We have an '04 Quattro Cab and lately the radio reception has been intermittently terrible. Not something that is airwave related but seemingly antenna related. My wife drives the car most of the time and her complaint has been that in the morning it works fine and in the afternoon it doesn't. The reception is terrible. I checked it a few times and it works so I had nothing to go on until today. Reception was essentially nonexistent. The only station I could get was the one about 2 miles away. everything else was nearly impossible to hear, reception wise. This evening I drove the car again and it was working the way it is supposed to. I can't find anything in the owners manual about the antenna although I understand it's the windshield. I'm having thoughts that it's connection related but I can't find the specific location of the cable or the connections.

The car is garaged and we haven't had any significant rain until this evening in months so a short related to water seems to be out of the question.

Anyone have any ideas/suggestions/help???

Thanks

 

there is an antenna amp inside above the rear window. It's underneath the trim panel. If you grab it by the bottom and slow pull it out from side to side, it will pop out. It is stubborn and sounds like it is breaking when you pop it off, but don't worry about the sound.

WHat happens, is heat cracks the black rubber on the antenna amp, causing poor reception. To replace it, runs about $250-350, I think, just for the part.

After you have the panel off, turn the radio on and scan the channels. Then press hard on where the crack is on the amp. It will almost always improve the reception.

I am on my second one, and it is cracked also. I don't want to buy another because it will just happen again, so what I did just yesterday was to glue a 3/4"-1" rubber bumper on to the trim panel, positioning it about where it would contact the crack.
When I put the panel back on, the bumper applied a constant pressure on the crack, giving me great reception again (hopefully for good)

I hope that this helps!

 

Thanks but I have a convertible so the amplifier must be buried elsewhere. I guess I have a project ahead. I did learn from another site that there are two antennas buried in the trunk itself and it is possible that the wires to them are breaking. I need to spend the time and examine the trunklid.