This has been discussed many times here before, and I thought I would bring all of the information together in a "how-to." I have not had to do this personally, but nobody rides in the passenger seat of my car to make it necessary.

Problem: Radio Reception is bad to non-existant. AM is usually worse than FM.

Reason: Antenna connector has come loose, and needs to be reconnected. This happens when a passenger pushes the carpet toward the firewall and disconnects the plug.

Affected Model Years: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003

Permanent Fix:

1. First check to make sure the antenna at the back of the radio has not come loose.
2. Remove the plastic cover on the front passenger door threshold held in place by three pressure clips.
3. Peel back the carpet on the front seat passenger floor.
4. Locate the coax antenna cable running along the side.
5. Reconnect the two pieces of antenna that have come loose.
6. Roll the carpet back, and re-install the threshold cover.

I just want to first off say thank you for the responses that I have received!! My husband and I have been trying to figure this radio situation thing out for some time now!!! We never even knew that these forums were out there! So thank you all for your replies!!!!!!!

This has been discussed many times here before, and I thought I would bring all of the information together in a "how-to." I have not had to do this personally, but nobody rides in the passenger seat of my car to make it necessary.

Problem: Radio Reception is bad to non-existant. AM is usually worse than FM.

Reason: Antenna connector has come loose, and needs to be reconnected. This happens when a passenger pushes the carpet toward the firewall and disconnects the plug.

Affected Model Years: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003

Permanent Fix:

1. First check to make sure the antenna at the back of the radio has not come loose.
2. Remove the plastic cover on the front passenger door threshold held in place by three pressure clips.
3. Peel back the carpet on the front seat passenger floor.
4. Locate the coax antenna cable running along the side.
5. Reconnect the two pieces of antenna that have come loose.
6. Roll the carpet back, and re-install the threshold cover.


Well, on my 2000 Malibu, the radio reception will sound fine, but when I adjust the volume dials only slightly, the reception goes out. Then if I crank the volume, it sounds OK again. I checked my floor antenna connection and it is fine. Could my problem be the radio dials? If so, how do I remove them? Thanks for any advice.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You. After numerous searches and never ending technical mumbo jumbo the solution ended up being so simple. I must have looked at hundreds of sites talking about modulators, rear window antennas and tinting, antenna grounding etc., and the solution was sitting un-attached under my passenger seat carpet. Plugged it back in and works like new!

Well, on my 2000 Malibu, the radio reception will sound fine, but when I adjust the volume dials only slightly, the reception goes out. Then if I crank the volume, it sounds OK again. I checked my floor antenna connection and it is fine. Could my problem be the radio dials? If so, how do I remove them? Thanks for any advice.
Do you lose reception or just volume? It would be pretty tough for anything you do with the volume control to affect reception, however, a bad volume control could cause the sound to disappear and re-appear. You'll need a shop to check the volume control.

This fix was right on. It was also so easy (took me 5 minutes) I feel like an idiot for driving around for 2+ years only listening to CDs in my car.

The AM band is affected first because of is wavelength. 1 MHz vs 100 MHz (center frequencies) makes a huge difference. Measure with a decent DVM the resistance between chassis ground and the shield of the antenna cable at the radio. Then measure resistance between the center conductor and the 'whip' of the antenna. Some antennas use a wire that wraps around the of the 'whip' (if you can make contact, you might have to break the coating to do so). Both readings should be well under 5 ohms especially the ground.