Power Antenna

[97vulcan]

I sprayed my power antenna with a graphite spray today, and now it doesn't want to extend all the way when the cd player is turned on. WTH?? Then I tried cleaning it with WD-40 and it helped alot, but when its going back into the housing it makes like a rubbing sound. What can I do to clean it the best? to make sure all the graphite is off it? Any help is appreciated! :help:

Thanks,
Adam

 

[97vulcan]

wow....guess no one else has had a cleaning problem with their power antenna.

-Adam

 

[LauraSVT]

wow....guess no one else has had a cleaning problem with their power antenna.

-Adam

Making sure that its clean should be enough to get it to go. For the low price of a replacemnt, I wouldn't spend too much time chasing it down. I'm assuming, of course, that the cord is not broken or stripped. If you decide to plunk down the 18 clams on a new one, here's a good way to go (for once, Ebay parts are ok to use):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Powe...ryZ33639QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[97vulcan]

LauraSVT,

Thanks for the reply. Is it not a good idea to turn the antenna when it is fully extended? I was turning it a bit. LOL. Hope this didn't mess anything up.

-Adam

 

[LauraSVT]

LauraSVT,

Thanks for the reply. Is it not a good idea to turn the antenna when it is fully extended? I was turning it a bit. LOL. Hope this didn't mess anything up.

-Adam

Shouldn't be a problem. The mast itself can spin on the cord to some degree. I wouldn't think you busted it doing that.

 

[97vulcan]

Well I cleaned it some more today, and it seems to be working fine with no noise. Just out of curisity, would it hurt the motor if the antenna came up half way or any otherway but fully extended? Would the motor keep running because it wants to fully extend the antenna?

-Adam

 

[LauraSVT]

Well I cleaned it some more today, and it seems to be working fine with no noise. Just out of curisity, would it hurt the motor if the antenna came up half way or any otherway but fully extended? Would the motor keep running because it wants to fully extend the antenna?

-Adam

The motor does eventually time out; it won't run ad nauseam. To wit, the power antenna in my Town Car gave up the ghost back in early September. Interestingly, the cord was fine -- the failure occured when the metal mast broke about half way up. Thus, the top half flopped over by the quarter panel. With nothing to push against, the motor effectively ejected most of the remaining cord and mast, creating quite a spectacle. There was nothing to stop it -- I pulled the rest out easily. For the next few days, until I could get another one, the motor would run for a couple minutes (a bit longer than would be required if the antenna were fine) at startup to no avail. However, it is "programmed" to only run for so long, designed to avoid a situation where it runs until it burns out in the absence of an antenna.

In your specific situation, half way up is less of a problem. The motor will stop when it hits resistance. If it isn't going all the way up, though, I'd replace it, since the solution is easy and cheap.