1986 Mercedes 560SL, radio stops working after washing!

[Harddrive]

I am helping an elderly neighbor sell her 86 560 SL. It has the original Becker radio in it, and it works.....until you wash the car! I washed and detailed the car, and the radio will not power up. I was alarmed by this, but the neighbor tells me its always been this way. It will start working again in a week or so.

So where do I start looking? What is the mostly likely point that water is getting in and causing a short?

[woody loller]

Hi, had a similar problem with mine a while back when I washed the car the radio would not work. I found that water was leaking through the antenna boot and shortening out the antenna. After a couple of days it would dry out and would work again. I wound up replacing the entire antenna because somebody had sprayed penerating oil down inside it and messed up the nylon antenna core. I think you can get just the ouside boot seal for the antenna. Next time you wash the car tape a baggy over the antenna and confirm if thats what's casuing your problem. Woody