Power antenna failure 96 850 Turbo sedan

Dave in Maine · Post by **Dave in Maine** » 28 Jul 2018, 04:27

I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later, but the power antenna on my 96 850 Turbo sedan has stopped working. The following symptoms/troubleshoot so far:
1. when I turn on the radio the motor makes no noise;
2. the antenna stay in the down position;
3. the #16 fuze (for the antenna motor) is fine;
4. after removing the nut and trim piece into which the antenna retracts, once I get a grip on the top of the antenna I can raise it with no resistance. It will not stay fully up, sliding back down part way under its own weight;
5. the radio does work and the antenna, when up, contributes to better reception;
6. there was no noise when the antenna stopped working. In fact I didn't notice it until I'd been driving a while into downtown and couldn't get the local high-watt AM station.
7. up until a couple weeks ago there had been some grinding and groaning when raising or lowering the antenna, but that stopped when I put some lube on the antenna shaft proper.

My initial diagnosis is that the internal "cord" - the thing with teeth that runs through the center of the antenna and locks into the gear on the motor - has finally given up the ghost. I plan to go to a salvage yard today to see whether I can scare up an entire antenna assembly. I welcome any suggestions, etc. to help me. I like having the radio working....

Thank in advance.

Sommerfeldt · Post by **Sommerfeldt** » 28 Jul 2018, 05:11

You're probably right about the failure point. It's a 20+ year old unit, after all.

New ones can be had on ebay for about 40 USD, but a salvage yard with some nice sedans might be a good option as well.

- S

Dave in Maine · Post by **Dave in Maine** » 28 Jul 2018, 05:57

On further review, the motor can be heard to run on turning the radio on and off, which I take as a good sign, i.e., that it's just the drive cord.

Post by **scot850** » 28 Jul 2018, 09:35

It is a bit of a phaff to take apart, but it is worth removing and cleaning all the broken parts of the nylon toothed cord out and to grease and clean out the old dried up grease. Be careful not to lose any of the internal parts.

Good luck.

Neil.

sventastic · Post by **sventastic** » 28 Jul 2018, 11:58

IPD has them for just $11, $21 at FCP

https://www.ipdusa.com/products/4971/10 ... for-sedans
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... 850-wagons

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 28 Jul 2018, 16:44

I've had a couple of them where the toothed nylon cord actually broke and I had to take the motor apart to retrieve the old remnants before replacing the antenna itself.

They take a little bit if futzing with it to get the the "preload" distance correct so that it goes all the way up and all the way down properly.

...Lee

Dave in Maine · Post by **Dave in Maine** » 02 Aug 2018, 18:32

Mark this one fixed!
I got a replacement antenna from a local-to-me auto parts store for like $17 and put it in yesterday.
It did take some work to get it to "take" - the free end of the nylon cord was jamming on the inside of the black housing instead of spooling nicely. I snipped about 1/4 inch off the end and made a point of feeding the end into the spool, whereupon it worked like a charm.

I'd like to thank all who helped out on this topic.

Post by **scot850** » 03 Aug 2018, 14:25

Well done!

Neil.