Kyle Harty

iTrader: (17)

A little background, I hard-wired an aftermarket HU in my 92, couldn't get the power antenna to come up. I know a few others have had this problem as well. I think I might have found a solution.

Someone had mentioned that the power antenna in Lexus's usually is wired through the amp or somehow connected to the amp. So I wired both the "green w/red stripe" wire for the power antenna and the "pink w/blue stripe" wire for the amp to the power antenna wire on my HU. I just twisted the two wires together and attached them both to the one wire coming from my HU.

My antenna now comes up, but only partway. Here's where I'm hoping someone else, (maybe 1loudlex since you've got this problem too), can try this and let us know if you're antenna goes all the way up or not. Something in my antenna may not be working right since it hasn't been used in so long, or at least I'm kinda hoping since it wouldn't be too hard to replace. At least I'm getting some reception for now, I haven't had a chance to really see how it'll work since I haven't taken it out of the garage, but I was getting some reception inside the garage.

Well, hope this helps some of you out, and maybe you can try it and report back and we can get this figured once and for all.

P.S. I bought a dash kit and wiring harness from Sound Innovators on E-bay, the dash kit is much sturdier and better construction than the Metra kit, but it's still not a good match for the climate controls color. They use plastic that would match inside the pocket, why not make the whole thing like that????? Maybe I'll try painting it or something, not gonna worry about it right now. The wiring harness is a generic Toyota harness that does NOT work with the ES. I just e-mailed them telling them this, hopefully it's an honest mistake and they'll refund some of my money or do something to make me happy. Either way, they should've known it wouldn't work if they were a decent store.

1loudlex

Did you take out your amp at all?? Mine is out so i dont know if that will work, but i am willing tto try it. I just gave up with the whole thing because i have Sirrus radio now so i dont care about local radio. It is good though justt to have tthe radio also though. sounds like an idea.. I might try it in the morning.. I let you knwo what happens.. My antenna has also not been up for over a year, so hopefully it will work.. I will spray some WD40 on it first.

Adam " Lexist "

Kyle Harty

iTrader: (17)

My factory amp is still in there, don't know if it would work without it. I'm getting some reception right now, but not that great, it's probably a little less than halfway up.

zdanish

I have been going through the same problem. I have purchased the sound Innovators wiring harness and custom install kit off of ebay. The custom kit seems to be ok but the wiring harness doesnt seem to fit. I have tried to connect it behind the 1996 lexus es 300 stock radio but it doesnt fit. I then found out that you may have to plug into the bottom of the passenger seat amp. but this still didnt work any suggestions. ThaNKS

Rit&Booner

What is the Metra part number you guys got from Sound Innovations off of ebay?
I ordered mine from another site part number 70-8112. Is this the one with RCA connectors?
Tell me why yours do not work.

Rit&Booner

I recieved my Metra wiring harness from Car Stereo Products and it does work. The part number you need is indeed the 70-8112. This is for the 92-96 ES300, don't know if it's compatible with later models.

If you use this harness, connecting the antenna wire is so easy. Just color match the wires, amp wire and antenna wire goes together.

look at my post with pics of the final install. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=85215

Kyle Harty

iTrader: (17)

The harness I got was not Metra, it was a basic generic Toyota wiring harness. Sound Innovators said it had to be connected somewhere other than the HU, like at the amp (but apparently that didn't work for zdanish) or somewhere. They didn't know exactly where it was supposed to plug in. I just wanted the harness to try to get the antenna working, I already had it hard-wired so I just left it that way. I just redid the antenna wiring a couple weeks ago, twisted antenna and amp wires together and attached them to antenna lead from the HU, my antenna now goes almost all the way up.

skelley

I have my Pioneer amp out completely (troubleshooting TTL Power problem) and my antenna works fine. I had to purchase an aftermarket mast (mine was broken when I got the car) off EBay for $20 and now the antenna works great.

I, however, have a bigger problem in that my amp doesn't work. I am getting an audio signal from the HU but the 5V for the TTL is dead. Does anyone happen to have a schematic for the Pioneer amp??

Thanks.

Pianoman72

I believe the power antenna is controlled by three wires that run out of the headunit, not the amp. I have also read that splicing two wires together does the trick, but which two is the question.

The power antenna has a "high" and "low" position. that might explain two of the wires. The other wire is probably the up-down wire. Lower radio frequencies are supposed to have the antenna in the low position and likewise for high. In my GS I can flip through the stations and the antenna moves up and down slightly, but always to the same two positions.

My guess is the antenna does not go all the way up because you spliced the "low" position wire into the mix. That's just a guess, though. Anyway, if that makes sense to anyone else it might help you come up with a solution.

EDIT: VICE-VERSA on the high-low depending on frequencies. Props to skelley.

skelley

I have had the antenna completely apart and have not seen anything that would indicate there is a position other than completely up or completely down. My guess is the plastic mast is broken of there is a motor resistance stop that is triggering too soon. Look for kinks in mast or possibly resistance in the segments.
Just a thought. Hope this helps.

Pianoman72

What were you expecting to find? A little note written inside? Search for other threads on the topic. This has been confirmed.

Look at any wiring diagram. There is an ANT wire, an ANTA wire and an ANTB wire, +power and ground connections. That would seem to indicate that there is more going on than just up and down. Something might be wrong with his antenna since it does not go all the way up, I'm only mentioning this because the antenna does goes up and down about an inch when you browse through your FM stations.

Anyway, use Rit&Booner's solution posted above.

skelley

Your condescending response is rather interesting (and likely inappropriate for this forum). Though you may be correct in the antenna control my comment did not contradict your response.


However, your assessment of the position of the antenna based on the station frequency appears backwards. I believe a higher frequency station would have a shorter wavelength and therefore require a shorter antenna and visa versa.


Another plausible explanation for the 4 wires might be Power and ground to power the antenna (perhaps reversing the 2 leads gives up and down positioning??) and 2 end point position detection wires. Just guessing since I did not disect the motor when I replaced the mast.


I would be interested to hear if you confirm your theory...

Pianoman72

I'm just trying to help as you are. I just wish that more people would post-up when they actually fix something. I think once people solve a problem they go on with their business and don't post back up. I'll try to find that thread about the antenna. I think it's interesting, too.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=58054

here's the thread about it, sorry i am kind of assuming that the SC GS and ES stereo antennas are the same way.