Radio reception killed when rear defroster is on

[[SMAN]]

It started about a month ago, and I can't figure out why. I think it has something to do with the fact that one of the traces on the rear window doesn't seem to work, but i don't understand why it should kill the antenna feed that much. Anyone have any thoughts on this, because it is a pain that i can't listen to the radio and defrost my windows at the same time.

[theprodigy79]

That is odd, however the antenna is embedded into the rear windshield with the defrost elements...

Have you checked the wiring in the rear pillars to make sure the antenna lead isn't rubbing / too close to the defrost leads? On the passenger side there is an antenna amplifier behind the pillar; if I recall there is other wiring around it... perhaps you should start there by turning on your radio and defrost, then removing the pillar and sifting through the wires to see if there's any effect...

Also, I just noticed you have a 2004... In several of the earlier production 2004 models they actually reversed the wires going into the antenna amplifier, which would possibly make a difference in your case as well. I'll try to dig up the TSB for it so that you can see if yours is affected.

-James

[[SMAN]]

That is odd, however the antenna is embedded into the rear windshield with the defrost elements...

Have you checked the wiring in the rear pillars to make sure the antenna lead isn't rubbing / too close to the defrost leads? On the passenger side there is an antenna amplifier behind the pillar; if I recall there is other wiring around it... perhaps you should start there by turning on your radio and defrost, then removing the pillar and sifting through the wires to see if there's any effect...

Also, I just noticed you have a 2004... In several of the earlier production 2004 models they actually reversed the wires going into the antenna amplifier, which would possibly make a difference in your case as well. I'll try to dig up the TSB for it so that you can see if yours is affected.

-James

Yeah i checked that and all the wiring seems to be good. I performed the TSB the day i got the car and swapped those two wires around. It didn't seem to give me any better reception then. I know the antenna wires are part of the rear windshield, but if you loook closely, you'll see that the heater wires and the antenna wires are not connected at any point. But it seems like the rear defroster wire is either causing interfierence with the antenna, or disabling the power antenna (allthough a multimeter doesn't show any sort of major voltage drop) but every time i turn it on, my reception is killed and all i get is static with the ocasional blip of music from the station if i'm moving.

[theprodigy79]

Yeah, the elements should definitely not be touching the antenna, but there's really no way for that to happen with the way they're embedded... I was more concerned about the wiring.

You aren't running stock headunit any more, or are you?

[dvdchris45]

thats what will happen when you put an aftermarket head unit. I tried the TSBs years ago and my radio reception is OK at best...and my AM no longer works.. i don't mind much though i got movies and an ipod to keep me happy!

[Ruski]

i had the same exact problem on my gen 1 .. It turned out to be the heating lines where ruined from tnt removal . never got a chance to fix it because the car was totaled ..my solution was to buy a a external antena

[[SMAN]]

Yeah i have another thread showing the big pictures on how to remove the radio and to resses a double din navigation. An external antenna is not goign to be an option for me, i went through that with my last car and i don't feel like running all that wire again. The wiring should be correct, i just can't figure out where it would be grounding out to cause an issue. i'll have to look into this more through google i guess as far as how the system works, maybe i'm missing something somewhere else. Time to break out the wiring diagrams.

[PXLpainter]

Solution: Don't turn on your rear defroster.

[[SMAN]]

Solution: Don't turn on your rear defroster.

Not really an option in here in the north, but thanks for trying

[Ruski]

you dont have to run the antenna all the way to the back. you can put it where ever most cars ive seen it on they have it behind their rear view mirror

[[SMAN]]

you dont have to run the antenna all the way to the back. you can put it where ever most cars ive seen it on they have it behind their rear view mirror

I understand that. It is where i put the last one, but i'm going for a very clean look. I didn't even mount the GPS or Sirius antennas where you could see them, so i'm not gonna run a new antenna. There has got to be another way to fix this.

[theprodigy79]

It sounds like it could be a bad ground somewhere, or possibly a bad diode or relay causing feedback (I haven't looked at a wiring diagram in a while, so I'm not sure where to start with that).

[[SMAN]]

Ok, so after doing a bit of reasearch and reading online, Other people that have had this problem seem to attribute it to the break in the heater trace on the window. So i thought i'd take a stab at trying to repair it. was reading this link ( http://autorepair.about.com/cs/doityour ... 302a_3.htm ) on how to repair it. I was just wondering if anyone has done this before and what their experiences were.

[[SMAN]]

Well, i used the $10 kit from CAP and it seems to have worked. I had a 2mm break in driverside lower bar 4. The kit is just a silver epoxy (same stuff i use to ground out heatsinks) and you just tape off the area and apply. It's very odd that this little break would cause such problems with the fm radio, but atleast it wasn't anything major.

[Sebas007]

Good writing...I didn't know where was the FM antenna !