I am going to fix the wiring problem myself. Can anyone tell me exactly which wire my aftermarket antenna should be connected to? I know it is the blue/white wire, but is that wire on the factory plug or on the pioneer plug side? I need to know all this before I get in over my head. If anyone could draw a quick diagram using the wires and the harness connectors that would be a HUGE help me.

Problem - My FM stations have lots of static and "overlapping channels" in areas that it never occurrs in with other cars. My XM also "drops" signal in same/other areas for maybe 30 seconds/minute at a time then comes on as if nothing had happened. Also, after I reset the signal, I DO get all the channels until the car is turned off. When turned back on, I only receive some of the channels until signal is resent again. This has nothing to do with bumps, occurrs on smooth roads and even on the highway. As long as im in an area where i get reception and parked, it's fine.

Spent 3 hours at Audio Advantage here in Cincinnati tonight. Had them look over every bit of wiring in my 350z for the head unit and antenna. Nothing is loose or installed incorrectly. So we figure it's the antenna and I have them install a more powerful antenna, one that looks like a rectangular box with a long flat band on each side to the inside of my windshield at the top. They said it was a boost antenna and would get better reception. Drove home, didn't help at all.

So now they said it could be the tuner in the head unit that might be bad and I could possibly need a new one. They showed me one for $200 that was a Clarion and I saw some more for higher prices. I dont need anything expensive if I do have to replace it. But, how do you guys feel? Any other suggestions? I am really at a loss here and need some help. I lack the knowledge about car audio systems.

 

the easiest way t ofind out for sure if find another one of thse headunits to plug in and see...

also give pioneer a call and see what htey say...

they do have the power antenna lead hooked up right? the solid blue wire, the Zs have a ant amp that needs to turn on with this wire

b

 

Well now the antenna has been replaced with a new one, this is more powerful than the stock and I would imagine they swapped the blue wire with the wire for this one.

 

This fixed my bad reception. Audio Express didn't hook this wire up. On my Pioneer, its the blue/white wire (remote and/or ant) goes into the wire thats connected to the antenna connector. You'll see a small square plastic with a wire sticking out. If you have a speaker amp for sub or speakers, this wire also hooks up to the blue/white wire on the Pioneer deck.

 

+1 on the antenna wire. If that antenna amp is not wired and powered,,you will not get reception on anything. Keep us posted.

 

I went out there again today. They said that the antenna wire was for power as if to raise/lower the antenna itself. I can't remember if they were talking about the all blue or blue with white stripes. As I said in my original post, I now have a bigger more powerful antenna on the inside surface of the windshield to replace the stock antenna. Does this one need to be connect to one of those wires? I need someone to tell me EXACTLY which wire goes to what as far as power and whatever else for the antenna I installed. They wanted me to print it out because they don't think the power antenna wire needs to be attatched I think.

 

I edited my original.

I am going to fix the wiring problem myself. Can anyone tell me exactly which wire my aftermarket antenna should be connected to? I know it is the blue/white wire, but is that wire on the factory plug or on the pioneer plug side? I need to know all this before I get in over my head. If anyone could draw a quick diagram using the wires and the harness connectors that would be a HUGE help me.

 

Courtesy of 16psibrick's sticky........

On the OEM harness:
Power Antenna green/white

On the harness from the Pioneer headunit:
Power Antenna blue/white

 

What exactly does that mean? I callel the shop about an hour ago to talk to the installer of my new antenna. He said that the new one bypassed any wiring from the harness and went straight to the head unit itself. He does all of the head unit installs, so I am sure he has seen it all and would know what he is doing. I already bought a Clarion head unit which is arriving tomorrow. Any tips that I should make sure are installed properly?

 

Oh well then you will not be using the green/white wire. You will need to connect the new antenna wire (whatever color that may be) to the blue/white wire of the new Clarion headunit (blue/white is a standard among manufacturers for an antenna turn-on lead).

 

Is this because this is a Nissan Z or is this the standard wire for install in other cars? I do not beleive they are familiar with Z installs. When I told them last week about the blue/white wire the manager said that was only good for raising/lowering a power antenna if I had one. To me, sounds like he must not be familiar with the Z if this is something only in our cars that is needed.

 

OK, the installer is semi-correct that this wire is usually used for raising/lowering a power antenna. The Z has a fixed antenna BUT it has an antenna amplifier in the drivers side quarter panel. That amplifier needs power to operate. That power comes from the headunit when the power for the headunit is turned on (via the green/white factory wire in the OEM harness). The blue/white wire from the aftermarket headunit turns on when the headunit is turned on (or sometimes only when a radio source is selected in some headunits). So when you install an aftermarket headunit, you NEED TO MAKE SURE that the blue/white wire from the new headunit is connected to the green/white wire in the factory harness to supply power to the OEM antenna amplifier - otherwise you will have zero reception.

I'm not sure if you can return your new aftermarket antenna or if you even want to, but I think your factory antenna would work fine once this wire is hooked up.

 

Thank YOU! Just the answer I finally needed. As for the antenna, it's installed and looks like it would do better than any stock antenna. I'll just leave it if I have great reception once the wirring is correct. I may pull this apart tonight and check it myself to see if it's wired the way you say, though I am not good with car audio. I will also print that out and show them that the green/white wire from the OEM harness is connected with the blue/white from the new Clarion harness and that my antenna wire needs to be connected to that blue/white? If that is correct I understand it now and I thank you VERY much.