Does anyone know how to manually operate the antenna? My moter took a dump on me, and I am planning on getting a replacement fixed antenna (really broke right now) soon but in the meantime, I like listening to my radio. I looked in the Haynes manual, and did a search but came up with nothing.

 

Grab it with pliers and pull it up is about as good as its gonna get, assuming the motor really is dead and its not a wiring or fuse problem. Its gonna be hard to do too, and you may break the internals, but the mast will still go up. I had one on my 85 GSL that the motor broke on, so I did just what I told you. Theres a nylon "rod" inside the motor housing that is attached at the top of the mast inside the antenna so when the motor turns one way the "rod" unrolls and pushes the mast up, and then when it turns the other way the "rod" pulls down and rolls back up. What happens sometimes with the pliers trick is the "rod" will break off the top of the antenna on the inside where its attached rather than the motor letting it un roll, if that makes sense. Either way the antenna will stay up all the time, thus letting you have radio whenever you want. Do a search for Radio Shack power antenna or something, I got one from them for like $15 or $20 or something and its almost a direct bolt on. Its a fun little project though .

~T.J.

 

Yep, mine was pooped out when I got it. Used pliers and pulled it up. I heard a snap, and it also is missing a good amount of antenna. So, I replaced it with a manny tanny.

 

The best way is to take the antenna assembly out of the car. Partially disassemble it (take the motor itself off) and crank it out by hand. You wont risk any damage to it. The hard part is reinstalling it with the antenna out.

 

What I want is a good tutorial of how to pull the antenna out, since it's such a bitch to even get a hand in the access hole to attempt to unbolt!

 

My advice would be to leave it down. If you need to go buy an aftermarket antenna and throw it in the back hatch temporarily. My antenna "died" in the up position and I figured hey, at least I can still listen to the radio. Well 3 "dumb people shopping bag / purse incidents" later my antenna is hanging by the nylon core. I was so stupid I cut it off because it was scratching may car and then read later that you can replace the mast while perserving your core and save a lot of $$$. sigh.

Anyways, if you leave the hard antenna up it'll probably get broken and then you're out even more than trying to fix the motor.

 

The easy way to remove the antenna is through the taillight hole. Keep it down until you replace it. It might be repairable unless you break something pulling it up forcibly.

 

Where can you get the replacement masts for them. The one on my '80 broke, but the motor works fine. Sorry for the thread jacking.

 

I'm not sure how close first-gen antennas are to second-gen, but I just finished replacing mine today. Just look for people parting out cars, I got my power antenna for $20 shipped. It wasnt stock and there was some fabrication involved, but it worked out in the end You don't need one that bolts into the bottom mounts either, the nut on top is enough to hold it in place. Have fun cramming it into the hole though

By the way, fixed antennas=gay. I bought my car with about a half-inch of fixed antenna left. Seriously, keep an eye out for people parting out cars and you can get them for next to nothing.

 

Check out Mazdatrix.