I drive a 2003 Saturn L200 and have had problems with the radio. It only gets one station in, while it should be getting tons more. There are lots in my area and every other vehicle I have gotten into gets them. The antenna is not loose or bent. Is there anything I can do to correct this?
It’s not cost effective to repair the radio. Use the money to buy a good aftermarket radio. You could buy a used one from another Saturn but the problem is that these radios were basically junk when they were manufactured.
I considered that, but I have a warranty and am not sure if the radio is included. I assume it is not, but do not want to void the warranty by install a radio. I will look into it more and see what my options are. Thanks!
A correctly installed aftermarket radio will not void the warranty on anything else. That’s law.
The most common cause of poor radio reception in cars is the antenna and a common cause of antenna problems is that the antenna connection has come loose at the radio. Amazingly, most car radios will capture a few stations with no antenna at all – which may be what you now have. The antenna cable is usually a black coaxial wire about the thickness of a pencil with simple jack on the end. It simply slides into the radio which means that it can simply slide out if someone inadvertently pulls on it while working on something else.
Unfortunately, in most cars, you will have the disassemble the console, remove the screws that hold the radio in, and slide the radio forward in order to see if the antenna is plugged in.
It’s also possible, but not very common, for the center conductor of the antenna wire – which is what connects to your outside antenna – to short to ground.