My power antenna crapped out about 6 months ago. Anyone know of a reputable rebuilder or aftermarket choice, or should I just do the smart thing and get a manual telescoping antenna and be done with it? I only listen to MP3 and MP4 so IDC, but I am selling the car. Not paying $550 for a NOS unit. Even if it's gold plated. LOL
Thanks

 

Do a search. There is a tutorial on how to fix/upgrade the unit you have for a fraction of the cost.

 

I just replaced the mast in my '99 jaguar and it took like ten minutes and cost $15. My motor was good but the mast was all gummed up.

 

I pulled mine and sent it off for repair. The common failure with these is the nylon ribbon that drives from a drum on the motor and pushes the mast up, or pulls it down when reversed. That nylon gets old, brittle, and breaks. This fellow replaces the nylon with a plastic coated steel cable. The DIY instructions are here on the forum somewhere, but I figured his experience at doing these was worth the modest cost.

Note his ad pictured below is from 2011. I have no idea if he is still with us, or if he still works on these.

This is where I started doing mine...and a few other projects along the way.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...ml#post5898351

 

My Power Antenna frign' broke yesterday after backing it into the garage for the night. Shut the car off and could hear the motor spinning & spinning & spinning,.....................

 

Replacement antenna was installed about an hour after posting this morning. That frign' Power Antenna relay is a major PITA to access ( in a Camaro) and I just didn't want to deal with that thing this morning ! I'd normally do a "full service" replacement on this, but after thinking about it over morning coffee I decided to play "Johnny Shortcut" and cut/spliced the factory wires inside the fender-well then unscrewed the antenna cable from the antenna motor so I could re-use the original Cable & Wiring and didn't have to touch anything INSIDE the car.

Then Metallica,........ lot's of Metallica !

 

That's when mine died. Got home from the last drive of the fall, pulled in the garage, shut it off, and it broke. Pulled the fuse and dealt with it in the spring!

 

motor is cooked

 

cool, thanks. I will look him up

 

Hamburger, Your car would have better resale value if you sell the car as it was originally purchased new. In the back of the car there is a small storage compartment and pasted to the inside of the lid is a record showing all of the options on the car as delivered. I just purchased from Classic Industries, they are located In Huntington Beach, CA, a Original Equipment Reproduction power antenna. It comes as a kit, but installation instructions are lacking. I paid less than $74.00 for the kit and it was on sale when I ordered my kit. There are several posts on line explaining how to replace the complete power antenna. Basically you may need to remove the inner fender and possibly the outer fender. I have a similar problem with my 1992 Firebird Special Edition so I'm waiting for it to get a bit cooler here in Southern California before I tackle the remove and replace. I'm hoping to locate a GM OEM replacement mast so I won't need to remove the inner fender.

 

Thanks for the update.
I will first replace the relay. Then if the antenna is bad, I found a reputable rebuilder of power antennas in GA.

The RPO codes on my car are glued on the inside of the console.

I had no luck on Ebay. I will try Hemmings. There are not many people in the US tht can buy this and store it in a garage without a nagging wife.

I need to get at least 10k out of the car. Otherwise I will just drive it.

Cheers

Mark

 

You can just get a factory replacement antenna - same one GM used:


GD

 

Is that amazon unit plug n play for a 3rd gen or is it a universal mod to fit unit?

 

i've seen chinese knock off in person. not saying this is one, but, they look similar and definitely not same quality. if you can imagine that

 

Ive purchased several of replacements. had one last three years, this one posted i just bought. It was plug n play except the wiring harness to the relay was to short, had to splice wiring to reach relay. This was in a 88 gta. it also broke the second time i started the car. it pulled out of the retainer.

 

"Made in China"

 

I haven't had any problem with the Crown unit - I've had one installed in my daily driver for about a year and a half, and the reviews are good. It is 100% exactly like the original GM unit. As with most thing - success depends on proper installation.

GD

 

Wont argue that you had success general,just posting my findings. wiring to short and it broke the second time it was used. Install was professionally done by myself. installation had nothing to do with wiring being to short or the cable pulling out of the retainer. I disassembled the unit and found the cable pulled out of the steel retainer because the compressed tangs in the steel retainer were barely compressed. Not a big deal i fixed it and put it back together. Once again this is just my findings, others im sure had better results than I. Facts are your friend.



Tim

 

I bought one of these from Rock Auto for a little less than Amazon - Rock Auto doesn’t carry them anymore, but it’s the same. It went in with no issues and most importantly, it now works. Going on two years, no problems.

 

Interesting - and unfortunate. But all manufactured goods have some kind of failure rate. Lots of people have used them with good results. Nice you were able to fix it. I'm sure they would have exchanged it also. Either way sounds like it's working now and your experience may be a statistical outlier.

GD

 

Im tempted to open the crown piece i bought and replace that plastic cable.Of course my stock antenna decided to start working before the replacement arrived and its still working!