Rxcalibur

I went to the store earlier and noticed that the power antenna was retracted completely. The thing was that I didn't turn the power off to the radio before I turned the power off to the car itself. So I knew there was a problem right away.

I took the radio out to take a look to see if anything had disconnected. The blue and red wire that provides power to the antenna was disconnected. It had been connected by a butt end connector because someone cut the wire for whatever reason. Unfortunately I don't have any butt end connectors to join the wire back together. I still tested the wire by joining the ends together.

Instead of the antenna going up the only thing that happened was a clicking sound instead of the normal sound the power antenna motor makes when its turned on. That being said I have know idea what's wrong with the antenna now, the fuse was not blown either. As you will be able to see, in the pictures below, the wire is split very close to the plastic connector end. I wish there was a junk yard around here, so I could get the same 3 prong connector end with the three wires. I have no idea where else to find one.

RexRX

Mine doesn't work either. I ohm'd the wiring and it's getting power all the way back. I'm assuming the motor is busted.

slayerx7

iTrader: (4)

Looks to me like you know what your talking about and what you need to do
My advice would either to solder the existing ends you have back together in the car (which can be a real bitch I know!!) Or if you have enough length, just twist the ends together and wrap it with electrical tape (my usual means of repair hahahah)
Probally the best way though is to strip a little insulating off the wire at both ends, find some spare wire, and soder the spare wire to connect both ends. That way you would have more slack to work with. Ill bet even some spare speaker wire would do the job maybe 14 gauge? then wrap up the soldering job in electrical tape, get a new antenna motor, and you should be good to go!

64mgb

iTrader: (1)

Those terminals will come out of the plastic housing. There is a tab inside the plastic housing that you need to pry out of the way with a very small screwdriver or other such device. It can be a little difficult, but once you get it released, the terminal will slip out of the rear of the housing and then you can do your work. When you're done, just insert the terminal back into the housing and it will snap into place.

Please, please, please don't fix it by twisting them together and taping. You're just asking for more trouble. If nothing else, you can get a sleeve with solder in it that you slip over the splice and heat up with a heat gun. The solder melts and solidifies when the heat is removed. BUT, if you're going to do this, you'll have to protect the surrounding area from the heat.

Rich

Rxcalibur

I just reconnected the ends together and the antenna still isn't working. I still hear that same clicking sound that I heard only when I twisted the ends together earlier. So tomorrow I'm going to check out the antenna motor and make sure there's power going to it and that nothing is disconnected. I'm also going to check the fuse again. I was looking at the mast and appears the be sunken into the exterior mount further in than usual. Thanks everyone for the feedback.

snwyvern

Is there a source for a power antenna replacement? Or is there an aftermarket replacement that fits in the stock ... slot? (Wiring is easy to make it go up/down with the rocker switch)

Rxcalibur

This morning I spent a some time checking out the power antenna unit. The motor is definately shot. The only thing the antenna motor did today was heat up. It kind of sucks how one day the antenna works fine, then retracts one last time and then that's it nothing the next day. I still have the original power antenna that I replaced because of a snapped mast. I plugged it in to test and it still buzzes when the stereo is turned on. So I might use the mast from the burnt out unit and change it out into the original unit. Is there any chance that the problem might be from the tuner itself because it would suck swapping everything around (complete rebuild of unit required to install new mast) and not get this problem fixed. I might go with a non power antenna but I really want to keep everything original with stock components for this Rx7.

64mgb

iTrader: (1)

I just got one from here:
http://antennax.com/

It requires a little wiring, because it doesn't operate the same as the stock antenna. On the stock antenna, they actually change the polarity of the voltage to the motor to reverse it. On this one, it goes up when there is power on one of the wires, and it goes down when there is no power on it. It seems to work ok, but the seal on the top side is a different size that the stock one (and I couldn't make the stock one work), so it looks a little odd.

Rich

snwyvern

Do you have a pic of it installed with the mast up/down? I'm interested to fix my busted crap... However...

Rxcalibur

If it ever stops raining today (.....and if I have time before the superbowl) I'm going to swap the mast from my Rx7's burnt out power antenna unit into the my Rx7's original power antenna unit. I will post pictures of the disassembly and reassembly of the power antenna unit. This shouldn't take that long to do and the only thing that might be a pain in the *** is reconnecting the power antenna cable(inside the drive mechanism) to the mast correctly.

Rxcalibur

I just finished switching eveything out (just like I thought it would be changing the cable was the worst part) and unfortunately the antenna still doesn't work. As a matter of fact things are worse. I wanted to see if unit would work now so I hooked it up. I turned the radio on and noting happened but a clicking sound (not a popping sound). I checked the power antenna fuse and it was fine, then I went to the antenna unit and the motor was red hot. To make things worse now the radio has no sound. Absolutely no sound to any speaker at any volume. Does anybody have an idea about why the antenna motor is getting so hot and why the stereo isn't sending any sound to the speakers.

dbragg

iTrader: (7)

i plan on getting one of the rear window mounted antennas and shaving off my power antenna. thats also an option but requires more extensive work.

snwyvern

I've talked to people that have those- I'm in Colorado and short cars get poor radio reception with dipole masts as it is... Rice friends get super-crappy-lack-of-anything with the glass mounted or flat dash antennas... At least here.

boyee

iTrader: (3)

sucks to hear rxcalibur. there are tiny gears inside the motor which catch each other when spinning to turn and push up the antenna. they go bad sometimes and u have to switch to a new motor. for your radio not giving any sound, it might be because of a bad ground and you fried your radio. i am not sure about any of this though but just thought id put some say in this. what year is your car? and what type of radio do you have?

Rxcalibur

My Rx7 is a 1985 GSL with the Clarion system with the eq, tape deck,etc. I lucked as far as the radio goes, turned out to be a blown fuse. Everything is working fine now. The fuse must have blown out when I reconnected the antenna power wire followed by the connecting the antenna harness. The only fuse that I had checked before was the one for the power antenna which was fine, but another fuse was blown. I would have never checked but I noticed that my the door buzzer wasn't working along with the map light, too. My new dome light still isn't working, I think the bulb burnt out.

That fuse might have been blown out the whole time, so maybe the antenna will work now. I just going to leave everything alone for now. I have left all the connections for the power antenna disconnected except for the black signal wire. The antenna is mounted so I can always raise the antenna manually if I want. Besides that I'm really getting tired of disassembling the center panel so I can mess with that antenna power wire to the tuner. I wish mazda would sell a complete power antenna unit, but I guess, from what I have heard, you have to buy the mast and motor separate and then assemble them together (what a pain that is).

64mgb

iTrader: (1)

Here's some pictures.

Rich

boyee

iTrader: (3)

yes it is tedious to keep taking out that center stereo surround panel. also for the fuses being blown may this be a lesson to everyone touching anything with wires to disconnect the battery before starting on anything. i burnt my fuses by messing with my radio as well. replaced them and the dome light/map light/ignition light and buzzer all worked again after i dont know how many years...

Rxcalibur

My turn for pictures.....stock Rx7 "round top" antenna.

Rotary Weasel

I just want to know how difficult it is to put a fuba in the rear washer mounting hole? I currently have the ol rubber black deal on my antenna..wouldn't mind ditching that

Rxcalibur

Actually that not a bad idea, never thought of that. You could probably use an antenna like a VW Bug has. You could find a way to run the black signal wire through the headliner by following the path of the wiring that connects to the rear defroster/rear wiper motor tab which is attached to the hatch glass. Not sure how you would mount it without doing a little custom work. Are you running a stock stereo or an aftermarket set up?

Rotary Weasel

im running an alpine so aftermarket..I mentioned the fuba becuase i've seen a members car in the FB pics section with such a setup..so obviously it's doable

Rxcalibur

Knew I saw FBs with a fuba antenna on them somewhere. Like I said you can run any required wiring through the headliner. A fuba should mount pretty easy with usually just single bolt, to hold them in place, underneath the unit.

jonjonwells

FUBA??? My antanna was recently ripped off my car and am looking at options, but have never heard of this term.

Rotary Weasel

Fuba is a brand..they make some interesting antenna designs, notably the VW standard roof antenna which has exploded in popularity and is most noted origins from the european market..next time you see a VW Jetta or GTi look at the little black roof antenna..most Mazdas now have them as well Mazda 3 and 6..those are Fubas or another brand knockoff

Rxcalibur

All the interior lights are working and back to normal now after doing some work. However the logicon heater controls are not working. The buttons for the controls don't light up and it's stuck in heat mode (won't change to vent, bi-level, or defogger). Maybe another fuse is out, but I might have to replace the logicon unit now.