Hello. Anyone have knowledge of which of numbered circled wires are for the w126 power antenna and whether it connects to the wire powered by the key. I have an aftermarket radio I'm trying to install. Got it functioning fine but no antenna going up. I'd really like to simply control it from the dash switch.

One more thing are any of the wires in the circled cluster of wires for speakers?

Any help with ID of these wires appreciated.

Thanks

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Is the antenna still in the unit?

If your antenna is busted off, you should know that some folks, who can part with their dignity, simply jam a coat hanger in there.

I know of at least one party *ahem* who has demeaned their Benz in this fashion--and the radio works great!

Just trying to figure out which wire connects to aftermarket blue remote function wire.

What year W126? FSM says blue with red stripe for 83, blue for 84-85.

I don't see speaker wires in that jumble. You're looking for a black/black and green pair and a black/black and red pair. They go as far as the fader thumbwheel by the shifter then split to the front and rear speakers.

The brown wire with blue stripe and spring clip connector is the trip wire for the security system. Suggests your car is '85 or later.

Sixto
87 300D

I'm guessing you have a 1990. The speaker wires are on the small 3 pin connector... it's a pre-amp in that goes to the amps behind the rear seat. You'll need to re-work the preamp that's on the back of the radio now. The long connector has power on it. The antenna / amp turn on wire is the bare single spade, #1. The single connector with the spring tab on it is for the alarm, you can leave it unhooked.

#2 is a ground. Does the un-labled connector have two or three wires?

-J

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It's the one right next to the coax type antenna cable and marked "1" I believe this goes to the blue wire on the aftermarket marked "remote" and will test that theory out tomorrow. And yes...this is on a 1990 300SE.

as always....

H, I wondered how it worked out for you.. I just put a replacement Kenwood radio in my '86 420 SEL, and no antenna yet. I think the blue wire with the female spade terminal is the antenna wire. however, does the antenna circuit get its power from this wire or just control from the radio? Put another way: should I be able to control the antenna manually with the dash switch even if this wire is not connected to the radio, or should this wire have 12v available topower the antenna?
I had my antenna repaired by Walter Odemer several years ago, adn I don't know if it still works and the OEM radio was not powering it, or what. I am tempted to just put 12V on the wire and see what happens, but I can't usually afford mistakes in the electrics of a Mercedes! Thanks!

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I have to add a big thank you for this post. I know it's a few months old but in searching I ran across it in replacing the antenna on my '83 W126. There was a Kenwood cassette deck that was installed ok - thankfully whoever did the install just tapped the harness. Replaced it with a JVC CD player. There was a constant 12vdc at the antenna plug in the trunk (circuit shared with trunk light) but no 12vdc signal. When I pulled the radio harness out the was a single black lead with a bare spade. The wiring diagram shows a blue/red striped wire instead of a solid black from the radio to the antenna switch. Using the switched lead from the radio to the black lead solved my problem.

On a side note I replaced the bulbs for the center console switches/shift quadrant and HVAC. Using fiber optics is a nice idea but the light spider is not an easy to put the socket back in (at least when you have big hands).

The solid black cover on the single wire is a sheath. Beneath the sheath the wire is blue with red stripe.

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both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

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Thank you jay_bob as I didn't think to check that. My car had a cell phone setup (external speaker,hands free mic, antenna base in trunk) so I thought the black lead might have been for it at first.