2004 4200 CC Radio Reception

[RobinL]

Ok - so in my quest to make sure everything in my newly purchased 4200 works I have asked questions on Sat Nav and have a plan for that - but the radio reception is just about non-existent.

I haven't investigated yet but it doesn't sound like there is much of an antenna connected at all - it may be broken or disconnected but would be interested to hear of this is a 'common fault' or if indeed anyone has an ideas / fixes?

Antenna Amplifier maybe? (seems too simple?)

 

[mjheathcote]

*twangs classico aerial on rear wing*

Yours being a latter model the aerial is built into the screens with boxes of wizardry! Worth checking first it is actually plugged into the rear of the unit under the centre armrest.

 

[D Walker]

Or it could be on the roof, depends on whether you have the phone kit etc doesnt it, I know its not helpful but I never used mine or the cd player!!!

 

[RobinL]

I'm out of UK just now so Im building my 'job list' before I get home.
First check will be the connection under armrest
There is an aerial wire in front screen so I assume next is to find and check connection to that aerial. I understand there are two antenna (?) one front and one back so will have to do similar for rear screen.
And a diversity box?? - I mean just how complicated can it be?

 

[safrane]

Connections for the front antenna are behind the A Pillars trim. The plastic clips will likely be brittle so be prepared for them to snap.

I never had issues with the reception on my first two 4200s bjt you may want to scroll through the NIT menus to make sure the auto seek is set up to your liking.

 

[mjheathcote]

you may want to scroll through the NIT menus to make sure the auto seek is set up to your liking.

Good point, you can set the radio for different continents I recall and the radio settings are slightly different.

 

[RobinL]

Hello again!

Ok so checking the NIT set up seems like a 'no cost' option so is first on the list.

Antenna behind A Pillar trim - Which side? - if I'm going to break clips it is best I only break one side if I can - is it left (UK Passenger Side) or the other side?

I can't see why it would be the antenna - but I note on one of the requests on last service there was a note to check radio reception (but nothing saying what was found out) so I could do worse than ask questions there also!

 

[safrane]

Drivers side on mine... clips are pennies for the dealers but best to buy in advance.

 

[CatmanV2]

Worth pointing out that reception on these is not great at the best of times. This may be something you want to consider....

C

 

[RobinL]

I built a radio at school. It was better than this. Definitely a problem. Anyway, gives me stuff to do so isnt all bad!

Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk

 

[spkennyuk]

I'm out of UK just now so Im building my 'job list' before I get home.
First check will be the connection under armrest
There is an aerial wire in front screen so I assume next is to find and check connection to that aerial. I understand there are two antenna (?) one front and one back so will have to do similar for rear screen.
And a diversity box?? - I mean just how complicated can it be?

Hi Robin. If your is a later 4200 then there are two aerials. One in the front screen and one in the back screen. Two inline amplifiers which are fed into the diversity control box. The diversity box checks where it is getting the best signal from and then feeds that to the NIT.

When i first got mine i could only pick up a hand full of stations and nothing else. It turned out on mine after a lot of messing about thay turning off the PTY and TA settings in the NIT set up menu cured it.

Mine would only pick up channels that were news related. First point of call would be that if your getting some channels but not others.

If your still having problems after that and the aerial is connected properly at the NIT then its likely to be the Diversity control box causing the issue. If one of the two aerial connections breaks or the inline amp fails then it should still work via the second aerial just not as well as it could as the diversity box will always select the best signal source.

The instructions for changing the PTY and TA are in the manual i think. If not let me know and i will do some instructions for you. If I recall correctly PTY you need to set to general and TA you set to off.

 

[RobinL]

So. Before ripping things apart. Could someone tell me where the 'diversity box' is hidden away?

Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk

 

[spkennyuk]

Hi Robin.

I have a diagram its item 14 in the picture which looks like it is on a bracket behind the NIT unit under the arm rest.

If you search the how to fit guides there is one for fitting a parrot mk9200 which shows you how to get to the NIT but i think in your case the arm rest will have to come out or raised quite a bit to be able to find the diversity cable which is item 15 in the diagram.

Have you tried turning the preselects of TA , PTY and i think there is another for rock , pop , news as well.

I had the same issue and the PTY was set to news so the search ignored every station that wasnt news related.

 

[RobinL]

I tried the preselects with no joy as yet. Now I thought the diversity box would be under the armrest / NIT but not to be found. I did however find some other wiring which is confusing me even more. the wires in question don't 'quite' stretch to the NIT - One green connector to the right looks like an aerial or audio connect, a circular black connector in centre which is pin and outer shield - definitely an aerial, and to the left a square black connector - looks like a 4 pin with 2 pins populated. I have no idea what they may be?

 

[spkennyuk]

Hi robin.

The green one looks like the cable for the phone aerial. If your sat in the back of the car looking at the NIT in the arm rest it plugs in side ways at the top left corner of the NIT.

The round one is the aerial feed that should go back to the diversity control module if your car is fitted with one.

The black small square plug looks like the GPS antenna although mine was grey it looks like the same plug type. That fits to the top right of the NIT again if your sat in the back of the car looking at the NIT.

The aerial plugs into the NIT about half way down on the right hand side below the GPS antenna plug.

Have a look at this thread post number one and picture 12 and you can see the green and grey cables.

http://www.sportsmaserati.com/showthread.php/679-NIT-units-or-What-s-in-the-arm-rest-of-a-4200

Ive also attached a picture of the back of the NIT so you can see where they plug into.



If the aerial feed isnt plugged in then that would appear to be the route of the problem. But the question is why has somebody unplugged them.

 

[RobinL]

Thanks, this is extremely helpful. Agreed on your last point. The other interesting thing is that the various cables are under the NIT but in no way will they stretch to the back. No slack at all. Seems to suggest they have been improperly re-routed somewhere. It will be a while before I get back in there but I will keep posted. Tnx

Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk

 

[spkennyuk]

If the cables are too short i would suspect that the NIT and possibly the center consol have been out at some point on your car and the cables are trapped under it somewhere making them too short.

As a short term fix to get the radio working you could get an aerial extention lead from halfords or ebay for around £6. You should be able to fit that by just taking the top of the arm rest off and removing the air vents.

On your display there is a picture of a satelite dish on the left hand side. If it stays grey after a minute of starting the car then there is no working GPS antenna plugged in to the NIT. Which would suggest the black plug you have is the GPS antenna cable. Not every car had GPS installed so it could be for something else.
If the NIT is getting a GPS signal then the satelite picture on the screen will turn green. You can also get extention leads for those for a few pounds.

If you get stuck then im not a million miles away from you so i could probaly come and have a look.

 

[rockits]

I had an issue with my QP when trying to get the CD changer out from under the steering wheel panel to take out & replace with a Loudlink unit. The cables were too short with not enough slack to get the CD Changer out. Managed to unclip connector further up with couple of long screwdrivers to get changer out. Re-routed cables better and created another 6-9 inches of length. Did need centre console, centre dash & NIT out to do though.

Looked like it had been badly routed from factory as couldn't have possibly have been done by 3rd party later. Maybe factory did same here as well. If it has rubbish reception all its life it is certainly possible.