Ok Heres the deal. I have an 05 TSX with NAV. Before I knew that tinting the windows would cause the NAV system not to work all the time I had them done. Instead of getting it taken off I would like to try and get a small external antenna that will plug into the unit. Does anyone know of an aftermarket antenna that will fit that connection? Thanks.

 

i don no about any external aftermarket antennas but I guess you can relocate the nav antenna outside or to the front dash

 

How badly is it affecting your GPS signal?

 

Probably cheaper to have the rear window tint removed and replaced with ceramic than to try to find an external antenna... integrate it to the nav system, and mount it on top of the car somewhere. I'd think replacing only the rear tint would help a lot. Maybe the original tinter would give you a break??

I have no idea if the COTS Alpine Navi antenna would work but you can check it out yourself here...

http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/product...&lang=en&tab=F

No idea if this one would work or not...
http://aladdin.en.alibaba.com/produc...S_Antenna.html

or here... you just have to buy 100

http://zydq.en.alibaba.com/group/501...S_Antenna.html

or this one...

http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/11185...S_Antenna.html

or from here...

http://www.cirocomm.com.tw/

you might want to locate the existing antenna connector and use a multi-meter to determine the voltage it is getting from the nav unit. Also check the connector. But if the antenna is not matched to the receiver electronics you may not get a usable signal out of it.

You might try Alpine support and see if they can recommend an aftermarket antenna or tell you the specs or sell you one direct.

You could also see if the antenna under the rear shelf is mountable outside the car and get a cable to extend it to the top of the car.

New tint is sounding easier huh?

 

Thats my question as well!

Also what kind of film do you have? Not just the name brand, but what type of film? Example: Madico CH35 or CH20

I'm sure there is a way to put an external antenna on your car, but woul you realy want something else attached to the outside of your car? The little xm bump is bad enough.

Since your tint is fairly new you can probably just rip it out in 1 solid piece and then scrub the back window with alcohol and a white scotch bright pad or fine steal wool. Then take it in and have them retint it for about $60-80. Much better than trying to attach an antenna to the outside of the car. Acura put some pretty good engineering time in to eliminating all those external things to make the body a little sleaker.

Whatever you do...good luck!

 

Why would tint affect GPS signal? I thought it was inside that rooftop mounted box?

 

metallic tints

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but seeing as how the 2004 Navis don't have that external antennae, it's probably for XM. Therefore, if there are metallic particles in the tint on the rear glass, there may be a drop in reception.

Chris05, your best bet is to remove the tint and get some ceramic tint back there. Since it's just the rear glass and there is no issue with installing felt or filing to make it clean, it should be pretty cheap as CJams suggested.

 

I think the Navi Antenna is in the back dash between the 6x9's. Therefore metalic tint on the rear window would screw it up. But it shouldn't render it inoperable. You just won't get as good of a signal.

 

Its messes the NAV system up bad that it doesn't operate 90% of the time. Sometimes the NAV has me on the wrong road other times its just a blank tan screen with the arrow moving along. I had it to two different dealerships and each one of them swapped out the system to a new one.

The window film I have is Johnson films. The only other thing I know about it is its 35%.

 

I had the same problem, I told the tinter about the navi getting messed up by metallic tints and he swore up and down that he has done alot of cars with nav and acura's and no one had problems. Low and behold, I was back in the shop a week later getting him to take it out. He ordered some different tint from sungard that was extruded, not sure the difference and he claimed that sungard guaranteed that it is about 5 year warranty against fading. He put that on and my navi was good as new again.
If you want to check your satellite signal, go into the navi menu and you can see how many satellites you are receiving. Before tint, mine always picked up 12 within 5 minutes of starting the car. With the metallic tint. I was lucky to have 3-4 within 20 minutes. After the new tint, I was right back to 12 within a few minutes. Just get it retinted.

 

ever think u just have a bad antenna?



thats where it is BTW

 

I highly doubt its the antenna
The tint seriously messes around with the signal.
the best and cheapest way to fix this is to replace the rear tints with ceramic ones