96 LC Antenna Issue (Not up/down or mast) (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Nov 9, 2012
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24
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14,667
Location
Olathe, KS, USA
My 96 LC started recently and suddenly having an issue that I could not find described in over 200 threads I searched on here.

When I'm driving, listening to the radio, when I hit a bump (bump can be small or large), the radio will go silent, as if it was turned off. I still have power to the radio. It still shows the station I am on.

The mast goes up and down as it should.
I replaced the mast itself about 1-1/2 years ago and it has been working fine.
I had not done any work under the dash or hood when this problem surfaced.

The REALLY weird part is the if I just bump the antenna up/down switch, the radio comes right back as if nothing is wrong. It doesn't matter if I touch the up or down side, just a quick bump and it's back, until I hit another qualifying bump.

This weekend, I replaced my head unit (I was planning on this anyway) and full expected to find the antenna wire hanging out of the head unit. It was fine. So, I also thought that maybe replacing the head unit and resetting all the wires and messing with the connections, it would go away.

I checked the actual antenna and where it attaches to the fender and it is still very tight and secure, so it's not loose and flopping.

The problem still persists.

Driving along, the radio just goes silent. I bump the antenna up/down switch and it comes back until I hit another bump.

Where should I be looking on this? It is definitely antenna related, as I was playing my Bluetooth music to the new head unit and it didn't miss a beat.

Any help or comments would be appreciated.
 
I would suspect the connection on the side of the lower antenna mount where the coax is attached....or the ground connection at the fender but that failure would still yield some signal.
 
Next time it fails try banging on the antenna motor assembly. I believe that connection is just a friction joint between the center of the coax and the collapsible antenna. Its a sealed connection that would be tough to repair. Maybe some contact cleaner on the mast would do it.
 
Next time it fails try banging on the antenna motor assembly. I believe that connection is just a friction joint between the center of the coax and the collapsible antenna. Its a sealed connection that would be tough to repair. Maybe some contact cleaner on the mast would do it.
Or conductive grease.
 
Well, I have an update.
Yesterday I did not experience the loss of signal while using my Bluetooth music. This morning I did.

This changes where I need to look for the problem. I'm thinking now it may be the output wires to the speakers. I don't know if the wiring harness goes to the factory amp or not because I didn't do that part.

i may end up pulling the radio again to chase all the wires.

i have used percussive maintenance on the dash, antenna, radio, and fender and I cannot make it start or stop doing that.

I even tried hitting more bumps to see if it would reconnect with the right guy combination. No luck yet.

The radio is not losing power, but it won't come back until I touch the antenna button.
 
I think the 96 has auto up and down (two connectors on the motor assembly)? The purple wire on pin 8 of R1 (a 15 pin connector at the radio) is the only connection between the OEM radio and the Auto antenna ECU (which the up/down buttons connect to). Im looking at a 97 LX diagram. If you have the older antenna motor with one connector then my info is not relevant.
 
I think the 96 has auto up and down (two connectors on the motor assembly)? The purple wire on pin 8 of R1 (a 15 pin connector at the radio) is the only connection between the OEM radio and the Auto antenna ECU (which the up/down buttons connect to). Im looking at a 97 LX diagram. If you have the older antenna motor with one connector then my info is not relevant.
Mine does not have the auto up feature. I also confirmed that the Blue wire with white stripe from the radio that triggers auto up is NOT connected, so all should be good there.

I'm not understanding why the bump in the antenna would "fix" a disconnection with the output unless it's a ground wire loss or something along that line.
 
Yes...that baffles me too. Just to be clear...your antenna motor only has one connector? And what radio are you using? And...do the up and down buttons work by running the antenna as long as you hold one down? Or do you only have to touch one and the antenna goes completely up or down?

From what I can tell, the older rigs with the true manual buttons control the 12 volts directly to the antenna motor and the newer rigs (maybe just the 97 and LX) have different buttons that just signal the auto antenna ECU which then will run the antenna all the way up or down with just a touch of a button.
 
Another thought....the OEM LX radio has a mute feature for when the cellular phone is in use. Could your radio be muting?
 
Another thought....the OEM LX radio has a mute feature for when the cellular phone is in use. Could your radio be muting?
Mine has two buttons for the antenna. Push and hold one or the other for up/down. This has worked and continues to work for the antenna mast.

Yes, the radio has auto mute, but this is definitely not the issue. It was doing this on the other head unit that did not have a phone connection.
It seems to occur most frequently when I accelerate from a light. This indicates to me a wire, but doesn't make sense why pushing an antenna button fixes it.

Good thoughts though. Keep the ideas coming.
 
I found a 96 EWD. The CIG circuit is common to the antenna motor and the radio. Maybe the bump in current draw when you use the motor is enough to change something else? Try punching in the cigarette lighter instead of the antenna buttons.... The OEM amp shows a MUTE connection. I wonder when/why it mutes since there is no oem phone?
 
I found a 96 EWD. The CIG circuit is common to the antenna motor and the radio. Maybe the bump in current draw when you use the motor is enough to change something else? Try punching in the cigarette lighter instead of the antenna buttons.... The OEM amp shows a MUTE connection. I wonder when/why it mutes since there is no oem phone?
What page are you seeing that info so I can go directly to it?

I'll start digging in there.
 
Another thing that may or may not be related:

I installed LED backup lights some time back. I by chance discovered that when I put the truck in reverse, the radio signal would be last from the antenna because it would go to static. For the life of me, I couldn't understand how this could happen. Fast forward a couple years of this condition and the mast on my antenna finally broke. In the process of replacing the mast, I discovered that the body of the antenna was not bolted to the fender and was literally hanging from the antenna nut at the fender. This is due an accident the PO had and the piss-poor body shop "repaired".

When I was done, I discovered the reverse-loss of signal had gone away because the antenna was now grounded.

I suppose I need to check my ground wires in various places.

However, no changes had taken place when this new issue started occurring. Things had been working great for 1-1/2 years.
 
Some LED lights are radio killers even with a properly installed antenna.
1996 EWD....Antenna: page 117 Radio: page 156.
 
I think you may be on to something with the bad ground idea. The radio/amp is powered by the RADIO fuse and also the CIG fuse circuits. Im not sure of what each do.....It looks like the RADIO fuse would be the main power which explains the radio staying ON. I wonder if pulling the CIG fuse would cause the same symptom of no sound but power still ON? If so, it DOES explain why the current bump of using the antenna switch (also on CIG circuit) restores a corroded ground point.
 
I was looking for antenna threads to help out someone else and I found this one and discovered I had not followed up any more.

I have not had the issue again in the last 1-1/2 years since I posted this thread.

I don't know what I did to fix it. I have had no further antenna issues and I have not had any ground wire issues that I've knowingly located.

I'm pretty sure I have overall ground cable issues due to a headlight brightness issue I've been experiencing, but I had not encountered the bad ground location. I have looked for them and unscrewed a couple, with no new results and not fixing anything.

So, still no news and no fix.
 

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