legacycentral bbs

Hi, my power antenna has been broken for a while now, it grinds whenever it tries to go up or down. I know that all i have to really do is buy the plastic gear that goes into the motor drive to fix it, but i just can't afford it right now. My question is how would i go about disabling the motor for the power antenna? I tried to find a fuse for it which is how i disabled it on my celica, but there doesn't seem to be one. My guess is that i will have to cut one of the wires on the harness for the radio, but i don't know which one. I have an aftermarket head unit in there so it shouldn't be too hard to find. Does anyone know what color the wire i'm looking to cut would be or am i going about this all wrong? Thanks,
Ben

The wiring harness that supplies power to the antenna connects to it near the antenna itself. I was able to reach in through the access door for the jack and find the connector. If you can't find it that way, pull the trunk trim off on the left side, and you should be able to find it. The antenna itself is connected to the headunit through another wire, so disabling the motor won't disconnect the actual antenna. I ran around for a while with my power antenna in the up position because it wouldn't retract properly on its own.

I believe most aftermarket harnesses have the antenna remote on wire as the light blue one. Might have a white stripe on it. If you have a sony it should be marked.

do what I did to fix mine:

pull the antenna up manually while turning the radio on to help it fully extend. Then spray WD40 on the antenna and a rag and clean the mast and work the wd40 into the telescopic struts. clean all the balck goo off and spray more wd40 onto the mast. Then turn the radio off and help the mast down by pulling/pushing down on it. Then extend the mast again like previously explained, then repeat this over and over until the mast fully extends/decends on its own. Mine was seized almost all the way down when I got it, no it works like brand new. I still spray some wd40 on it once in a while to keep it lubed.

Mark,

didn't even have to make a new thread, KICKASS!

I'd recommend a silicone spray lube for the antenna mast, I used it on mine and it works a lot better than WD-40 (WD-40 is great for cleaning the goo off it, but for a lubricant, use silicone spray)

I apologize if this may have been covered somewhere else, but is there an adapter to replace the electric antenna with like some screw on whip one? Thanks!

I got one from crutchfield's to replace my sedan antenna, but they don't seem to have anything for the wagons.

That's incorrect as far as what lubricant to use. You need lubricant that acts as a water repellant and has the consitency such as vaseline. When I purchased a new OEM subaru original antenna because the old one was a rusted out mess, it was lubricated with a gelly-like substance.

LegacyT wrote:do what I did to fix mine:

pull the antenna up manually while turning the radio on to help it fully extend. Then spray WD40 on the antenna and a rag and clean the mast and work the wd40 into the telescopic struts. clean all the balck goo off and spray more wd40 onto the mast. Then turn the radio off and help the mast down by pulling/pushing down on it. Then extend the mast again like previously explained, then repeat this over and over until the mast fully extends/decends on its own. Mine was seized almost all the way down when I got it, no it works like brand new. I still spray some wd40 on it once in a while to keep it lubed.

Mark,

i just sprayed chain lube on it and it works more wonders than wonderwoman

anyone know how i can fix this issue

i have install aftermarket radio cd player and right now mno matter if i am on he cd player my power antenna rise up

and i dont want this we got big winter here and a lot of bag temper ppl around here.

is ther a way that trhe antenna rise only if the fm tuner is on?