Seeing how often the question of fixing a power antenna comes up, and being that there is no detailed process of how to fix one, I figured I would make a walk-through on how to fix it.

A while ago, I took the power antenna assembly out of my car to fix. It wasn't until now I actually decided to tackle fixing it.

I don't remember exactly how the assembly came out of the fender, but I know the wheel had to come off and the lining in the fender had to be moved out of the way.

Anyway, my old antenna was bent, and it no longer retracted or came up. When I took it out, the green wire was cut. This was done by the previous owner to stop the motor from running endlessly due to the broken nylon cord. To make sure the motor still worked, I powered it up.

To make it go up, Green is +, Grey is -.
To retract it, Green is -, White is +.

Being that the mast was bent and the nylon cord was broken, I bought a brand new mast assembly from Modern Day Muscle.

First, you have to remove the clips holding the housing together.
There are 5 of these on the perimeter pf the housing. Just pry them off. Don't lose them.

Then drill out the rivets located in these positions. I used a handheld battery powered Porter Cable. You can see what one of the rivets look like, it's on the top right. The cylindrical brass thing.


Proceed to pry the housing apart. Mine was held together with glue, yours may not be. Here's what the guts if the thing look like. That white plastic gear holds the nylon cord.

The underside of that gear, where the nylon cord hooks to. I circled where it hooks in. Unhook it, and remove all the old cord still in there.


What was left of the nylon cord. The rest is in the old mast assembly.


To install the new mast, I extended the antenna all the way. I then hooked the nylon cord into the white gear and turned it so the cord sat inside the groove on the gear. Keeping it like that, lay the gear into position and place the grommet into position on the housing.

Then put the other half of the housing on, making sure the pins on the antenna mast are in the grommets on the housing. Put the clips back on to hold it together. Then I used hardware I had in place of the original rivets to hold it together securely.


All done. I tested it again to make sure it worked properly.

Here are the instructions I received with the mast assembly, they didn't help me much, though maybe they'll be useful to someone else.

 

Great write up, I need to do this soon. Thanks!!

 

would it be difficult to mount a new antenna if there wasnt a power antenna there to begin with? I have a new GM antenna that I have always been meaning to install.

 

I'm not sure, but I imagine the mounting brackets would still be in the fender. The car may have to be wired for it too; it wasn't uncommon for these cars to be wired for options they didn't have.

 

Anyone locate a nice 3 pin weatherpack connector to use for the power leads? I was planning on unplugging my mast yesterday as it constantly runs, only to my dismay to find that there is no plug of any kind.

 

The leads for the motor come from a harness under the passenger side of the dash. The motor plugs in there. Couldn't give you an exact location though, the Camaros are different than the Firebirds.

 

Very cool! Mine is broken as well. I'll have to dig in and see about fixing it now.

 

The problem with those mast assemblies is that the nylon cord is as old and brittle as the one in your car that broke. I never had much luck with the replacement cords. I went through a few of those nylon cords and finally replaced mine with a steel cable.

 

I went out to the garage today and heard a small electric motor running. It took me a few seconds to figure out that my power antenna motor was running continuously. I hadn't started the car or applied power to it for four days. I quickly unplugged my relay to make it stop. What would cause the motor to suddenly just start running? From reading other posts, I would assume that it is the nylon cord in the motor. Is that a safe assumption?

 

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While replacing the heater core, I found where the antenna lead is connected. There is a mount bolted to the lower dash support on the passenger side. With the dash pad off, you can clearly see it, although reaching around by hand from the bottom is a chore.

 

Wow, they're getting too expensive. Is it worth it? I'll see if I can't just get a universal antenna fit in there for a little more than half the price of just a mast.

 

Do you have to completely drill out the rivets and take the clips off in order to change the mast itself ? I noticed instructions say to rotate mast remove grommets. How do the grommets come off ? Them instructions aren't very helpful like was said.

 

yes, as nowherefast said, the brass grommets do have to be drilled out, you can replace them with 8/32x3/4 machine screw in the middle and 8/32x 1/2 around the edges. and make sure to put ALL of the clips back on.