I had my windshield resealed at a local shop. They did a great job and the radio worked fine however about 2 weeks later, i switched on the radio to find horrible reception. Once strong stations seem as though they are now states away and i cant listen to anything but static. Reaching up under the dash with the car parked, and the radio on, i can move the antenna wire around and it affects reception to where i get fleeting bits of music, or talk. Its acting like a radio with a broke antenna lead, but I cant see up into the dash far enough from underneath to see how the antenna connects to the windshield. What could have broken up there? Hopefully it didn't break where if connects to the glass. I know i could listen to music other ways, but I'm old school, and here in south Jersey there are tons of great stations to listen to, so it stinks not being able to tune in. Thanks for any help you guys have!

 

The antenna could be disconnected at the back of the radio. If you remove the radio you'll see the antenna connector. Hopefully it isn't damaged where it connects to the antenna in the windshield.

 

^^x2^^
Good call, Jesse. Hopefully it's that simple. Good chance they forgot to re-connect antenna cable to radio. Fingers crossed that's it.

 

^^^^^this.

 

Does it happen on Am or Fm or both?

 

Unfortunately for me, the antenna is firmly coupled to the connector on the back of the radio. Its never the easy thing of course. I get the same result on both AM and FM....static. This radio is a retro sound unit, which worked great for the last 2 years. I had wondered if something could have failed internally. I plan to check that with a cheap parts store mast antenna that i have somewhere (as soon as i find it). If i connect the stand alone antenna and point it out the window and i get reception, i can rule out the radio as the problem. If i can do that, would that point to a broken wire up there by the glass? If that's the case, is that fixable without removing the windshield (or fixable at all?) Maybe i should just say screw it and get an amplified antenna that i can hide in a fender. Either way, thanks in advance guys.

 

Do you still have the OE radio? If so, I'd swap that one and see if it's the aftermarket radio.

 

That's true, that may be easier. The OE one is sitting right next to me on the shelf. Ill try that Saturday and hopefully it works. The only trouble with the OE unit is the tone control is failing, and tends to jump between low and high tone no matter what setting its in. It cant be re installed until i find someone who can fix it, but It could help rule out the antenna.

 

What does this mean?
Was the windshield removed for this “resealing” procedure?
If so, the antenna wires coming from the windshield may be broken, or maybe not plugged back into the cable going to the radio.

 

Let us know what happened at the windshield shop. Also, if the OE radio gets good reception you know the aftermarket radio might be on the way out.

 

Remove the trim at the bottom of the windshield - just stop the wipers on the windshield and it's 6 screws or so. The antenna connector comes out of the glass as two small wires into a barrel connector that plugs into the extension. The extension bolts to the cowl and runs about 12" or so to the male connector that plugs into the back of the radio. Make certain the wires are still in good shape and the connector is seated into the extension.
Usually a shop will tape the connector to the windshield before removing it from the car. They could have caught a wire while cutting the sealant.

 

Here's a picture of the antenna connection that I found in an old post:


https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...shield-149401/

 

Hey guys, first off I'm sorry for not stating what car I'm working on, its my 77 Cutlass sedan. The shop removed the glass, reapplied the sealant and put the glass back in. I checked the OE radio and it gets the same bad reception. I have yet to remove the trim and look at the wires, that will be my next step. The picture above is for a 70, would it be the same, or similar on a 77? Thanks for all the help guys.

 

So the wires at the base of the windshield had corroded so badly that they snapped. I may be able to try to reconnect them, but its not much wire to work with. I think I'm going to just install another antenna somewhere.

 

That's a bummer. Let us know how the aftermarket antenna install goes.

 

I had that happen on a car years ago. I removed the corroded wire(s) - cut/ripped them out, cleaned the area well, installed some new wire & it worked fine. IIRC I think I used some of that clear/translucent fiber tape (the type Magilla Gorilla can't remove) to re-attach where the wire(s) met the windshield. Took a little ingenuity but worked. Good Luck.

 

Hey anything is worth a try. I'm going to work on it in a few minutes, ill let you know how it goes.

 

Good luck w/ it. As Kenneth demonstrated in Post12 that wire which attaches to the windshield antenna as I recall is super small & skinny. As I recall there wasn't enough room to work for a butt splice and terribly cumbersome to just work on while on the car. I do recall I used some really fine wire (maybe even a couple tiny thin wires), and I tried at first (I'm going off memory here now) w/ some super glue thinking that would work to hold the wire(s) together - it didn't. Then, I came up w/ this notion of using several pieces/strips of that clear/translucent fiber tape - the kind with the really really tough fiber woven into the tape. That did the trick & held up nicely. Adhered to the windshield steadfast and held the wire(s) in place. I think the key was the wire(s) had to be so tiny otherwise they interfered w/ the windshield/cowl trim as I recall. Good Luck!

 

Ok, so after farting around with this for about an hour, I'm realizing its not going to work with mine. the wires are corroded all the way up to the windshield so there is no good connection to be had. I'm still thinking about a work around. I know i can get an antenna to put in the windshield, but i am thinking about a retractable mast. There really is no replacement for a good mast antenna in terms of reception. Either that or i thought about running a flexible wire antenna inside the hood, but i would get crappy signal. anyone install a retractable mast antenna on a 73-77 and end up happy with how it looks?

 

You are correct that the horizontal windshield antenna is inferior to a 30” vertical mast antenna. I recall my RF communications professor in college had words about that. You might be able to find a magnet mount antenna to put wherever you want.

 

That's too bad. You can't scrape the old wires off and lay new wires up to the good wires on the windshield and secure the new wires to the windshield wire(s) with that tape, eh? Like creating a bridge more or less. Bummer. Sorry, can't offer any help on a mast antenna for your car.
Have you looked into some of the modern hidden/replacement antennas? They generally work pretty well. It can sometimes be hit or miss w/ them, but in general they work rather well. Just unplug your current antenna & plug in the new antenna. I'll note this. It's best to make use of as much of the length of wire which comes w/ these type antennas - so, spread it out its entire length along the bottom of the dash - easy enough to hide it up under the dash, use some zip-ties. FM signal is trapped in a general "T" formation - so length is favorable here. AM you should haven't any issues. You might research other manufacturers, maybe. Just a thought.
Here's one as an example you might consider:

 

A magnet mount is a direction I considered going. However i would never need to move the antenna once it was installed so it almost seems like i should mount a permanent mast at that point. I do like that antenna in that link Norm. Have you used any antennas like that before with good luck? I listen to 2 stations in particular fairly often that are a bit far away, but they are my favorites. I have no trouble receiving them at home, or in other cars. Do you think that style would be good enough? I guess I'm not really in any rush to drill a big hole in my shiny fender.

 

Yes. I have used them for several applications - including boats & RVs - as well as cars. I've made a couple, as well - my old Radio Shack days. As said - they can be hit or miss. Some depends on radio manufacturer, as well. They also sell signal boosters. With a little research you'll find many of these types of antennas. Might be worth a try at any rate.

 

Norm, I'm not against trying again. Ill have to post pictures tomorrow so you can see what I'm working with. At the base of the windshield in the center, the wires run up through an inch high, 4 inch wide half moon of what I'm guessing is a type of resin. Its old and fossilized, but maybe i could scrape it back to get to clean wire? My other question would be concerning the connector itself. It seems to be a standard RCA connector, set at a 90 degree angle, with a single stinger/pin at the center. It has a rubber coating that grips the outer edge of the RCA connector Telling me there is only 1 actual lead going to the antenna (I could be wrong here). This connector which i will also photograph tomorrow has no usable wire coming out of it. I found 90 degree RCA cables online, would i be able to cut 1 end and enough wire off to reach the windshield and attempt your fiber tape method? The original connector has a shorter pin than an RCA connector does, which leads me to wonder if it could be that simple? Anyways, thanks again for the help!

 

I'm not a mobile DC radio communications enthusiast & I really can't offer much more in terms of assistance. I will note for your benefit, be mindful of what you assume to be a standard RCA connector, many were called Motorola connectors; and, yet there are several other types. Many, I mean literally many manufacturers have used different connectors over the many years of DC radio manufacturing. Employment of RCA connectors will not be same among all manufacturers. Performing some research you should note antenna connectors have changed many times by many manufacturers over the years. You're going to need to research which antenna connector was/is used on your specific windshield & radio system. Add to this, it wasn't until what, sometime in the early 70s GM introduced windshield antennas - IIRC, during the earlier period(s) windshield antennas were an option to a telescoping or fixed length antenna - by division, by year, by model. You can find identical year car models w/ or w/o an embedded windshield antenna. You most likely will find various windshield manufacturers were used in different models & years. I'm not an automobile mobile DC radio enthusiast but I wish you the best of luck!

 

That's correct. They are Motorola antenna connectors not RCAs. Are there 2 wires exiting the glass? I think it may be one that goes up and back down in a U shape. FM antennae are 31" long, so a single looped wire makes more sense. The outer shield gets ground from the radio chassis.
The old rule of thumb is: no FM= bad tuner in the unit, no AM= bad antenna.

 

The best car radio reception is achieved with a 30” mast. The windshield antenna is not as good as a fender mounted mast.

 

The key to optimum reception is a VERTICAL antenna mast. 31" is optimum for FM, and taller for AM. The windshield antennas were marginal at best. That is why they didn't continue making them. A signal booster may be necessary for anything else. GM radios are almost legendary for their reception sensitivity, they just sound like crap. If you intend to listen to radio, give it the best chance at reception or you will curse it loudly and often.