My power antenna has never worked on my FD since I bought it 2 years ago. Well, I finally got around to trouble shooting it today. When I got to it, I found that it wasn't even plugged in. I plugged it in and turn the battery & radio on (after market Pioneer DEH-P20 CD/Radio). Well, I quickly realized why it was unplugged. The antenna goes up no problems, but when it is funny extended it continues to click/grind as if the motor is still trying to make it go up. I turned the radio off and the antenna goes down fine. Is this something fixable or do I need a need antenna?

 

Doesn't anyone have any ideas?

 

While I haven't taken apart the antenna from a FD, they are all basically the same in that they have "up" and "down" limiters, either fully electronic or electro-mechanical.
Take it out and take it apart and you will likely see some little broken piece of plastic that was a 'trigger' for the "up" limiter.

 

If you look at the electrical manual, you we discover that the retractable antenna is for AM only and the FM is in the rear windshield. That is why there are two antenna cables going into the radio.

If you do not listen to AM, why waste money on it.

When my car was repainted, I removed the antenna and had them weld in steel where the hole was so now you can't tell it ever had an antenna there.

 

most common: broken antenna mass cable. if so, just replace the antenna mass.

 

mast

 

thanks.

 

Are there 2 antenna wires then that plug into the back of the stereo?? I only saw 1 & it was plugged into my after market CD player and when I have the antenna all hooked up and it goes up, the FM radio stations come in all nice and clear!

 

Most automotive radios have the AM antenna built-in (it looks like a coil); they only need external antennas for FM.

 

So is the power antenna for AM or FM?? cewrx7r1 said that the power antenna does am only............

 

I intentionally avoided that little detail -- I always *thought* the stock FM radio would use the stronger signal from the 2 antennae, but that was just an assumption on my part.
Does your AM work?

 

No it doesn't, but I know that the antenna wire that hooks up to the radio is the wire that hooks up to the power antenna because when that was plugged in & it was going up (& grinding at the fully extended position) my FM was coming in great & I didn't think to check the AM. Is there another cable for the antenna on the rear window that is supposed to plug into the radio? If so I will swap it and just leave the power antenna alone (since I don't usually listen to the AM stations).

 

Looks like Chuck was right.

 

not to thread jack but i had an issue with my antenna today as well. took it in to get a new headunit installed and figure out why i was getting crappy reception. so we took it apart and found out one of the previous owners unhooked the stock antenna and installed one of those little box one's you stick to the window, only problem is he crammed it in the dash and left it there. so we fixed and reattached the stock one and it sounded great, but its half seized from not moving. so now it only goes halfway up .

in short, i have no idea how to fix yours lol. just take it out and have a look at it, seems like the best starting point to me.

 

I did take it out and I have since figured out why it wasn't working. Right now I am trying to figure out what it does......does it do the FM or AM. If it doesn't do the FM, I am just gonna put it back in unplugged & try to figure out why antenna in the rear window is not getting me any reception.

 

I would take Chuck's word for what it does. He practically has the entire electrical schematic of the FD memorized!

 

The power antenna is for the FM radio.