my dad has a 96? cadillac fleetwood.. the antenna goes up and down. the tape player works. but his stock HU radio is messed up. fm produces no sound or complete static. am channels come in but they are distorted and fuzzy. any ideas on what to check? where to look? he doesnt want to put a new head unit in, hes anti-aftermarket everything. car only has 20,000mi on it too...

 

check the antenna. The easiest way to test it is to get a 2nd antenna that does not have to match your stereo and just plug it in the back of the radio and see if the reception improves. You do not have to mount it to do a quick test and by turning your deck on with the new one plugged in you will know right away if it sounds better.

Your gm car uses a little different antenna plug then the standard motorola plug that comes on all non-gm replacements. you can get an adaptor to convert the standard motorola plug to the smaller gm plug at any autoparts store.

 

so get a new receiver? im assuming there is some antenna connection on the back of the hu?

 

no, test the antenna first and if that does not help any then I would look at the deck. Yes the antenna connection is in the back.

 

I would say its the antenna, with the age of the car, and the fact its a power antenna, those are known to break and/or just lose reception as they age.