2005 Elantra - AM radio interference

Sure, but it needs to be extended to work best. Otherwise, they wouldn't have made it 54" long. It would be somewhat pointless to spend the money for an improved antenna, then not use it in the optimum manner.

Reply to
Brian Nystrom
Loading thread data ...

"Brian Nystrom" wrote: > chipsi wrote: > > "Brian Nystrom" wrote: >  > > chipsi wrote: >  > > >   > > > has anyone tried th ccrane company?s am > radio antenna >  > > product that is >   > > > suppose to enhance am radio reception to > help the weak am >  > > reception on >   > > > the elantra. My new elantra?s reception is > awful and Hyundai >  > > says they >   > > > can?t do anythink about it. The c crane co. > internet site >  > > sells the >   > > > antenna for $35. I assume a new antenna > couldn?t affect any >  > > Hyundai >   > > > warranties. >  > > >  > > I don't think I want a 54" whip on my car. > > > > crane says its am antenna is 24 inches collapsed and expands > to 54 in. > > Sure, but it needs to be extended to work best. Otherwise, > they wouldn't > have made it 54" long. It would be somewhat pointless to spend > the money > for an improved antenna, then not use it in the optimum > manner.

I have a 2005 Elantra GT Hatchback, Automatic and had terrible AM reception on 550AM near Cincinnati, Ohio (AM1290 in Dayton was always ok). I have the whip antenna (not a window antenna and not an electric antenna). I too noticed interference related to the onboard computers, alternator, etc. Never did figure out exactly what caused it.

I replaced the factory radio with a Pioneer DEH-P3700MP and don?t have the feedback type of problems any more and the signal to noise ratio is much better. It is still AM radio so it isn?t crystal clear everywhere but at least I can listen to it without the noise drowning out the broadcast. Before I replaced the radio I took the car in to a dealer to have them inspect all of the grounding and antenna cabling to make sure there weren?t any issues. Not only is my AM reception drastically better but I can play MP3 or WMA cds in the car too with this radio (an MP3 cd will hold the same number of songs as 10 or 11 normal cds).

I hope this information is helpful to those of you who, like myself, searched the web but never saw anyone post something that definitively stated that a new radio helped the AM reception problem. I went ahead and bought a new radio anyway, even though I wasn?t sure it would help, because the noise level was so high I just couldn?t take it anymore.

Don?t know if it matters and/or helped or hindered my results (in theory it should be better), but I soldered all of my wiring connections rather than twisting the wires and crimping them.

If you do it yourself and haven?t ever done a car radio replacement before, I would highly recommend using the resources available at

formatting link
(clicking What Fits My Car? on the left side of the main page is a good place to start) to get a feel for what it takes. On the Elantra you have to pull out your dash panel to replace the radio and if you buy a stereo from them they will send detailed instructions on what it takes to do the install. They have movies and general information available on the web site whether you buy from them or not. If you don?t buy from crutchfield go to
formatting link
register, and one of the sections there had instructions and pictures for pulling out the dash panel and radio.

If you choose to solder, Radio Shack has an assortment pack of heat shrink tubing sizes for $2.39 - better than wrapping with electrical tape which will over time dry up and fall off leaving exposed wiring. You don?t need a heat gun to shrink the tubing, a lighter will do it - just be careful (don?t let the flame touch the tubing) - and don?t forget to slip the tubing over one of the wires before you solder them together.

The factory ground wire is not screwed down anywhere under the dash. If your new radio?s wiring harness has a connector on the end of the ground wire just cut off the connector and treat the ground wire the same as you do all of the other wiring.

A couple of other things I learned that weren?t in any instructions - move your gear shift lever as far down as you can before you start (with the automatic I had to leave the key in the ignition and then shifted to Low gear - fortunately it worked even though the negative battery terminal was already unplugged and the dash was pulled loose before I figured out that it needed to be done). This gets it out of the way for when you want to completely remove the dash panel.

When you remove the dash panel start at the left hand side of the dash panel and gradually work your way over to the middle alternating the prying between opposite sides of the panel - theoretically you can use a screwdriver to (very carefully!) pry out the panel but I opted for an upholstery panel tool (has a bend in it that made it easier to pull the panel without mucking it up) that I bought at Advance Auto Parts for $5 and change. It was metal but I would have purchased something made out of plastic if they had something like that. No matter what tool you use take it easy and go slow (you have to take out 4 screws before you start pulling the panel so don?t forget that either - see crutchfield or hmaservice.com for detailed information).

I am happy with the improvement I?ve gotten with the Pioneer DEH-P3700MP (crutchfield included the dash installation kit, wiring harness, excellent instructions specific to my car, and shipping for free with this radio too so it was a pretty good deal) and being able to play MP3 cds is a feature I planned to eventually upgrade to anyway. The only extras I bought were the heat shrink tubing at Radio Shack and an upholstery panel removal tool at an auto parts store. Another thing to pay attention to at crutchfield is that they have minimum price to get the harness, dash kit, and shipping for free

- if I had gone down to the next cheaper Pioneer I think I would have ended up paying the same amount of money and gotten a lesser model so you have to pay attention when you are shopping. When I bought it it was on sale and was $15 cheaper than Best Buy, Circuit City and those places make you pay for the harnesses and kits in addition to the radio but they do install it for free if you don?t want to do it yourself.

I chose the Pioneer because of the tuner specs and anti-feedback circuitry they include, and since I wasn?t sure it was going to make any difference I maximized everything tuner-wise to hope for the best. Now that I know that replacing the radio made a big difference in my particular case, I would imagine that just about any reputable aftermarket radio will give better results than the Hyundai factory radios do.

Reply to
LebanonOz

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.