Hello all,

My antenna has been stuck partially up for a while now. It was hooked up to raise and lower with the power to the radio but suddenly stopped. Aftermarket Pioneer headunit, nothing exceptional. It seems ever so slightly bent but not to the degree that it shouldn't retract. I literally never use the FM/AM radio and thus don't care about it raising and lowering and prefer it just stay lowered to allow me to use a car cover.

Any thought about how to simply lower the antenna in the easiest way possible.

 

Usually when that happens you can just push it down with your hand. Have you tried that?

 

Once you get it down , you can make it stay down by pulling out the delay relay or disconnecting the antenna power lead at the radio so it never gets the up signal.

 

I hadn't tried this yet for fear of damaging some part of the collapsable structure by pushing down too hard but I might try just sliding it down

 

Hi John,


There is an assumption that this problem is electrical in nature?


I found that road grime would eventually bind the joins in the aerial thus stopping it from fully extending or retracting properly.


A regular 'service item' on my list when I had my xjs was to regularly (every couple of weeks if the weather was wet & miserable) squirt light machine oil into the joins of the aerial and turn the radio on and off letting the mast fully extend and retract until it moved freely.

Having someone in the drivers seat, whilst I was servicing the mast with said oil and a rag to mop up the extra oil made for a pretty quick exercise.


Hope this isn't barking up the wrong tree


Cheers,


Nigel

 

The motor is probably ok. What happens is the plastic teeth on the aerial wear, and won't catch the gear on the motor any longer.

 

I have taken a few "dead ones" apart and repaired them. Usually they fail because no one has given the joints a small squirt of "oil and exercise".

Sometimes the drain hole in the motor casing has plugged up with rust and allows moisture from water running down the mast to collect at the bottom of the housing , inside of it.

The mast is pushed/pulled by a nylon cord on a spool. I would check for any interruption of 12V+ at the relay as well.

If you squirt some oil (Release All / PB Blaster / WD 40 ect.) and disconnect/reconnect the power to the unit and turn the radio to "on" the antenna should try to rise... maybe pulling it up to help things along will help.

 

Great advice everyone. Yes, I'm completely uninterested in it operationally and frankly I'd rather it stay down. I think it looks better that way (less like an old R/C car) plus I have zero need for it in any situation and it being down will make my car cover fit more easily around the body.

Simply pushing down did not work. It was unable to continue sliding down as interference was causing the antenna to bend, i stopped applying pressure before I risked breaking anything.

I will try pulling up and/or getting some type of lubricant going along the mast as well (this problem has persisted for weeks now and even if it was properly lubed before, it certainly is not now) and see if I can't get it to retract and then follow the disconnect procedure to keep it down. From the sounds of things, I don't think it is even trying anymore but it can be tough to hear exactly what's happening.