Ok folks, my antenna broke awhile ago. I went and bought the replacement mast from the dealer, and dove in to fix it.

I read Rob's site about how to replace the antenna. I was hoping I would be able to just pull it out from the top, and put the new antenna in....no dice. The cord was down in the mechanism.

So, I pulled all the interior pieces out and pulled out the mechanism. I took the housing apart and pulled out the toothed cord.

Now my question. How do you get the new cord to engage the gear and wrap back up in the housing? I have tried turning the radio on and off, to get it to grab the cord...but it jams. The new cord is stiff, and not coiled. I really need help from someone who has replaced their mast.

PLEASE HELP!

Patrick

 

Keep trying, That's how it works just make sure you have the teeth going the right way.

 

You have the right idea, just keep trying. Make sure you've got the the mast far enought inside, so that the teeth engage. Also when your done, wd40 the antenna, and then grease it to prevent this from happening again.

eric

 

So, I should just feed it in when the antenna tries to retract? And let the motor pull it in and spool it up?

I took it apart, and the cord has to wrap around and kind of go up a little ramp and then start spooling. It doesn't look like it will do it by itself. It looks like it will keep getting stuck.

I was going to try to spool it up myself, making sure the cord teeth engaged the gear teeth, and try to put it back together?

What do you guys think?

I don't want to have to take it for the dealer at this point....

Thanks,
Patrick

 

^

 

What happened to me was I went to test the antenna before it was fully installed and the whole length of the cord unwound. Before you test the antenna be sure to put the outside black collar on or else the whole thing comes unraveled. To get the cord wound you will need to remove all of the gears first. You will not be able to push the cord back in because of the interlocking gears. I took the whole thing apart and rewound the cord by hand. Takes patience, skill and a little luck to get it back into the cord housing but it can be done.


Good Luck

 

Hey,

I replaced my antenna mast by disassembling the unit and recoiling the new mast, it worked great and is still working fine after the four or five months it's been in, hope that helps.

Andrew Wojteczko,

93 RX7 R1

 

Ok. I have had a few different suggestions.

I am sure that rewinding the cable after disassembly will be more difficult that feeding the cable into the antenna housing, and having the gear grab it and pull it in.

My big question is will feeding it in really work? I tried a couple times, and the motor just shut off because it was binding I think. When I had the unit disassembled, it seemed like feeding the cable in would work except that the cable wants to straighten out, and it kept getting stuck at the bottom of the unit, and didn't wrap around the spool like it should.

Has anyone sucessfully fed the cable in on an FD and had it pull itself in, and spool up? It sounds like Hapa and Jeffshoots have....maybe I am just unlucky.

I will try the feed-in method tonight. Worst case, I will try to take it apart again, and spool it myself (DREAD)....

Later,
Patrick

 

The procedure is given in the shop manual. Sorry, I don't have the page reference right now. So going from memory, I believe it states:

1. Turn on the radio. (the motor will now run
in the direction to extend the antenna, it will
eventually shut off.)
2. Align the toothed cable from the antenna with the teeth facing the front of the car and push
it into the antenna hole. Turn off the radio
and the motor will be rotating in the direction
to lower the antenna. Feed in the cable, while the motor is running, it should catch and be drawn into the hole. (note: as I remember the manual says to have the teeth facing front, mine was actually REVERSED from the manual's, i.e. facing rearwards. You may have to try both ways as I can't remember for sure which is the proper direction.

Remember that the motor is only running in the proper direction when you turn the radio OFF.

Hope this helps.

Mark

 

ArcWelder -

Thanks. I would love to know what section the antenna is located in the manual. I have the manual in electronic format (.pdf), and I have looked through every section. I cannot find it anywhere.

I believe it is a known error in the manual that the cord teeth are supposed to face toward the rear of the car.

I guess I will just keep trying tonight, and hopefully it will suck it in, instead of getting jammed up....

Thanks for all the help.

At the very least this will be a good thread for the archives, because there weren't a ton that described this situation in detail.

Later,
Patrick

 

Arcwelder is correct, I had to turn off the radio for it to accept the mast. Also it took me several tries before it lined up. If your still having too many problems, I'd just take it to a stereo shop and ask an installer for some help, they should help you put in for free. Tip him a couple bucks or something.

eric

 

Ok. I fixed it!

The key to the entire thing was I had to push a bit harder. That is it.

When it started to grab the cord, I wasn't really pushing any more. I let the motor take over. I just had to give it a bit of a shove when it started to bind, and it sucked it right in.

Overall, it wasn't really hard at all. If I knew I had to give it a bit of a shove when it started to bind, I would have been done last night!

Thanks to everyone that posted. This is why the forum is so great.

You guys rule.

Thanks again,
Patrick

 

ahhh...sucess...

 

For reference purposes, the power antenna is in the RX-7 Body Electrical Troubleshooting part of the paper Workshop Manual, Section J1, Page J1-53. It's not included in the .pdf electronic copy.

Mark

 

Not in the .pdf copy? Ouch. We need to get that in .pdf....

Thanks a ton ArcWelder.

Patrick

 

The procedure is located in the TSB and Recall section of the '93 Mitchell manual on my site. TSB for electrical and accessories. If anyone has the body electrical manual and would be willing to loan it out for a few days, I'd be happy to scan it and get it on the site - or scan it and I'll host it.