For the summer I have "traded" my '59 Chevy Biscayne for my dad's '69 Wildcat convertible. He has owned it for about 6-7 years and in all that time the Sonomatic AM radio has never worked. I thought while the car is in my my garage I would try to find out why the radio doesn't work and try to fix it. As of now I have the radio out and trying to figure out the wiring under the dash as an FM converter was added. I have also found a odd shaped green plastic connector with 4 female pin connectors that is just hanging there. It looks like it is part of the factory wiring, 1 black wire, 2 yellow (1 is hot with the key on), and 1 white. The green connector has 2 clips that hold it to what ever in connects to. Everything in the car seems to work but the radio but I have unplugged the 3 tab connector from the radio so I know it doesn't go to that. While I have got the radio out and the plastic panel off I would like to connect it to wherever it goes. Where does it go?
Does the car have a power antenna? The only connector I see on the diagram is a connector with a yellow, white and black goes to the antenna. make sure you get a new 8-10 ohm speaker. www.turnswitch.com sells the correct front dash speaker
I does have a aftermarket generic antenna on it so it may have had a power antenna. There is no switch on the dash or does it go up when the radio was turned on? Also, on the radio the big knob behind the tuning knob has a 3 pin connector that connects to the main part of the radio that adjust something. What does the right side knob under the tuner knob adjust? Never have seen a radio with this type of knob.
That's a fader. It was used with cars that had a rear speaker. It adjusts the balance between the two speakers. If your car didn't have a rear speaker from the factory, there would be a little metal jumper in there instead Ususally, there is a switch on the dash for the power antenna. Its possible that your car didn't come with one. Not sure if it was standard or optional on a Cat. Sometimes, the even if the car didn't come with the option, the pigtail is still in the harness, just not used.
PWR antenna was an option, and the main wiring harness was 'factory wired' for the available options, whether they were installed or not. :TU:
Thanks for the quick replies! Yesterday I got as far as getting "key on" power to the connector that plugs into the back of the radio. Next weekend I will reinstall the radio and cross my fingers that it will work.
Sometimes (not a lot of times) I get lucky. Dial on the radio would light up and I could hear a click in the speaker when I turned the radio on but no sound. Even started to check eBay for cheap Buick AM radios. Went back out and thought I would check the antenna as it looked like an aftermarket type. Pulled on the antenna wire by the passengers foot well and the end of the antenna wire came out from under the glove box liner. Problem was the the antenna was still plugged into the radio. There is a 2' "jumper" between the radio and the actual antenna maybe because of the FM converter. Plugged them back together and the radio works great along with the front/rear speaker and fader.
