electronics" repair thing going, but the charge starts at $50. Got any community colleges or high schools with an electronics program?

Anyway, good luck to you.

 

[hubs97xj]

Newer decks have AM receivers, too.

If the shop can't get the parts, there's no point in them spending time diagnosing the deck- are you going to pay someone to not fix it? I think you confuse people not wanting to work on your junk, with it being foolish (and not profitable) for them to do so.

edit- to narrow down your problem to deck or antenna/cable, borrow a known good deck, or put yours in another vehicle with no problems. Cheap and easy.

 

[wgregt]

Well, I'm a LITTLE closer to solving this...

Pulled the passenger right-foot kick panel tonight, and saw the antenna cable there (the male/female pin connection) was not tight. There's a AL sleeve that slides over part of it, and the sleeve was expanded at one end making the connection a little loose. So, I tightened that up and...

...technically I have AM now, but it's very faint. I have to jack the volume waaaay up in order to get it. I switched over to FM, and nearly deafened myself at the same volume. The AM comes in like a whisper, FM waaay to loud.

Thoughts? The cable these is snug now, and good and snug at the rear of the deck. Never had this happen before either...both volume levels were the same before all this happened...

 

[joe_peters]

I live in an area where there are mountains on all sides. Local AM stations are good, but those stations just 35 miles away aren't good, except on some cars. I think it must be a quality issue with the AM side of things--maybe some makes cheap out on the AM figuring most people use the FM/tape/CD side of things?

 

[orange]

See #7 above by Pelican. extended outside the XJ.

OR- 6-8 ft of insulated wire, works too. Just touch/hold the wire to center contact of radio antenna connector. Have radio on and set on a known station helps. If Good AM, then it looks like a bad antenna/connections.

All off - use a multimeter/ohms and check for continuity of center conductor from radio to antenna, and not shorted to ground.
If bad -then open connector in kick panel and retest toward antenna and retest toward radio to see which way the problem is.

Good Luck,
Orange

 

[ParadiseXJ]

 

[heyhar]

Is that the new HD Radio antenna?
I'm wondering if the AM stations just aren't keeping up with their broadcast equipment, as there's almost no money in that media anymore. I live a little over 100 miles north of Philly, in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre market, and just in the twenty years I've been here, the quality of AM has all but disappeared. In my driveway, I can't pick up a local station that's less than 10 miles away, but I can receive the big guns from Philly, the ones that are network owned.
So, it may be a breakdown or deterioration of your equipment, or the last gasp of failed radio businesses in your area. I put a satellite receiver in my cars five years ago, and I've not used AM or FM, or hardly played a CD since.

 

[orange]

Exactly!!!
Of course it needs to be "Properly" conditioned -

- bent in a few places with trees and rocks and well coated with mud etc. to really work good.
:cheers:,
Orange

 

[joe_peters]

A stealth door entry tool for an antenna? BRILLIANT!

 

[Matthew Currie]

Being a real old timer (my first car had an AM radio with tubes and a vibrator!), and also not bothering with AM for many years, I wonder now if car radios have any sort of antenna trimmer any more. Am tuners are very sensitive to antenna length and the like, and it used to be that somewhere on the radio, even sometimes on the front panel, there would be a little opening where you could access a little capacitor to tune the radio's circuitry to match the antenna. Without this an AM radio will almost always suck big time. In my experience with trimmers, the difference between right and wrong, though, was dramatic and immediate. Back in the dreamtime, my big glowing, buzzing Blaupunkt could pull in dozens of stations day and night as long as nobody messed with the antenna length. Perhaps you can look on the back and see if such a trimmer still exists.