Power Antenna Repair- a few questions

viper69 · Post by **viper69** » 31 Aug 2010, 02:19

I have a few questions..First description of problem. The metal antenna (I believe it's called the mast?) only goes up and down partially as of this morning. Few months ago I noticed the electric motor started to sound louder (think of motorized gears from a home stereo receiver volume knob, but louder!)

Tonight..it was really loud at one point. Now if I give the antenna a little push down or a little pull up a couple times the motor will retract or lift the antenna. But if I don't give it the push/pull, the motor just keeps running.

So before I start taking anything apart:

Does it sound like the plastic piece w/teeth (the spline I believe is the name?) is just old and chewed up, that is missing teeth? This is the original antenna too.

Second question: Where can I source the antenna and spline. I checked ipd but some people did not like the antenna ipd offers. It's a thinner metal, and some people complained of rust.

Third question: If I don't need a new motor ( I HOPE not), how do I make sure there aren't any little plastic bits caught in the antenna motor? I wouldn't be surprised if I needed a new motor because the motor is quite loud.

Last question: Is there an aftermarket SHORT, fixed antenna like all the new cars have, I could use instead of having a power antenna?

Thanks in advance.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 31 Aug 2010, 05:07

You just need the mast. The aftermarket masts are cheap but they do work. You can buy a replacement from FCP for around $16.00.

...Lee

viper69 · Post by **viper69** » 31 Aug 2010, 14:56

I had a feeling they were cheap in construction thanks. Do you think the motor will be quieter once the mast is replaced?

Post by **BEJinFbk** » 31 Aug 2010, 15:03

Power antenna masts need a little TLC every once in a while.
Get a can of TriFlow and a paper towel. Fold it over and wrap it around the mast.
With the antenna fully raised, hit it with a good blast of the teflon lube and apply
liberally to the entire mast. Run it up and down a few times and you may be done!

The masts will usually last forever as long as they stay straight and you lube'em periodically.

viper69 · Post by **viper69** » 31 Aug 2010, 15:13

BEJinFbk wrote:Power antenna masts need a little TLC every once in a while.
Get a can of TriFlow and a paper towel. Fold it over and wrap it around the mast.
With the antenna fully raised, hit it with a good blast of the teflon lube and apply
liberally to the entire mast. Run it up and down a few times and you may be done!

The masts will usually last forever as long as they stay straight and you lube'em periodically.

Well the metal mast is straight no doubt of that. Is Triflow any better or worse than WD40? I realize Triflow is a soy lube.

So if it's just the mast being "sticky" and nothing wrong w/the spline or motor...why would the antenna motor's noise increase in sound. SO LOUD that inside the car w/the radio on, it sounded like someone was grinding away the left rear quarter panel at one point. That part doesn't make sense to me.

Post by **phils94850** » 31 Aug 2010, 15:45

viper as they stated you can try lubricating the mast, if that doesnt fix it, ive actually taken the antenna motor out, disassembled and lubed the gears with wheel bearing grease and that usually made the motor run nice and quiet again. The factory lube usually gets dry and brittle and the gears start getting louder.

viper69 · Post by **viper69** » 31 Aug 2010, 15:51

phils94850 wrote:viper as they stated you can try lubricating the mast, if that doesnt fix it, ive actually taken the antenna motor out, disassembled and lubed the gears with wheel bearing grease and that usually made the motor run nice and quiet again. The factory lube usually gets dry and brittle and the gears start getting louder.

Thanks..that's what I was wondering as well.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 31 Aug 2010, 19:05

I had one (a replacement) that would get stuck and I found that wheel bearing grease coated on the plastic spline fixed everything. I'm sure the plastic (on the spline) isn't happy about it but for $16.00 for another replacement mast I'm not losing a heck of lot of sleep over it. It has worked fine now for a couple of years.

...Lee

viper69 · Post by **viper69** » 31 Aug 2010, 19:53

OK...So the actual repair, assuming it's just the antenna: Is this something that requires me to remove the trunk panel or not? If not, then I assume the spline is just fed into the hole, and then what, you turn on the car and radio, and you feed the spline in the hole. I don't know the sequence of events really. I saw some post which said you turn on the radio "about twenty times" which makes no sense to me because the motor would just take in whatever it was given, and "spit" it back out....

And my original question:

Third question: If I don't need a new motor (I HOPE not), how do I make sure there aren't any little plastic bits caught in the antenna motor? I saw some references to this.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 31 Aug 2010, 19:59

All you need to remove is the nut at the top of the mast. The base of the mast has a ferrule that wants to get stuck in the socket but all and all it is very easy - a 1 wrencher. The hardest part is getting the new mast spline to bite into the motor gears - it may take a few shots.

The instructions on the bag are actually very helpful.

...Lee