Hi... can anyone adivise the easiest way to access the antenna splitter in a
97 E320.. per the dealer, that's most liklely the cause of poor reception.. all else is fine, I've checked (back of radio, etc).. and to confirm, a whack on the rear driver side pillar fixes the problem.. (dealer told me that's a quick way to tell if it's loose...)S/b easy ... right??
There is no easy way to access the antenna pre-amplifier (it is not a splitter). You have to remove rear seats and rear driver side pillar upholstery. Poor reception is caused by faulty design of the pre-amplifier. Cooper pc board connected to the aluminum chassis of the pre-amplifier with cooper pin inserted to aluminum causes electrolysis and corrosion, therefore a bad connection. When you get pre-amplifier out, do not replace it. Just repair it. Get soldering iron, solder a piece of a stranded wire into the ground part (connected to aluminum chassis) of the cooper pc board, pull wire out of the pre-amplifier, solder the outside end of the wire and install it under the nut holding the pre-amplifier. The problem will never reoccur. Good luck.
reception..
My 2000 E320 recently developed poor reception just on AM. Is the amp in the same place on this car? FM and WX channels seem OK. No new electronics or anything added. No car accessory seems to have any effect (like turning off the heater fan etc...)
Bob
Same happened recently with my '01 C200K. Not sure what they did, but dealer fixed it without drama.
Neil UK
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