Antenna and Engine Bay Question

[LiftdT4R]

Hey guys, still tinkering with my '03 EV. I had a broken factory antenna that got ok reception so I decided to change it out. I bought an antenna from Amazon, hooked it all up and got absolutely no reception. I returned it and bought one from Go Westy. Come to find out, it is the exact same antenna I got from Amazon. The quality does not look like factory but I know the factory antenna is discontinued. Same deal, I hooked it all up and no reception on my radio at all. I tried playing around with the connections and making sure they were all tight. I'm very frustrated and I'm not sure if these antennas are just lousy or maybe I have another problem with my van I've included a pic of the a antenna below.

Also, before I got this van I believe a squirrel was living in the ?heat shield? of the engine bay. There's also water leaking into the engine bay from somewhere too. I couldn't find this cloth piece on the VW parts diagram. Is it still available or can I just ditch it? Thanks guys!

[Zeitgeist 13]

I think the antenna gets its ground circuit through that diagonal piece under the mast section, so you should make sure that surface on the body doesn't have rust or other impediments to a ground pathway.

You can ditch the sound deadening pad; I did.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[LiftdT4R]

Thanks dude!!!! That must be my issue because the van sat for so long and there is gunk everywhere. Can I wrap a wire around this and run it down to the negative on the battery? I'm guessing that would accomplish the same thing.

[Zeitgeist 13]

Maybe temporarily, but that's probably not a good long term solution
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[postjosh]

i might be wrong about this but...

i don't think the antenna needs ground. the issue might be the connector between the antenna and the radio. i believe that the antenna uses a non-standard connector that only works on the oem radio. you need an adapter to make contact with third party head units.
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'93 EV Wkndr – 5 cylinder – 5 speed - 280k+ miles

[LiftdT4R]

Thanks for the info. I tried grounding the new antenna with no luck. I have the stock radio. I tried cleaning the inside of the fender as well but no luck. My stock one works ok, this new one, not at all. It's the 2nd one I've had this style so I'm thinking my issue is something other than the antenna.

I also checked continuity through the antenna and to ground. I have 0 ohms from the co-ax connector to the antenna body, and 0 ohms from the antenna body to batt negative when installed.

I yanked the radio and I also have 0 ohms between the antenna and ground. Essentially the antenna is one big loop to ground by my resistance readings. Maybe my radio has given up the ghost? I'm wanting to add a bluetooth/USB stereo anyway so I might give that a go as my next troubleshooting step.

[postjosh]

a few things things...

if you aren't getting anything at all, i would think it's a problem with the radio. if you live anywhere near a city even a paperclip jammed in the antenna hole should be enough to get something. if you saved the original antenna obviously wiring that up would be a good test.

everyone has opinions about head units but i'll let you know my plan. i don't want a touch screen or a 2 space din unit. i want to stick to the 1 din size of the stock radio in my 1993. i currently have an ok alpine unit but i want better iphone integration, hands free microphone connectivity and hd radio for better reception. i'm planning on going with this one from kenwood because it has all those features plus it doesn't have a cd and uses the extra space to have a bigger display.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KMX503/Kenwood-Excelon-KMM-X503.html
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'93 EV Wkndr – 5 cylinder – 5 speed - 280k+ miles