fillzplace

Even though this is an old thread, it certainly helped me find the exact same really strange problem on my 2004 C4S. After replacing the ignition switch and the battery (battery was on it's way out anyway), the problem remained - so further searching on the forums got me to this post. The key was using "parking lights" in my search, which of course I didn't do until later in the process :cursing: Of course hind sight is 20/20, and this all started when I took all of the rear lights out to fix a light that was improperly installed by the previous owner. Those metal tabs (especially on the dual filament connectors) get VERY brittle with age, and they just cracked odd off and shorted together like Seaquester's above. Now to find a replacement... I didn't put 2 and 2 together since I didn't do any night driving for a few days, which meant I didn't use the headlights and therefore no warning lights on the dash until several days later. Since I had gone several days without any problems after the initial work on the tail lights, I was trouble-shooting this one as if it was totally unrelated. Now I know how to change the ignition switch, adjust the brake switch, and replace rear lights.

I recently purchased a 2004 C4S convertible, and noticed that the factory Bose stereo had surprisingly bad reception, even in a large city such as Vancouver. After doing quite a bit of searching in the various forums, I decided to have a look at the antenna amps located in the A and B pillars. Well, it turns out that there was NOTHING plugged into the outputs where you expect the connection to go to the windshield antenna! I suspect that most of the people that are reporting poor signal reception on their factory radios have had their windshields replaced at one time or another, and that the aftermarket replacement window either doesn't have the required connections or the installers had no idea how to hook-up them back up. Where does that leave us folks with poor reception? I decided to give it the old college try, and simply used some old ear-bud audio wires (almost no shielding to speak of so you can just use the main copper wire) and soldered one wire to the "pin 1" connection, and the other wire to the "pin 2" connection on the "top" connector. You can notice the difference right away just by connecting a wire to each of the pins. If I recall correctly, pin 1 is for FM and pin 2 is for AM (nothing on pin 3). I have included a picture of the final result. You just leave the other end of the wires terminated separately (no connection, and closed off with electrical tape) and run them up the A pillar and over towards the middle light assembly. I pulled them to the visor mounting hole closest to the interior light, and left them in that area. While the "fix" isn't perfect, at least I can pickup AM radio stations to listen for traffic announcements, and the FM stations are pretty good now - way better than without the makeshift antennas. If anyone knows what connectors actually fit into the amplifiers, that would make the installation a little easier. I carefully pried open the amplifier casing and solder the wires to the connector pins inside the case which is a little more work. Doing it this way leaves the output connectors un-touched, so that they can be used again with the proper windshield. Interestingly, doing the same thing on the passenger side amp had no effect - perhaps that one is actually defective in my car - I'm not going to worry about that one until the next time I get a new windshield, at which point I'll have them connected properly to begin with. I hope this helps.