I bought a CDR-220 to replace my CR-1. During removal of the old headunit...I broke the end off the antenna cable that goes up to the windshield . My questions are:

-Has anyone ever tried to splice an antenna cable back together??

-The cable runs up through the front body panel and I can't seem to get to where it connects to the windshield antenna......anyone know how to get out the entire cable if I need to replace it??

Thanks guys............Humbled DIYer...AK

 

A picture is worth a thousand words...

That looks like a plug which is still on the end of the upper piece. Can you carefully pull that off, and then reconnect the wire to it? It will be MUCH easier to do with the plug off!

You might need to do some de-soldering of what's left of the old connection first - it looks a bit messy right now.

Looks quite fixable though. Good luck!

 

You should be able to rejoin the connector. First, either try and get a new end plug, or carefully desolder the shielding braid and the center wire that goes up the center post. That may be hard to do so try for a new connector. Next, strip back about 1/4" of the insulation from the center wire. Now you need to figure out how much of the outside insulation to remove so that the center wire/insulation will fit up into the connector with the 1/4" wire sticking out the tip of the center post and that the braid will reach the body of the connector. Now with the proper lengths, solder the wire at the tip. Then solder the shield to the connector body. Make sure you dont melt the inner insulation around the center wire. Make sure the solder joints are good. That should get back to catching air waves. LOL

 

The metal connector is called a Motorola connector. You can find them at Radio Shack. I'm willing to bet there is one near you. Otherwise, try www.digikey.com and have one shipped.

HTH,
Scott

 

I did the exact same thing last time I messed with the head unit. Words of advice: the center wire was *really* tiny and very easy to break again and again. After re-soldering 2 or 3 times and still breaking the little middle wire, I took a drive to a stereo installer and asked them to do it. I did manage to get a few more centimetres worth of cable by carefully feeling around in there - my cable was stuck behind some kind of hook forward/below the head unit. Weird, but I did not have to replace the whole cable.

Good luck!

 

oops! I did that in mine well over a year ago. Now I just drive around without the radio on!!!
Very interested if you manage to get it fixed yourself tho!

 

HEH HEH! Sorry, I did the same thing a few months back and FINALLY took it to Frys (local computer/stereo/everything place) and the stereo installation guy fixed it in front of me in 10 minutes. Charged me $20 and I was good to go. Wish I did it sooner rather than suffer all those months with no radio reception. He just soldered a new connector on, no special parts required, piece of cake.
good luck
-terry

 

Marc-

mr_bock is right on if you are going to attempt to fix this yourself. If you are handy with a soldering iron, it should be as easy as putting another connector on the end or you could try salvaging that one. If not, take it somewhere for them to repair.

Good luck and stay warm.

 

Update. Fixed with a 4 dollar radioshack endpiece...and no soldering required.....back in action. Thanks for the moral support! AK

 

Ah, modern technology.

 

CayenneAK,
That Radio Shack part just screwed on??? That's awesome, no fuss, no muss. Good going.

 

More or less. I dug the instructions out of the trash for you............... AK

 

Slightly off topic, is the antenna non-amplified?

 

Amplified I believe........That was my understanding of the pigtail wire wrapped around the main antenna cable.......AK

 

So that wire (black?) needs to see 12v to turn on the amp for the antenna? There was a wire that I didnt hook up when I replaced my headunit, and FM performance has been fairly bad.