Sat radio antenna doesn't work. is there an aftermarket fix?
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From: USA
W140 Mercedes S350, W221 S550 sport
Sat radio antenna doesn't work. is there an aftermarket fix?
This seems to be common. The wires for the XM sat antenna break in the rear tailgate, and then you have no reception for XM. This fix at the dealer is over $1k.
Under the rear seat you can see where the antenna plugs in. You can easily attach a new antenna here. I'm just wondering if there are aftermarket antenna's you can leave inside or hidden that would do the job? This would make this repair super easy and anyone could do it.
Under the rear seat you can see where the antenna plugs in. You can easily attach a new antenna here. I'm just wondering if there are aftermarket antenna's you can leave inside or hidden that would do the job? This would make this repair super easy and anyone could do it.
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,430
Likes: 187
From: USA
W140 Mercedes S350, W221 S550 sport
That isn't going to fix the hours and the nighmare to pull apart the rear gate. That's the issue here. Replacing the wire to the antenna... So, was thinking if these antennas have gotten better over time, maybe you can keep it hidden inside. It only takes 5 sec to unplug old antenna under the seat, and plug a new antenna in, but there do you mount the new one? Do they have ones that could stay under the seat and still get a signal?
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,430
Likes: 187
From: USA
W140 Mercedes S350, W221 S550 sport
The wires for the antenna go through the rear tailgate, and over time from opening/closing the rear tail gate the wire wears out and dealer wants $$$ over $1,300 to fix and remove headliner, etc.
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From: Albuquerque
'10 CL550, '12 GL550
Jason, you've been given an incorrect diagnosis.
The Sirius antenna in a 164 GL is NOT in the tailgate--perhaps your "mechanic" erroneously recalls the GLK or similar, where IIRC there is indeed an external blade-type Sirius antenna mounted perhaps on the tailgate.
The GL Sirius antenna is under the black plastic roof panel forward of your rear sunroof ... you'll note this panel is much larger than the sunroof itself. Given this location, there is no need to run wiring via the tailgate. The only wiring to a GL tailgate serves the rear window defroster, rear window wiper, license plate light, rear view camera, and the third brake light.. There is also a conduit for a water hose for the rear window washer.
I'm quite confident no Mercedes dealer nor any other "mechanic" has the ability to test performance of a Sirius antenna. Not so sure there is test equipment anywhere, the procedure just being replace and see if that fixes the problem. I'd in fact doubt your problem is the antenna, as it's a pretty passive system and indeed there is no everyday flexing of the antenna cable.
Sirius antennas must have line-of-sight access between the antenna and the satellite. The satellite is in the southern sky and in my instance I drive east up a street to my house and tall trees close to that street on the south side indeed block my antenna every time. Sirius antennas obviously then don't work through metal and your tailgate is metal. It's not the wires in the rear window as they couldn't read vertically south from all positions your car could encounter--they are strictly the defroster. Some aftermarket Sirius installations successfully mount the antenna on the dash, but it reads through the windshield, not the metal roof.
Your Sirius receiver is a box of electronics located under the driver-side middle row seat. There's some gray carpet there that is easily removed for access. Might be good to inspect this area for damage, including liquid spills, etc. In any event, this is a box of electronics, circuit boards and all, things known to fail, maybe even from vibration or heat. I think failure here is much more likely than your actual antenna or the cable to it. Again a car dealer would diagnose this simply by installing a new one or known good one and observe whether the problem is solved.
Indeed an antenna problem would involve headliner removal and that is a nightmare. On a GL it will NOT involve any tailgate disassembly. Nevertheless I'd suspect the unit under the middle seat first, something with the dash unit next, and very much last the antenna itself.
PS: It would be an operation I think highly unlikely ever performed by an auto dismantler to extract the Sirius antenna from the roof of a GL ... finding one on eBay seems a pipe dream. The box under the seat a different matter.
The Sirius antenna in a 164 GL is NOT in the tailgate--perhaps your "mechanic" erroneously recalls the GLK or similar, where IIRC there is indeed an external blade-type Sirius antenna mounted perhaps on the tailgate.
The GL Sirius antenna is under the black plastic roof panel forward of your rear sunroof ... you'll note this panel is much larger than the sunroof itself. Given this location, there is no need to run wiring via the tailgate. The only wiring to a GL tailgate serves the rear window defroster, rear window wiper, license plate light, rear view camera, and the third brake light.. There is also a conduit for a water hose for the rear window washer.
I'm quite confident no Mercedes dealer nor any other "mechanic" has the ability to test performance of a Sirius antenna. Not so sure there is test equipment anywhere, the procedure just being replace and see if that fixes the problem. I'd in fact doubt your problem is the antenna, as it's a pretty passive system and indeed there is no everyday flexing of the antenna cable.
Sirius antennas must have line-of-sight access between the antenna and the satellite. The satellite is in the southern sky and in my instance I drive east up a street to my house and tall trees close to that street on the south side indeed block my antenna every time. Sirius antennas obviously then don't work through metal and your tailgate is metal. It's not the wires in the rear window as they couldn't read vertically south from all positions your car could encounter--they are strictly the defroster. Some aftermarket Sirius installations successfully mount the antenna on the dash, but it reads through the windshield, not the metal roof.
Your Sirius receiver is a box of electronics located under the driver-side middle row seat. There's some gray carpet there that is easily removed for access. Might be good to inspect this area for damage, including liquid spills, etc. In any event, this is a box of electronics, circuit boards and all, things known to fail, maybe even from vibration or heat. I think failure here is much more likely than your actual antenna or the cable to it. Again a car dealer would diagnose this simply by installing a new one or known good one and observe whether the problem is solved.
Indeed an antenna problem would involve headliner removal and that is a nightmare. On a GL it will NOT involve any tailgate disassembly. Nevertheless I'd suspect the unit under the middle seat first, something with the dash unit next, and very much last the antenna itself.
PS: It would be an operation I think highly unlikely ever performed by an auto dismantler to extract the Sirius antenna from the roof of a GL ... finding one on eBay seems a pipe dream. The box under the seat a different matter.
Last edited by lkchris; Apr 10, 2018 at 10:27 AM.
