antenna stuck up what now?

[bil-loc]

Every time i turn off the car the antenna stays up. motor runs to lower it down but it stays up. I have to push it down to cover the car. any ideas:cry

 

[boblx2a]

My '85 was doing something similar. It was sticking about 3/4 of the way down and leaving about 6 or 8 inches sticking out. I just kept pushing it down and squirting it with some silicon lube until it began working correctly. I think those telescoping pieces get full of grit and grime and start sticking. The motor obviously has some slippage in it because it eventually bottoms out but the mast is still up.
I had to replace the whole motor, mast and all on my '86 though. Of course it spent it's like out doors until I got ahold of it.

Good luck with it.............

 

[berky2500]

Or the ribbon might be broken inside. Check this article out:

Corvette Magazine Antenna Replacement

 

[RubyDropTop]

When I bought my car the antenna would stick up about 3" after retracting. The problem was a bent mast. I had the mast replaced and it works flawlessly now. This seems to be a common problem on these cars, many times I have seen photos of C4s with a little stubby antenna sticking up out of the back. :L

 

[jester]

It's most likely the plastic ribbon that has broken. The repair kit for the '89 includes both the mast and ribbon for $29.99 from Ecklers. I picked one up for somewhat less than that on ebay. The one I bought included instructions and a wrench for removing the retaining nut. It's about a 15 minute job to replace.

Good luck,

John

 

[bil-loc]

bad ribbon

Thanks for the help guys it was the ribbon ordered it should be a quick install

 

[Moonunit 451]

My antenna did not retract at all. I decided to tackle the problem yesterday . The first thing I found while trying to determine why it didn't work was that the guy who had the car before me had D/C'd the electrical connection to the antenna motor under the rear trim panel. I found that when I plugged it in the motor ran constantly. I'm assuming that this is because whatever is supposed to be connected to make the antenna move isn't. Anyone care to comment?

What a PITA just to get the damn thing out:bash ! I had printed instructions from ALLDATA, but my only savior was a good friend with smaller more powerful arms and hands than mine, and a hoist . Two plus hours!

One of the first problems right of the bat was I never could figure out how to get the cargo cover out, so no way I could get my hands down to where the wiring runs to the gromet to the wheel well. Don't as me how your supposed toreinstall the wiring after the repair if you don't run a piggyback wire down throgh there when you remove the unit. I did, so I won't have to worry about that, at least.

Next big problem, how to get your arm up in far enough to get your fat mitt on the top fastener you have to turn to drop the antenna. The even if you can get to it, it was very difficult to loosten in my case. Just to add to the frustration, the nut above this fastener which holds the whole antenna housing that goes throgh the body also decided to spin. There's NO F-ING ROOM UP THERE, to get tools in there. What a nightmare! Finally, we got two strong guys up in there that could get ahold of the stuff and got it loose. I was not one of them. I had that car up and down on that hoist at least 10 times to get this thing out .

Man, if you don't have friends, tools and patience, don't try this one at home folks.

If anyone can piont me to my next step in troubleshooting I'd be thankful. Is it beyond repair?

 

[berky2500]

Can't help you with the antenna, haven't tried to fix mine yet, but as for the cargo cover...I've found that using a long screwdriver (18" or so) with a very wide blade (1/2" works good) is the easiest way to get the cover out.

After removing the required trim panels, and standing at the back drivers corner, you can slide the screwdriver in between the black plastic end of the cover and the fiberglass extension it sits in.

Push the entire retracted cover as far towards the passenger side as you can, you should feel the internal spring move, then twist the screwdriver to pop the cover end out of the holder. Then pull the drivers end of the cover towards the front of the car.

If the blade of your screwdriver is not wide enough you will not get the cover end out of the slot far enough to clear it and it will feel like it is still tight, don't force it. When you get the cover end out of the slot, it will come forward relatively easy.

Work the cover under the trim attachment points until you can get it out completely. Installation is the reverse of the above, the hardest part is getting the end of the cover back in the slot. Again the screwdriver must be used to compress the spring completely so the end of the cover clears the mount and allows the rounded end of the cover to drop in to place.

 

[Moonunit 451]

Thanks berky. I don't suppose they could have made it any more difficult . Did you get the antenna ojut yet

 

[berky2500]

I did get the antenna out, but as you said it was a superb PITA. My antenna had both nuts spin like yours but I was able to get it but after only about 1/2 an hour of fighting. The lower screw was out of the fender so I could push it out some, and I guess I was strong enough to get the nut loose, though it took a good bit of straining.

My antenna has a broken mast, one wire to the motor was cut, I'm guessing because it was running all the time. And on top of that, I ended up pulling the coax connector apart when trying to disconnect the antenna from the extension cable.

So I think it will be easier to buy a new one. It is on the list right now, don't know when I'll get it to try to put one back in.

 

[Moonunit 451]

Well Len, I'd say YOU ARE THE MAN! Better than me anyway:crazy . Damn berky I meant to mention the antenna connection so people would be aware of that. One would think that there would just be an inline connector that would be easily visible to unplug, right? But, NOOOOoooooooooooo I finally figured out that there are two screws that attatch it directly to the antenna unit. Not a bad design, but it would be helpful if that was noted somewhere in the literature.:duh

Anyone, anyone, with info on trouble shooting based on my prev. post? Is it normal for the motor to run all the time under ceertain failure circumstances, or do i need a whole new unit:confused

 

[Moonunit 451]

OK, so no one wanted to answer my question about the motor running constantly during failure, so I tore it apart. It appears that when the cable breaks the motor keeps running until the antenna trips some electrical switch that shuts it off at one or the other end point.

Oh, and Len, you really must be some kinda miricle man. This is a 5 hr. job MINIMUM in my opinion, jester, and berky2500, I found some of the info at
Zip better than the GM instructions, but I left the antenna fully exteded when puting the unit back together, thereby avoiding the messy rewinding job they describe. They do not describe or suggest replacing the gromets with nuts and bolts, which GM does. Also their price for the kit is an outrage! There is almost nothing about this job that is easy

Anyway, I ended up getting the replacement part from a local dealership. $15.52 jobber, about $25 retail . Like this http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2408742246&category=6774
and this is a good price. The instructions were nothing to brag about. They don't suggest claening off old sealant and replacing with new, as the Zip article did. And, they provided no tool, nuts and bolts or sealer for repair.

All in all, it went back in easier than it came out, but about three hours incuding the repair of the antenna. The biggest problem I encountered was reinsertion of the rubber wiring gromet back into the body. It is in a location that is extremely hard to get any leverage on, and you need a LOT of pressure to reinsert it. Knowing that all you on this forum are as meticulous as I am about your car, this SOB is going back like I found it come hell or highwater, I found a way:bash . Take out the far left taillight and you can go straight at it,another 20 min:duh This is important in order to keep moisture and road dirt out of your interior.

I hope this information helps limit some frustration for others who attempt to tackle this LITTLE repair job:gap