Messed up electronics

[clewis]

My problems began when I was trying to replace my power antenna, which was sticking part way up. Knowing how much a new mast costs from the last time I replaced it, I bought a "universal" antenna from a parts store. When removing the old antenna, I started by trying to pull out the mast, but I thought I just needed to remove the outer nut. I forgot that there was an inner nut, so I kept trying to pull the antenna up, and it kept retracting. Eventually I realized what the problem was and I got it out. Then I removed the power antenna unit and tried to install the new antenna, but found that none of the connections were compatible with the car's wiring. So I put the original unit back in and tried to reinsert the mast.

Now I cannot turn the radio on at all. The antenna motor, when it runs at all, only runs in the direction of pushing the mast out. In addition, the clock light is on all the time.

What have I done, and how do I correct it? Help!

Thanks,
Cliff Lewis

 

[IndyMP]

check a fuse cliff. my guess is that in trying to pull out the antennae mast you may have inadvertantly crossed 2 wires and blew a fuse either in the fuse box or perhaps the fuse on the back of the radio itsself. Here is a step by step on how to change it out......

http://www.ehow.com/how_4079_replace-power-car.html

 

[clewis]

Problem solved

Problem solved

I gave up and took it to the corner garage. Strangely enough, they traced the problem to a broken ground wire on the radio, even though I didn't go anywhere near the radio while I was working on the antenna. I suppose it is conceivable that I somehow pulled on the antenna cable so hard that it dislodged the ground wire all the way up in the instrument panel. Otherwise, it must have been just a coincidence that the wire decided to fail while I was trying to fix the antenna.

My confidence is somewhat restored. I don't always know what I am doing, but I usually don't make such a mess of things when I work on them.