2000 E320 Poor Radio Reception

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ronwyer

New Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2016
Messages
7
Location
Oakland, California
Car
2000 E320 Sedan
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These cars are certainly a bargain at 15 years of age. Got mine with only 99K on the clock and it runs well. The radio reception is without a doubt the worst of any motor vehicle I have ever owned. Over 20 miles from any station and forget it.

There appears to e a little doo-dad that amplifies the signal from wires embedded in the rear window. One black and one blue wire soldered to the strips. This green plastic gadget is supposedly an amplifier. I've pulled a few more from the local boneyard, it would be nice to test them first. Does anyone have any experience with the amplifier? Advice on Testing one?

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Second, lets assume the leads in the window are faulty. Has anyone spliced fresh wire onto the leads to the amplifier? How about installing an aftermarket antenna? I recall Fuba had an interesting one years ago that would nicely replace the shark fin on the back of the roof if it will plug into the coax cable to the radio.

The dealer has suggested getting satellite radio. Uh, no thanks. Not interested in paying for an even more complicated system to send me a signal that I should be able to get without paying extra. Its all advertising subsidized anyway.

Any guidance on the issue is always appreciated!
 
Any blown fuses in the boot associated with alarm/rear window?
American chart below for boot.

Dec

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Nope, the rear window defrost seems to work well, fuse therefore should not be an issue. I've never tested the alarm, not even sure how it works. I disconnected my W124 alarm years ago. Is the amplifier part of that circuit?

Are there any resources to find wiring and CAN bus diagrams of this car?
 

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