98 Volvo S70 - Power Antenna Mast Retracting Too Far

vicknightingale · Post by **vicknightingale** » 11 Sep 2025, 22:12

Many years ago, I replaced the power antenna mast for the first time on my ‘98 Volvo S70, and ever since, the mast retracts about an inch or two below the nut that holds the antenna column in place on the top of the car. I had to replace my antenna mast again recently and thought I’d try to fix the retracting issue.

Does anyone know what’s supposed to prevent the mast from retracting past the nut? When I replaced the mast the first time, I had to disassemble the power antenna assembly to extract part of the broken antenna mast, and I’m wondering if I forgot to replace a part.

Post by **scot850** » 12 Sep 2025, 12:48

Did you replace the limiting collar on the antenna mast? There is a sleeve that fits into the top of the antenna mast. Some of the replacement antennas do not come with this and so when owners fit the ne antenna mast they do not transfer it. The sleeve is about 3" long and the top edge has a lip the sits at the top of the fixed shaft.

Neil.

vicknightingale · Post by **vicknightingale** » 12 Sep 2025, 14:54

Thanks for the response. Yes, my mast came with a limiting collar, and I did install it. My understanding is that the limiting collar only prevents the mast from being completely ejected when it’s being extended after turning on the car. Does it also play a roll in preventing the mast from being retracted too far into the mast tube when the car is turned off? I know the motor switches off when it encounters resistance, but I’m not sure what is supposed to provide that resistance when the mast is being retracted.

Post by **scot850** » 13 Sep 2025, 14:43

Hm. I have not had time to check yet, but when I was looking for an antenna mast replacement, the antenna for a C70 was different to a S70 on one Volvo dealer site I was on. Perhaps they are different lengths? The differences could just be the brackets of the bottom mounting and the top on the fender may be different. The bottom one for sure is.

The other thing that should limit the travel is the top 'bulb' on the antenna. I thought that was wider than the top of the mast?

Neil.

vicknightingale · Post by **vicknightingale** » 14 Sep 2025, 09:38

I could be wrong, but I don’t think the button at the top of the antenna mast is supposed to stop the mast from retracting since the button has to fit through the nut during installation.

I think I figured out the issue, though. I had a bit of a revelation yesterday as I was looking at how far past the top nut the antenna would retract. It seemed to retract about 2-3 inches into the tube, or the same height as the limiting collar, so I thought, since I had a spare from the old antenna, that I would place a limiting collar at the bottom of the antenna tube in addition to the top. When installing the mast, the teethed cord would thread through the collar sitting at the bottom of the mast tube, but the collar would prevent the mast from retracting too far since the diameter of the mast is larger than the diameter of the collar. That seemed to do the trick and now the bottom of the antenna button sits flush with the top nut.

When I replaced the antenna mast for the first time all those years ago, the teethed cord had broken, so I had to remove and disassemble the antenna motor assembly. I remember removing the antenna tube as part of this process, and I’m thinking I didn’t replace the limiting collar at the bottom of the tube, which I presume is supposed to be there.

Since I don’t have another motor assembly to compare it to, I can’t say for certain if the two collars solution is how it was assembled originally, but it seems to solve my issue for now.