Hi, we have recently replaced our mk 2.5 with a Venture Edition mk 3.5. The Sat Nav Unit seems to work well, but we are disappointed with the radio reception. Even with AT on, it loses reception, and where we live it hardly picks up any stations using autostore. This is comparison with two other cars we have which don’t seem to suffer from this problem. Are there any tips on what to check on the aerial side? Don’t really want to change the standard fixed aerial, and searching around I’m not seeing lots of complaints about this on the forum or web generally?
Check the co-ax cable at both ends, are the connections O/K? Any sign of damage to the cable at all? Has the plug at the radio end of the cable worked loose? AS you say, not a normal complaint so you need to check what you can.
The boot is easy, take the lining off where the aerial is. The fastenings are push in, so you need to pull the plug out. Under the dash? - Sorry, not looked under an NC dash, so don’t know how difficult it is to get to the connector, so I can only suggest a good flashlight and a feel for the thicker cable. It may be impossible, so the only other suggestion I can make is pull the radio out - if you can, they usually need a special tool for this though, and I can’t help you there either. Worse case - see a dealer, or if we knew where you are, a trusted local garage. The radio itself may be faulty, though again, that’s unusual, they are pretty reliable these days. If you can determine that the aerial cable is fine, then the radio becomes suspect, but you’ll cross that bridge if you have to.
You need to edit your profile, and enter in LOCATION roughly where you are, nearest town, city or which county, and if we know of a good garage we can suggest one.
thanks Gerryn, we’ll have a go. We are in Herefordshire. The car is new to us, from a Mazda dealer, so we’ll go back there if we can’t easily find the solution ourselves (the garage is 1 1/2 hrs away!).
I’ve seen some instructions online for removing the radio/sat nav, doesn’t look too scary, but I’ll start with the boot!
cheers
John
John - is your online name just picked out the air - or have you had them fitted? Reason I ask is if they were fitted prior to buying the car, then this could have disturbed the connection to the Aerial at either end. Depends which way the wiring goes.
The NC also has an rf amplifier sitting on the bottom of the aerial. If this is missing its power (blue wire, enabled when the radio is switched on) or a proper ground wire (black or a braid strap or a bolt to the bodywork) then this can also be the problem as well as the damaged or loose co-ax.
The aerial amp is only tuned for am and fm so will not pass the higher frequency band for DAB.
Hi Gerryn, that’s a mistake by me! But I can’t seem to see how to correct it in my profile - I’m a new member!
Coincidently, the car appears to have factory fitted reversing sensors, but they aren’t working! I wonder if I need to strip out the lining in the boot and have a look at the wiring there for both!
BTW, do you know how i change my online name? thanks
Changing your online name is a question that came up recently! You need to contact a Moderator, or an administrator, best place is near the bottom of the main page, where it says ‘Website Queries’ and tell them your preferred name. You can’t do this yourself unfortunately. Main reason seems to be to stop people making abusive comments or threats, and then changing their name - daft thing is, the name change is global, i.e. it goes on every post back and forward in time!
For Location, go to ‘My Profile’ and click on it, On the left hand side, you’ll see a drop down menu, go to ‘Person Profile’ and scroll down to ‘Edit Profile’ click on that. Now there are various things to fill in, but disregard them if you don’t wish to reveal everything about yourself. See where it says ‘Location’ and ‘Where do you live’? enter your approximate location on there, and then scroll down the page to SAVE - click on that, and your location should appear on all your posts, including those on this thread. There are other things you can fill in, but some of us don’t bother - me included.
To make life easy, when I’m trying to follow online instructions, I load the forum twice, you will be logged in to both, so I can flip from instructions to do them, and revert as many times as i want. I’ve done this to describe How to do it, as remembering the steps isn’t easy to an oldie like me!
Oh, and check what Richard said as well, I wasn’t aware of that amplifier, presumably because the NC has a short stubby, unlike the longer aerial fitted to previous models.
If it’s the AVN2 unit that you have, I’ve seen one before where the aerial amplifier wasn’t wired correctly from new, giving similar symptoms to those you are describin. The wire was in the wrong position in the patch lead between the head unit and the vehicle wiring harness.
Hi Roadster Robbie, I wonder what I need to look for to know what should be where? Presumably what you describe will require me to remove the unit from the dash?
thanks
Yes, from memory there is a blue wire in one of the block connectors with nothing connected to it. I’d take it to a dealership if it’s still in warranty.
try first just unscrewing the Ariel off its base and check the screw connection is clean ...might work , mine came loose once and had a similar effect as you describe!
On a separate note, I’ve been trying to resolve why the rear parking sensors aren’t working either! Having got the rear boot liners out, I’ve visually checked the box, sounder and cables between and can’t see a problem. I’ve also checked that there is power to the reverse light and that seems okay? If anyone has thoughts on that, gratefully received!
I also have a slightly confusing cable next to the boot lid hinge on the kerb side:
there is a sort of blanking piece inserted into the end of the piece hanging of the boot lid, and this corresponds with the male end hanging in teh boot (red and yellow in the pic). It seems odd as the bit hanging off the boot lid looks like it will get trapped in the boot rubber sometimes.
H’mm - looks like a DIY project gone wrong to me, some of that wiring looks additional to OEM, I’d describe it as an unholy mess. Definitely beyond your scope I’m afraid, take it to the dealer, or a good local auto electrical mechanic. With no drawings, it will take some time to figure it out, unless Robbie recognizes the wiring as standard, and can supply an answer.
the parking sensor wiring does make sense to me - a live fed from the reversing light, with earth to body, then a cable connecting the controller to the sounder, and finally four connections between the sensors and the controller. Looks messy because whoever fitted it has bundled up the excess cable from the sensors. Why it doesn’t work, however…!?
O/K, point taken.
However, another thing - that photo inside the boot lid, and the socket hanging down with what looks like a dummy plug stuck in it - There’s what appears to be a grey and grey/white wire leading to it, any sign of the other end of these wires in the boot? Or - do they lead back into the car body? - If no sign of them in the boot, then they must be from inside the car.It looks like someone pulled the cover back, yanked out these two wires (with or without the plug?) so they could access them at this point - not the best way to do it I would add.
That’s strange, because the red/yellow plug hanging down also seems to be leading from inside the car, so what’s that all about? (Not asking you - just thinking out loud!)
I get the impression these two should be together - plugged into each other, but they are also too short, to allow the boot lid to open to it’s full extent, so have they come apart, or been left that way for some unknown reason? A dummy plug (or socket) plugged in would - to me - indicate a live circuit, but that’s just my impression, who knows why?
For safety reasons, a manufacturer will always connect a live feed to a socket, and the dead circuit that follows into a matching plug, so which is which in the photo?
