Power Antenna Problem

[Late Night]

Late in December my power antenna stopped going up. I could hear the motor going but the antenna wouldn't move. I thought that it was frozen so I waited until today when it warmed up into the 40's to work on it. well today when doing some work on my SHO's (washing Lt. Titanium SHO, putting the intake back on the black SHO, and swapping cd players, I like the one in my black SHO more), I thought that I would check out what was going on with my antenna.

So here's the deal:
1. The motor works
2. It doesn't go up unless I pull up on it (it will stay up) and it only goes down
3. When it is up, I don't get any reception what so ever. All I get is static.

Since I replaced the mast on my black SHO, i thought I could do it today before it got dark out. Well, the chrome piece that you need to remove to get to the mast out is on there so tight I can't get it off like I did on my black SHO.

Any suggestions on how to get it off? And what's going on with my power antenna? broken mast?

 

[ES_8CH_OH]

Well, the chrome piece that you need to remove to get to the mast out is on there so tight I can't get it off like I did on my black SHO.

Hey, your about 45 min. from me!

I just did this repair last weekend. Same exact mast problem. I bought a new mast from ebay for $14.95 + $5 S&H. Ebay ID is: bridgewood_motorsports

Here is a tech article on mast removal.

SHOtimes tech article

There are two pieces you need to removed on my '94 SHO, so I'll assume you have the same setup on your '89. If your trying to get the chrome ring with the four indentations on it, I would recommend CAREFULLY taking a flat head screw driver to one of the tabs. Angle the screwdriver so if you slip you will slip away from the car. I put a T-shirt on the fender around the mast just in case I F'd up. Lightly tap the screwdriver with a hammer and the ring should start to work loose. Then you can take it off by hand.

Take a 14mm deep socket and slide it down the mast to remove the nut that is holding the mast in place. If you can't get it loose, shoot it with some PB Blaseter and let is sit. Once you have done that get someone to put the mast up inside the car while you hold on mast. The motor will push the greasy wound mast cable out too.

When you have both masts out, compare length of the mast cables. They are likely to be different lengths because a section of you mast cable is still stuck inside the motor. You should get that out.

You will have to take some of the 4 screws and 2 clips out from the inner fender to get to the motor. There is one small nut holding motor to the fender where the A pillar is. Take that out. When you have to put it back in, I recommend sticking some rope caulk or chewing gum in the socket to hold the bolt in place for easy starting. You have to remove two wire harnesses and pull the antenna cable out from the mast assembly.

Take the nut off, open the motor and take the C-clip off. Pull the plasitic ring off and your remaining section of mast cable should be inside. Put is all back together in the reverse order. You may want to add some more grease. I used di-electric grease.

The mast cable teeth should point ot the front of the car. Feed it in when someone activates the antenna down switch. Tighten up the 14mm. nut and put the mast up and down a couple times and it should sit right. Then tighten up the chrome ring.

 

[Late Night]

Hey, your about 45 min. from me!

I just did this repair last weekend. Same exact mast problem. I bought a new mast from ebay for $14.95 + $5 S&H. Ebay ID is: bridgewood_motorsports

There are two pieces you need to removed on my '94 SHO, so I'll assume you have the same setup on your '89. If your trying to get the chrome ring with the four indentations on it, I would recommend CAREFULLY taking a flat head screw driver to one of the tabs. Angle the screwdriver so if you slip you will slip away from the car. I put a T-shirt on the fender around the mast just in case I F'd up. Lightly tap the screwdriver with a hammer and the ring should start to work loose. Then you can take it off by hand.

Malvern isn't that far away. I travel out to york to party with a friend who goes out to school there. I'm actually heading out that way at the end of the month.

Thanks for the info on where you got the antenna. I don't really have the time to get into it this week with school and work.

The problem that I was having was getting that chrome trim with the indentations off. On my parts SHO it was easy to just twist off, but this one is on there tight. Maybe I'll find an easier way of getting that trim off next week when I have the time.

How long did it take you to get the whole job done?

 

[ES_8CH_OH]

If I had all the info when I got started, it may have taken an hour. I thought I could just take the antenna out and put the new one in, then I saw the mast cable was broke. I could not get the antenna out because I did not know there was a 14mm nut down there holding it in place. My project turned into a two day project becuase I needed to dig up more info on how to get the motor out.