Radio antenna cable
 

My '90 ZR-1 has had the entire Bose system rebuilt - HU, CDM, all 4 speaker amps, and has been working fine until recently when the radio reception became poor and scratchy in sound quality. Cassettes and CDs play clear and distinct, but the radio sounds like the antenna is bad or the connection is bad. I would like to temporarily hook up another antenna or clean the existing connectors but I do not want to take out the CDM again (have already done that 3 times) to reach the antenna connector in the right hand corner and I am sure that connection is clean.
I thought there was a connection from the radio cable to the antenna connection underneath the left rear quarter panel but I cannot see it after removing the black plastic trim piece below the rear window. Is there something else or more that needs to be removed to see in there, is there another connection I can get to in there, or does the antenna cable just end at the antenna itself where it is screwed into the side of the antenna?
I can't find much help in the FSM or EDSM, or for that matter, Google or YouTube, so I'm asking the experts here for assistance.

Re: Radio antenna cable
 

Remove the left rear external trim panel that you had removed, then remove the guide trim for the cargo shade that sits under the trim panel and dig around behind the foam insulation. You will find a connection point for the antenna lead where it simply unplugs (roughly halfway along the trim you just removed).
I did this a few weeks ago but amazingly I don't seem to have taken photos while doing it.

Re: Radio antenna cable
 

Attachment 17969


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Re: Radio antenna cable
 

Just tucked in beneath the trim panels above the left rear speaker


Sent from my iPad using ZR-1 Net Registry

Re: Radio antenna cable
 

Thanks for that. I'll go look again. I thought it was way back under the rear deck.

Re: Radio antenna cable
 

Dumb question.. have you replaced your exterior light with LEDs or did you do LED headlights? If so, what brand ones did you use?

Re: Radio antenna cable
 

No, I have replaced the underhood lights and the reverse lights with LEDs, not headlights or any others.

Re: Radio antenna cable
 

AndrewL and Richarde - question about the ends of the antenna leads.
Does the end of the antenna cable coming from the CDM have a male or female end?
Does the end of the cable coming from the antenna itself have a male or female end?
In pictures of both of these it seem like the cable ends are both male and that means there has to be a female-female connector between them in that location.
Is that true? Or is one of these male and the other female?
The reason I was asking is that I was thinking of inserting an antenna signal booster in there and wiring up the power to the antenna relay so that it would only be powered on when the the radio was on and the antenna was up.
Thanks.

Re: Radio antenna cable
 

Found it, dug it out.
FYI, the end of the antenna cable coming from the CDM has a male connector, the cable coming from the antenna has a female end.
So if I put in a signal booster I probably have to cut off and reverse the connectors to insert it in the line, unless it is not unidirectional in how it works.

Re: Radio antenna cable
 

Your problem probably isn't the antenna. When you R/I's your CDM for repair did you look at the male end to the CDM under the passenger dash? That connector is a weak point in the system. Also, and not really in the FSM, the harness to the CDM has "Bose drain" lines running parallel to the speaker/power harness. If any of those wires (clear looms with visible wires) are broken it will allow static into the radio reception. Very very little on this in the FSM. A signal amplifier will likely make it worse. I recommend you check those connection and possibly adding the antenna ground harness from a 93+ car (not 100% sure on the year the ground harness was added).