[mlmcdonald]

I recently had to replace the Shark fin GPS antenna on my wife’s Q3. Prior to closing everything up (panels, roof liner, etc..) I checked and everything worked fine with the new antenna (navigation, FM, satellite radio, etc...). A day later my wife started the car to go to work and got an error message “Antenna malfunction. Contact your Audi Dealer.” The only thing now not working is the satellite radio. Any ideas to fix are welcomed.

 

[manfrotto]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

What was the reason for replacing the Shark fin antenna? Was everything working OK before the replacement?
There are some antenna amplifiers in the mix, as well as an antenna in the rear screen, so worth checking all the connectors.

From what I have read it is quite a process to get to the shark fin antenna. It would be interesting to hear your experience on the process.

 

[mlmcdonald]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

What was the reason for replacing the Shark fin antenna? Was everything working OK before the replacement?
There are some antenna amplifiers in the mix, as well as an antenna in the rear screen, so worth checking all the connectors.

From what I have read it is quite a process to get to the shark fin antenna. It would be interesting to hear your experience on the process.

 

[mlmcdonald]

My wife went through a car wash and the plastic cover broke off and was lost. Even with the cover off it worked fine. I went to the dealership and they said it wasn’t covered under the warranty. They charged me $182 for the new antenna and wanted to charge me $150 to paint it and $2,700 to install it..... It only took about 1.5 hours to replace. I had to take my time to carefully remove a couple of side panels and then unhook the back part of the roof liner to get to it. Once I did that it was easy. One screw (star screw) and unplug three marked wired (red, black, green). Then install in reverse order. Again, prior to closing the liner and panels I tested it and it worked fine... The next morning when my wife started the car she got that error message...

 

[manfrotto]

Do you have an OBD scan tool eg OBD-11. It may just need the error code cleared, otherwise it sounds like you may need to pull the panels off again and recheck the cabling etc. I think there are some antenna amplifiers in roof area worth checking at the same time: