it's in its last few months of its three year warranty, my experience with fiat is next to nothing is covered in year three. does this fault also mean the roof is leaking?

Hi,
Mercedes got her reception restored in a 20 minute dealer visit..

Charlie

Big Black Stilo said:

it's in its last few months of its three year warranty, my experience with fiat is next to nothing is covered in year three. does this fault also mean the roof is leaking?

Click to expand...

No. It was just the aerial base. Inside the car was dry as a bone.

April 2018


I own a Fiat 500 14 registration and up to 3 months ago the radio
and reception were fine! Annoyingly the reception was becoming poor
in areas where I had received decent reception, just outside the M25 area
in Kent.


I had a local car radio shop look at the aerial, taking the roof lining out
and examining the small chip inside the aerial mount, everything looked fine with no real signs of any water damage, the little bit of moisture was removed and the aerial re-fitted, the cost of this job was £54 an hours labour...I'm not sure how much Fiat would have charged me, but my
experience from Fiat dealerships is that they would have had the car for ages, and probably not resolved the problem.


Once again the reception was poor. I decided on buying a new antenna radio base unit part number : 50540987 cost £23-08 + VAT from a local Fiat garage.


The new antenna base unit was fitted and the radio is back to normal with good reception again.


I hope this helps anyone with similar issues with a Fiat 500 and radio reception.


Regards

Hi guys.
Fixed mine just now with help from this thread-
No new parts needed on mine,it was the rounded piece of metal on the baseplate needed opening out a little as contact wasn’t as should be to the silver bare metal base of the antenna. (Earthing point)
Check this first guys as some of you may be buying a new base unnecessarily.
Thank you fiat for making a roof aerial with easy access!

I have this issue on my 500L. I have tried a new aerial and it didn't make a difference so am assuming its the base needs drying out/replacing. Can somebody tell me how to remove the 2 internal roof lining clips? Is it as easy as just pulling on them? I tried with a small amount of force but didn't want to snap them. If pulled out can they be re-used or do you need to replace them?

I can't help but this popped up as I opened the post and thought , this is what you need below, that'll fix it!

That came up on mine too! Big Brother is watching us!

Bellagio said:

That came up on mine too! Big Brother is watching us!

Click to expand...

Where the trim meet the tailgate you can usually peel back the rubber gasket and peep under the trim? this may help determine how to proceed sometimes there's enough give to squeeze your hand in but be careful

Get a trim removal tool and they just pull out. The two coat hooks at the side have to be rotated about a quarter turn then they pull out. Remove the top rubber boot trim and gently pull the roof lining down. The aerial base is held on with one bolt.

I tried this but couldn’t see the coat hooks to remove. Could this be different on a 500L as opposed to a 500? I managed to get the roof lining down a little bit but it started creasing where I was trying to get my hand in. There was not enough room to get a socket in. I managed to get a 10mm spanner in but there was not enough room to turn it. I did notice the metal roof of the car (on the inside) had tons of water droplets so it’s either condensation or the aerial base seal is leaking. The part number for the aerial base is different to the 500 even though they look the same. May have to let FIAT do it. The new part is just over £30.

Had problem with radio reception. Replaced Aerial antenna. Bit fiddly to replace but did the trick. Don’t buy a new or replacement unit.
Aerial Was about £20

I did try a new aerial but unfortunately it didn’t work. In the end I had to get Fiat to replace the base part that the antenna screws into. When they pulled the roof lining down there was a lot of condensation in there so am guessing it got into the base. The Fiat 500s are easier to change the base but the 500L is harder as it’s further forward. I tried it but in the end had to take it to Fiat to do.

Yes you have to buy a base unit and antenna again £20

Yep I think the part was quite expensive and if I remember correctly was over £100 to have fitted as hey had to take the roof lining down. The part number is different from the 500 and 500L. The old aerial was fine so think the base had water inside it.

Have a 500s took plugs out of headlining as far as I could.. then felt inside to remove base plug connector then had to use a ratchet spanner with slight bend to get in at an angle and remove mounting nut. Base unit then removes from roof. Replace reverse as above. Was very tight and not very easy - need patience. But did work. Bought car without trying radio had a cd in to divert my attention, never had this issue with any other car and prob expect to replace again in future.... unit was from eBay £20. Would try anything other than take to dealer..

Yep we’ve had a few problems with moisture in the car. Whenever it’s freezing temperatures outside the windscreen freezes on the inside. We had quite a few auto start stop problems when we first got it but I replaced the battery and that sorted it.

Hopefully the new seal on aerial base has fixed misting inside now... had recent issue when changing headlamp bulb. Mileage was blinking and Blue tooth not working. Looked for resolutions.. can you believe this
With lights turned on no key in ignition put hazard lights on then started car turned hazards off the all was resolved.. this would’ve cost a lot to resolve with dealer but would prob have done the same with a big fee. Odd ehh

Was gonna resort to disconnecting battery negative lead and leaving for 10 mins then reconnect. This resets all electrics apparently. Maybe this could’ve solved your stop start issue rather than buying new battery?

Had a look on this forum and followed the advice on this thread re. bad radio reception.


I found condensation and slight corrosion on the Antenna base circuit board. Dried and cleaned it, slight improvement but still obviously a problem.

A new Antenna base was purchased (£34 - Feb 2021)


One thing to note when fitting and removing.

Removing the old one; mine had a 10mm bolt and a small 4 leg metal 'spider' securing the base to the roof, along with 2 small plastic clips for initial locating, that you depress with a small screwdriver ( or a bamboo BBQ skewer ) . The legs on the spider will be spread out.


Fitting the new one;
The Bolt and the spider are loosely fitted in the box, keep them on and put the whole assembly through the hole in the roof. The 2 plastic side clips will click into place keep it all located in the hole.


The spider legs will then spread internally once you tighten the bolt.


I initially removed the bolt and spider, then fitted the Base from outside, then tried to fit the spider/bolt separately from inside, it is really fiddly and not necessary, especially if you have only partially removed the rear of the roof lining.


Radio now works fine.