Two questions

[digitaldragon03]

Where the heck is the radio antenna? I cant find it, i like that.

How the heck are you supposed to work that thing in the trunk. It looks like some sort of device to lift up the car or something. Its a long metal bar with a hand crank thing, what does it do and how do you do it?

[SC David]

1. Yeah, we don't have external antennas. My Alpine headunit has one built in.
2. It's the jack. Pretty straightforward. I forget exactly what it looks like, but it is definitely not the strongest or most stable of jacks, so DO NOT use it if you're going to be working under your car. The position it goes in is obvious if you use the handcrank and allow it to extend. It works slowly, but it works. I've been wanting to get a better one even just for emergency situations.

[pundit]

1. Where the heck is the radio antenna?...
2. ...How the heck are you supposed to work that thing in the trunk...
3. ...what does it do and...
4. ...how do you do it?

Hey! That's four questions! :p

[digitaldragon03]

I thought it was a jack, but it looked so flimsy i didnt think BMW would even bother putting it in there. Just by looking at the thing i can tell that it would end up tipping over or something.

Haha, youre right. 4 questions, about 2 things. There we go.

[Gayle]

1. Yeah, we don't have external antennas. My Alpine headunit has one built in.



Is there anything to be done about that without jacking the car? I had a e30 that was the same year as my e34. It had an external antenna and had fabulous reception. The e34's reception sucks.

[winfred]

the antenna is built into the back glass, theres a couple boxes on ether side of the glass that decode the signal into am, fm, phone and still use it as a heater

[Gayle]

the antenna is built into the back glass, theres a couple boxes on ether side of the glass that decode the signal into am, fm, phone and still use it as a heater


I had heard before that it was in the glass but it still sucks reception wise. Is there anything to be done about that besides putting some queer external antenna on the car that looks like $&#%

[winfred]

when functioning properly the glass antenna works ok, id suspect somethings a miss. it's been ages since i had to play with one and i can't remember what craps out on that system

[Kalevera]

Actually, that's a relatively common bodywork problem on the E34 (jack placed on a soft shoulder, car falls off of it while the operator is trying to change a tire, usually in the dark). I carry a cheap craftsman 2 1/2 ton jack and a southern cross because it's just easier.


best, whit

[Bill R.]

rear glass antenna, that or you have some broken lines in the antenna itself, take a look at the lines and see if any are broken or scratched in two, there are repair kits for the lines which come with a copper paint that you paint across the break and it restores the circuit. Autozone , checkers etc has the kits.




I had heard before that it was in the glass but it still sucks reception wise. Is there anything to be done about that besides putting some queer external antenna on the car that looks like $&#%

[Alexlind123]

I have a metalized tint as well, it probably now works worse than no antenna at all. If she does have a metalized tint installed, it will be very hard (impossible) to repair through the tint.

[Craig in Davis]

How it gets power varies with radio system. At least on my car the power is provided via a white wire plugged into the antenna feed on the stock radio. This wire also powers on the amplifier in the trunk if you still have the stock amp. If you are using the stock amplifier and your radio works then there is power to the antenna. If you have an aftermarket head unit it is possible the antenna amplifier wasn't plugged in and therefore is not doing anything.

When I was having problems with my amplifier blowing fuses I tore open the stock radio trying to figure out why the amp was blowing fuses and to replace the backlights for the display. Somehow I did something or maybe the last time the amp blew a fuse it did something and the antenna power feed died. I got it fixed but man was reception crappy until I did. I connected the white antenna power wire to the switched power supply for the radio. Turns antenna on whenever car is running but off when car is off. Before the repair I could get the strong signals in town but I took a trip from Sacramento to San Jose and for about 1 hour 45 minutes of the just over 2 hour trip I had no signal or only 1 or 2 stations.

Hope that helps,


I had heard before that it was in the glass but it still sucks reception wise. Is there anything to be done about that besides putting some queer external antenna on the car that looks like $&#%

[Gayle]

Thanks guys.

[winfred]

the crappy tint on my e30 has killed the defroster, aint had rear defrost in the 80k miles i've had it


I have a metalized tint as well, it probably now works worse than no antenna at all. If she does have a metalized tint installed, it will be very hard (impossible) to repair through the tint.