musclecar70sfan

iTrader: (1)

Hey guys, the power antenna on my 91 Trans Am suddenly just went bad (like this morning) and the thing with it is that the motor can't seem to get a good grip on the antenna. It'll go up on its own pretty well, but when it needs to come back down when I turn the car off it gets stuck and the motor keeps going and going. I assumed that it would stop after a while but it doesn't seem like it. I have to go out and push the antenna down a bit so it can grab and then it slowly goes down. I was wondering if there's a way to disconnect the motor so the antenna just stays up all the time so I don't have to worry about forgetting to push the thing down and the motor killing the battery (A way to possibly fix the antenna permanently would be nice if anybody knows too). The fuse for the antenna also controls a few other things so I can't pull it out. Any help would be great.

87 WHITE GTA

I'd beat the crap out of the antenna,pour water while its up to short it out,or maybe you could take out the radio and cut the blue wire in the radio harness while the antenna its up (without current flowing through the wire obviously), crimp both ends of the cable to prevent shorts and you should be good to go.

musclecar70sfan

iTrader: (1)

Eh I don't wanna cut wires, just disconnect em. I guess I'll have to remove the pass. side inner fender and disconnect the motor from there since eventually I plan on replacing it with a good one. Call me corny but I like the power antenna.

JamesC

iTrader: (5)

IIRC, the relay on my 85 IROC is on the pass side under the dash. Disconnect it there and the motor won't run.

JamesC

87 WHITE GTA

you could use spade connectors.....(like the ones you use to connect speakers)....idk lol

84redta

iTrader: (34)

Remove the knee panel on the passenger side of the dash, there is where the relay is, once the antenna has gone up, pull both plugs out of the relay to eliminate any possiblity of a draw or signal. The plugs should be facing you, and there are 6 wires for the power antenna.

musclecar70sfan

iTrader: (1)

Unfortunately I didn't read this post and just proceeded on and removed the inner fender and snipped the 3 wires coming out of the motor... they were white, dark brown, and green. I'll worry about splicing them later when I'll have the front body panels taken off when I'll be doing a minor resto to my car in the winter.

Brendan91Z

The reason it will not go back down is inside the antenna itself there is a plactic strip that has little teeth on it and its about a good two in half feel long this allows the motor to make the antenna go up and down. When this breaks or the teeth start to where out it will not go up or down. You can get a replacment antenna mast for like twenty bucks but it has to be the one for that type of power antenna. Obviously the motor is still good because you can hear it running. Also there should be like a quick disconnect for the antenna it self so you can remove it you should just unplug that so you dont have to cut any wires.