High Frequency Antenna Stolen, now DRL, Horn & Front Turn Signals inoperative

Mike Perdue · February 4, 2023

Last weekend, my High Frequency Antenna (the Shark Fin on my roof) was stolen. Besides leaving a big hole in my roof, now my Daytime Running Lights, my front Turn Signals and my Horn are all inoperative. I'm trying to troubleshoot this on my own, since I'll end up having to pay for this out of pocket or file an insurance claim. I've searched the 3 Fuse Boxes but haven't been able to narrow down what's not working. Has anyone seen this before?

Transient · February 4, 2023

Are you able to obtain electrical schematics? That might tell you something.

Mike Perdue · February 4, 2023

3 minutes ago, Transient said:

Are you able to obtain electrical schematics? That might tell you something.

Honestly, I wouldn't even know where to start on that. I'll probably have to hit Google for a few hours.....lol.

discgolf01 · February 4, 2023

Yikes - how they steal it? Pry bar and a Sawzall? Any damage to the roof?

Edited February 4, 2023 by discgolf01

Bikerjon · February 5, 2023

Wow bad deal Mike. I know the door pillar on the drivers side and the overhead console needs to be removed. You will probably have to peel back the front of the headliner just to get to the mounting surface for the antenna. Not sure if there is a plug/connector left under the roof panel to connect a new antenna. If not you will need to route a new cable down the door pillar to under the dash (not sure where this cable connects). Leave this post up and hopefully someone with more knowledge can chime in.

Good luck man.

asilverblazer · February 6, 2023

gmupfitter has schematics.

Who steals one of those anyways - and without tearing up the roof?

I wonder if the bolt/clamp thing that holds it down broke and it came off while driving (broke or pulled the plug out of the ceiling too)?

GETGONE · February 7, 2023

WTF???? WHY would they steal that? It's bolted on from the underside. There's a hole in the roof and inside there's a bolt and a square "washer" that applies pressure to hold it in place. There are a few different kinds of antennas. Some have a single cable and some have 2. I replaced my black textured one with a factory color matched one from a Tahoe. To remove it, you have to remove the A pillar trim. The connector for the antenna is about half way up the pillar. I'd start with disconnecting it there as whatever was yanked off is probably shorting out causing the havoc with the truck. You then take out the drivers side sun visor and clip that holds the end up. You can pull the rubber weatherstripping around the top corner of the door and pull down on the headliner. You could remove the center roof console if you want more room to work since I'm sure the roof is damaged. I was able to swap mine without removing the roof console. I only removed the A pillar trim and sun visor.

Post pictures of the damage. I want to see what the heck they did to get it off.

Jus Cruisin · February 7, 2023

I think he hopped on the other sierra silverado site and acted like he was a tech at a dealership asking questions.... A tech asking for technical support on a forum? That's a good one.... Probably won't be heard from again.

Mike Perdue · February 9, 2023

On 2/4/2023 at 4:48 PM, discgolf01 said:

Yikes - how they steal it? Pry bar and a Sawzall? Any damage to the roof?

They pried it off with a flathead screwdriver.

Mike Perdue · February 9, 2023

On 2/6/2023 at 2:34 PM, asilverblazer said:

gmupfitter has schematics.

Who steals one of those anyways - and without tearing up the roof?

I wonder if the bolt/clamp thing that holds it down broke and it came off while driving (broke or pulled the plug out of the ceiling too)?

The Dealership said that car thieves will rip off the Antenna first to disable the On Star & tracking capabilities. Once they told me that, I then noticed that my driver side key hole was damaged as well. Apparently the criminal got spooked and ran off, or they didn't know what they were doing.

Mike Perdue · February 9, 2023

On 2/6/2023 at 9:14 PM, GETGONE said:

WTF???? WHY would they steal that? It's bolted on from the underside. There's a hole in the roof and inside there's a bolt and a square "washer" that applies pressure to hold it in place. There are a few different kinds of antennas. Some have a single cable and some have 2. I replaced my black textured one with a factory color matched one from a Tahoe. To remove it, you have to remove the A pillar trim. The connector for the antenna is about half way up the pillar. I'd start with disconnecting it there as whatever was yanked off is probably shorting out causing the havoc with the truck. You then take out the drivers side sun visor and clip that holds the end up. You can pull the rubber weatherstripping around the top corner of the door and pull down on the headliner. You could remove the center roof console if you want more room to work since I'm sure the roof is damaged. I was able to swap mine without removing the roof console. I only removed the A pillar trim and sun visor.

Post pictures of the damage. I want to see what the heck they did to get it off.

Unfortunately, there's too much damage now to try to do this myself, so I'm going to have to file an insurance claim for damage from an attempted theft.

Mike Perdue · February 9, 2023

On 2/7/2023 at 1:23 PM, Jus Cruisin said:

I think he hopped on the other sierra silverado site and acted like he was a tech at a dealership asking questions.... A tech asking for technical support on a forum? That's a good one.... Probably won't be heard from again.

Um.......wrong

asilverblazer · February 9, 2023

13 hours ago, Mike Perdue said:

The Dealership said that car thieves will rip off the Antenna first to disable the On Star & tracking capabilities. Once they told me that, I then noticed that my driver side key hole was damaged as well. Apparently the criminal got spooked and ran off, or they didn't know what they were doing.

Makes sense... what else got tore up?