I'm trying to fit a new mast to the existing antenna, and I've come across a small hiccup.

I've got everything out and ready to go, and the motor itself is fine, just I can't feed the teeth from the mast into the motor because it doesn't want to spin the gears down.

I've had it apart, and each and every time you turn the car on it spins the large gear clockwise to put the aerial up, but because (I'm guessing anyway) theres no aerial there, it doesn't register the aerial being up, so when I turn the car off, it doesn't spin the other way to bring it back down (ie. I can't thread the teeth cord in).

Is there something inside the motor I can apply pressure to while its running so it thinks the aerial (which isn't there) is up, hence making it spin the other way when I turn the car off?

Heres a piccy of the motor:
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/rhys_fairall/AMC/100_4107-Copy.jpg

Cheers guys.

Pretty sure it would not know if there is an aerial in there or not. So could be that the aerial is buggered.

Does it spin in or out or at all when you give it power?

Could also be, I think there might be another aerial of some sort, that will make the antenna go up and down. I haven't looked at the wires on mine, but I know it hooked up to the radio, so if you turn off the radio the antenna goes down, even if the car is on. So maybe there is another wire you need to add/connect, which is why it will not put the aerial up???

Maybe just try installing the mast while the whole thing is still in the car, shouldn't be any need to take it out, just makes it harder!

Ollie

Hi Lugo,
I did this a while ago and if i remember correctly, i had the motor appart as well. The car does not know if the antenna is up or down, it is just a case of there being power sent thru a wire. (if theres power=up, if none=down) This wire is controlled directly off the radio. not the car.To make the antenna retract, leave the car in ACC and turn you radio off (i had to get someone to help me with this). the motor will start spinning and it is then that you thread the wire in. Hope this helps:) .
(p.s. thanks for the defence in a different thread. Cheers Michael:cool: )

Hi Lugo,
I did this a while ago and if i remember correctly, i had the motor appart as well. The car does not know if the antenna is up or down, it is just a case of there being power sent thru a wire. (if theres power=up, if none=down) This wire is controlled directly off the radio. not the car.To make the antenna retract, leave the car in ACC and turn you radio off (i had to get someone to help me with this). the motor will start spinning and it is then that you thread the wire in. Hope this helps:) .
(p.s. thanks for the defence in a different thread. Cheers Michael:cool: )

Hi Lugo and everyone

I think Michael and Ollie are right. If it still doesn't happen for you then I'd cheat by doing the following:
Reassemble the unit to the point where the aerial tail will feed in, then disconnect (or desolder) the drive motor from the control board. Use a 9v battery and apply it directly to the motor and let the worm gear wind the aerial in gradually until it's all the way in. Reconnect. The control board's logic should sort it out. It may try to wind itself in but normally the clutches in the drive will prevent any mechanical damage from this action. (Its very important when powering the motor manually that you have already disconnected the motor from the control circuit or you could blow the driver chip).

All the best
Blake

At the moment the motor only spins when you start the car to put the aerial up, never when you change the source on the headunit or turn it off. What I've done for the moment is remove the small gear that connects the motor to the main wheel, so my aerial operates as a manual one, which is working for the minute, I'll give what you guys have suggested a go tomorrow when I've got some spare time.

Cheers :P

At the moment the motor only spins when you start the car to put the aerial up, never when you change the source on the headunit or turn it off. What I've done for the moment is remove the small gear that connects the motor to the main wheel, so my aerial operates as a manual one, which is working for the minute, I'll give what you guys have suggested a go tomorrow when I've got some spare time.

Cheers :P
Rhys

Any joy?

Blake

Haven't even looked at it in the past couple of days, just been running it manually, will have a go at the above when I've got a chance to and I'll post up results! :P