AM radio reception bad 99 Jetta TDI

A lot of people have had problems with the antenna. It seems most have to do with getting proper ground and good connections. I have not had any problem myself.

||I had really poor reception on the factory cassette so I figured it ||was time to get anew Stereo/CD/MP3 player. Everything works just ||great but now inseatd of the noise I was used to on the AM band, I get ||nothing, not even station pickup, unless I am near a utility pole or ||something that used to improve reception. Is that typical of VW or do ||I have something wrong with my antenna?

Our 2000 NB has the same problem. I've heard it is a defective antenna cable. The dealer would not/could not fix it under warranty. Texas Parts Guy

Your problem now is caused by the amplifier in the antenna base not having power. There is supposed to be +12 volts on the center lead powering the amp in the base. Many "new" Jetta owners including myself have reception problems. I read there's a pigtail thing you can use at the head unit to provide power to the amp.

JoBo

I had a lot of crackling and insensitivity develop, and I am in a strong-signal area. Getting under the headliner and tightening the big antenna nut under the roof cured the problems. I gave it about

That access is most probably easer on my hatchback than on your Jetta.

||In rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled, Mike Smith wrote: || ||>I had really poor reception on the factory cassette so I figured it ||>was time to get anew Stereo/CD/MP3 player. Everything works just ||>great but now inseatd of the noise I was used to on the AM band, I get ||>nothing, not even station pickup, unless I am near a utility pole or ||>something that used to improve reception. Is that typical of VW or do ||>I have something wrong with my antenna? || ||I had a lot of crackling and insensitivity develop, and I am in a ||strong-signal area. Getting under the headliner and tightening the ||big antenna nut under the roof cured the problems. I gave it about ||1/4 turn. || ||That access is most probably easer on my hatchback than on your ||Jetta.

How does one get under the headliner?

Texas Parts Guy

While I could tell you how I did it for my hatchback, somebody else, I hope, will be able to tell you how to do so on the Jetta. Even then, short of removing the liner, I envision things being done by touch and contortion after removing the trim at the rear of the headliner.

Let me offer an idea for troubleshooting to see if my nut-tightening would be potentially productive if you do succede with it.

If you pull the antenna connection from the radio, you could measure the resistance between the shield part of the cable connector to a good chassis ground. I would expect it to be under a few ohms normally. If the resistance is much higher, that would correspond to what I expect I would have seen before nut-tightening.

The thing I think I cured would be a combination of slight deformtion of the roof metal over time plus some oxidation at the point of electrical contact. So the ohmmeter would show a high resistance.

The easiest way to get that antenna wire out is probably to pull the radio loose from the dash. That is not as hard as it sounds if they use the same locking method that older cars used. But again, I would want to defer to those who know that vintage better also.

||In rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled, rex@@txol.net (Rex B) wrote: || ||>On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 17:02:26 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@mail.please(Tom's VR6) wrote: ||>

||>||In rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled, Mike Smith wrote: ||>|| ||>||>I had really poor reception on the factory cassette so I figured it ||>||>was time to get anew Stereo/CD/MP3 player. Everything works just ||>||>great but now inseatd of the noise I was used to on the AM band, I get ||>||>nothing, not even station pickup, unless I am near a utility pole or ||>||>something that used to improve reception. Is that typical of VW or do ||>||>I have something wrong with my antenna? ||>|| ||>||I had a lot of crackling and insensitivity develop, and I am in a ||>||strong-signal area. Getting under the headliner and tightening the ||>||big antenna nut under the roof cured the problems. I gave it about ||>||1/4 turn. ||>|| ||>||That access is most probably easer on my hatchback than on your ||>||Jetta. ||>

||>How does one get under the headliner? || ||While I could tell you how I did it for my hatchback, somebody else, ||I hope, will be able to tell you how to do so on the Jetta.

In my case, it's a Beetle

||Let me offer an idea for troubleshooting to see if my nut-tightening ||would be potentially productive if you do succede with it. || ||If you pull the antenna connection from the radio, you could measure ||the resistance between the shield part of the cable connector to a ||good chassis ground. I would expect it to be under a few ohms ||normally. If the resistance is much higher, that would correspond to ||what I expect I would have seen before nut-tightening. || ||The thing I think I cured would be a combination of slight ||deformtion of the roof metal over time plus some oxidation at the ||point of electrical contact. So the ohmmeter would show a high ||resistance.

Ours never worked on AM from Day 1, and the dealer tried twice to fix it, but they were clueless.

Thanks for the tips Texas Parts Guy

That would not seem to be likely to correspond to what I had. The nut-tightening was for a system that had worked fine, but became insensitive/noisy with age.

I remember another thing that could be useful before an attempt at nut tightening; wiggling the antenna base while listening to an AM signal would make the signal get better temporarily. I don't want to indicate that what I did will help a lot of other symptoms.

Interesting. The AM side of my radio quit in my 2003 Jetta TDI. It is still under warranty so the dealer is going to try to fix it without cost to me, but based on what I see on this NG I might have to lower my expectations.

I hope what I posted is not causing you to think that.

The radio was not a problem. The amplified antenna was after about 8 years, but was fairly easily fixed. I also replaced the rubber whip in about the same timeframe. It was visibly fractured.

I was wondering, myself, about that description of a dealer not being able to get the radio working under warrantee-- sounds incredible. Don't worry.

||Interesting. The AM side of my radio quit in my 2003 Jetta TDI. It is still ||under warranty so the dealer is going to try to fix it without cost to me, ||but based on what I see on this NG I might have to lower my expectations.

I just learned not to drive the Beetle when there is an AM talk show on that I enjoy. Texas Parts Guy

Well, thanks to everyone for their input. I have been on vacation and getting caught up with work since I first posted. I will check out a few things. Replacing the antenna isn't out of the question but if I am going to do that, I'll have the headliner open enough to check the nut furst. The antenna looks old and I imagine that automatic car washes and stuff may damage such a setup. I just bought the car so I don't know its history other than it appears to have been well maintained.

Thanks

Mike

Interesting. The AM side of my radio in a 2003 Jetta started to work only intermittently. I took it to the dealer who did not blink an eyelash and said the new one would be available in about a week or so. I am to have it installed next week. Apparently this is not an isolated problem.

Tom