Hi

Since owning my Focus Mk2.5 at times I have not been happy with the interference I get on radio stations , I only really listen to radio 2 and sometimes Capital , at times the quality is not that great , but not bad by any means , its just going from my fiesta mk7 the radio quality has defiantly dropped.

I have the Denso Touchscreen satnav display unit , but I'm unsure weather others find the radio quality a bit rubbish in general on the focus?

I'm thinking about trying another aerial , has anyone changed there's , if so any thing I should go for?

cheers

unscrewed the antenna today and the thread had a bit of corrosion , sprayed some electrical contact spray on it and brushed off , may do the trick.

keep us posted how you get on. mind you i replaced mine with a dab unit and aerial (new aerial and wiring) but still get inteterference and it can gt annoying).

keep us posted how you get on. mind you i replaced mine with a dab unit and aerial (new aerial and wiring) but still get inteterference and it can gt annoying).

did you have the denso satnav as well? , is this unit not DAB?

ide use some copper grease on the ariel threads trust me they stick solid after a while i just had to change the ariel and base 2 months ago as it snapped thats 3 winters on 2 different focuses ive had its happened crappy ariels so i got a race x extendable bee sting ariel with built in amplifier definately better than the old one when its just the stubby add the extra long section and its perfect

Hi

Just an update , still getting bad interference on my radio , its not constant interference but it happens a lot when you dont expect it , so disappointed with it , I would like to try cleaning the contacts which I heard were above the centre light , is this easy to remove and check for any corrosion ?

thanks

Steve,

i have the Ford/sony DAB unit and get interference still - something no reception/sound at all.

removing the light is easy, just pull it down and you can see the aerial base. there is a DAB replacement guide in ford wiki page that shows you how you replace the aerial. cant post the link on here so google is your friend.

Hi

Today I purchased a Ripspeed aluminium aerial from Halfords , just fitted it and I'm very pleased so far!

http://www.halfords....tegoryId_165622

On the way to get the aerial I had minor distortion every 30 seconds or so , after fitting the new aerial I have had no interference (although I only had the radio on for 5mins on my short trip) but its looking good.

Not only has it possibly solved my radio interference it looks a lot smarter than the long focus aerial , the new aerial comes with 3 different length rods , I used the longest length which is about 25cm.

cheers :)

A lot of poor reception issues are down to the fact that the factory fit base is not earthed correctly to the car body. It relies on a lock washer cutting into the paint work and making contact with the metal work of the car body (this is behind the roof light).

I found on mine (I could only get signal from local radio), that the earth was not making contact. I had read about people scraping some paint away, but I don't fancy that (worried about rusting). So I use a ring crimp and connected a short piece of wire to a nut and bolt, net to the aerial, assume earth for lighting. Reception is now great, get all the channels now.

On my previous Mondeo I had a similar problem, and it turned out to be a poor connection to one of the spark plugs causing arcing, but not effecting the engine performance.

A lot of poor reception issues are down to the fact that the factory fit base is not earthed correctly to the car body. It relies on a lock washer cutting into the paint work and making contact with the metal work of the car body (this is behind the roof light).

I found on mine (I could only get signal from local radio), that the earth was not making contact. I had read about people scraping some paint away, but I don't fancy that (worried about rusting). So I use a ring crimp and connected a short piece of wire to a nut and bolt, net to the aerial, assume earth for lighting. Reception is now great, get all the channels now.

I have this issue now. Previously reception was fine.

I've taken the light apart and have removed the aerial. Couldn't see anything loose or amiss.

Tightened it back up and it does seem a little better, but isn't perfect.

Couldn't see a washer similar to what you were referring to?

ANyway, the fix you used - so I just need to get a crimp onto the screw and then wire across to another crimp connecting to the other crimp?

And can everything be earthed or is some of the aerial supposed to be insulated from the car body?

Thanks

Did any one solve this issue perfectly? I have it now and annoying as hell, and want rid of the noise any help?

best suggestion is remove the light and unscrew the ariel base clean the paint underneath the connector so its shiny check threads etc and refit it should help

A lot of poor reception issues are down to the fact that the factory fit base is not earthed correctly to the car body. It relies on a lock washer cutting into the paint work and making contact with the metal work of the car body (this is behind the roof light).

I found on mine (I could only get signal from local radio), that the earth was not making contact. I had read about people scraping some paint away, but I don't fancy that (worried about rusting). So I use a ring crimp and connected a short piece of wire to a nut and bolt, net to the aerial, assume earth for lighting. Reception is now great, get all the channels now.

as AJT said, add a new earthing point to it.

Create a new earthing point and run the cable from that to the base of the aerial to help the earthing issues.

Cheers guys i will give that a go thanks

I find mine gives decent reception on FM, but drops out contantly on DAB. Currently just using FM.

I tried crimping a wire to the other wire nearby and it made no difference at all to mine.

Neither did trying to scrape the paint off.

I also pulled the small prongs on the back of the aerial nut out as well when it was fastened up and its still the same.

So not sure if I have the same issue or not. If anyone does do this and get it working, could you please post some pics and a guide please.

As someone said earier, it is really annoying.

As an aside, I bought some cheap stereo removal tools off ebay and they jammed in. I ended up having to force them out, so believe I have probbaly now bent the pins. Is there a way of getting this out now, or have I really messed up? I'd like to check the aerial is firmly connected in the back of it.

Steak knives.

I have this problem too. I unscrewed the aerial from the base and it was pretty corroded so I filed the bottom of the aerial until it was shiny. Also scraped the thread on both the base and aerial using a screwdriver. Slightly improved but still not good. So am planning on trying the earthing solution suggested here.

Before I do, a couple of questions:

If you have tried it, did it work?

Are there any tricky parts to watch our for?

Its a doddle once you work out how the light fitting comes out.

Made no difference to me though, but I hsd no sign of corrosion.

Please update how you get on, I haven't worked out my nect move yet.

You're right. Pretty straightforward. In case anyone else is wondering how to get the light out, there's a spring clip on the front edge, nearest the windscreen. Gently push it in with a small flathead screwdriver and the interior light can be pulled out.

So, here's what I found.....

Connecting the screw that holds the aerial base and the other earthing point seemed to make no difference.

So I took the base off. There was quite a lot of corrosion on the screw that holds the base in. I cleaned this off as best I could and it has improved things.

I'll see how it goes for a week or so. I think the next step will be a new aerial and base.

Quick update. Bought a new Ford aerial and base (about £30 from the local dealer) and installed them. Easy job and reception now much, much better.

So if others are having similar problems i'd recommend inspecting for corrosion and replacing if necessary.

!Removed! poor design, the radio unit itself requires a decent earth, the whole cage is set in plastic and it seems that the wiring loom picks up every little bit of interference so would benefit from a separate supply,

Surely someone must have tried this by now?