I've known from the day I bought my car that my power antenna was broken, but a few days ago I looked under the dash and found three cut wires, when I hooked them back up the antenna motor kept running nonstop. Has anyone here replaced their antenna cable and mast before? And where is the best place to get a replacement (low cost)?

I'm having body work done on my car right now which includes replacement of the fender. I'd like to fix this antenna while the fender is off.

 

When i got my ride the dude said the antenna wouldn't go down at all and the motor kept running? Plus they tried to force it down and bent it!!!
Make a long story short I looked all over for a cheap one and nothing! I couldnt see myself paying between 150-200$ for one either. Ended up getting a fixed or non electric one for 7$!!! Took me 25 mins to install, works great and i get all my stations here in LA. The only hard part was getting use to it. Just looked out of place at first. Now its no big deal!

Another thing alot of 3rd genners are doin is shaving the antenna off and sealing the hole. You can get one that'll be hidden and i heard they work fine too. If you have the fender off that may be something to consider dude. Good luck.

 

Yeah I tempted to get one of these and fill in the hole.
http://www.keenzo.com/showproduct.as...1332878&ref=GB

 

You can order a power antenna repair kit and fix it. It really isn't that hard. I paid $17 for my repair kit. I can't remember the part number though. Do a search for antenna repair kit and you'll find an old number. Call the dealer or an AC Delco parts supplier and they will cross reference the new number.

To replace the antenna, remove the fender liner, unscrew the one screw that holds the antenna bracket to the car inside the fender. Remove the black nut on top of the fender. Remove the rubber plug and wires from the body. You will need to unplug the antenna wire from the radio and fish the wire out. You can also unplug the 3 wire plug from the dash area so that you can splice the wires back together. Fish the antenna out of the fender area. It's easiest with the mast down so hopefully it broke in that position. If not, do not break the antenna, it will cost a lot to replace.

Once the antenna is out, you will see copper colored clips on the surrounds of the antenna assembly. Do not remove the clips yet. You will also see 3 riveted areas with one being in the middle of the circle. Carefully drill those out, then you can remove the clips. Pry the cover off without cracking it. Clean up any caulk residue.

Unscrew the ball on top of the mast. The ball on top holds the cable assembly inside the antenna. remove the old broken antenna, install the new one in the down position. Place a light bead of caulk along the edge of the casing. install cover. Replace the clips and install three screws and nuts in the place that the rivets were drilled out. Reinstall the opposite way you removed it.

 

My mast is broken, and the wires have also been cut. When I bought the car somebody had stuck a clothes hanger in it.

 

Where is the mast broken? The very top piece? That gets replaced with the repair kit. If the lower portions are broken, you need to locate a replacement from the junk yard. You can reuse all of your antenna parts or you can replace it with the junk yard part. You will need the ball that screws on the top though. That's what holds the antenna together.

You can also splice the wires back together and make it look good. Nobody sees them anyway.

If you need the repair kit only, which consists of the nylon ribbon and the top mast of the antenna only, you need part number 19151297. If you need to replace the antenna portion and not the motor assembly, Eckler's has this part number 738095

 

It's hard to say which part is broken, but judging by the size of the hole that the coat hanger was stuck in I'm guessing it's the lower part. When I found those cut wires I didn't know what they went to, so I hooked them up and that's when I heard the antenna motor running continuously.

 

Did you just apply power to them or did you hook them back up to the original wiring? The plug is above the right knee of the passenger dash. There is a large plug that is right in front of the 3 wire connector under the dash. A little maneuvering and you can unplug the connector and resplice the wires. Then you can plug the connector in after you replace the antenna.

 

I hooked it back up to the original wiring, somebody had taken wire cutters to them.