Antenna

Last year ice made my antenna not move up and down and it would make a loud noise when the motor would try to move it. Now just a year later it is broke again this time in the up position and the motor sounds like it is spining free (not connected). How do I fix this with out paying 200 dollors again. How do you take it apart yourself. If I look in the trunk the carpet is covering where the motor would be, and the carpet is held down by plastic rivets.

sounds just like what happened to me, i think your antenna mast is broken. i've also noticed the same thing about the trunk, and my local stereo shop said that the only way to get to the motor is the hard way, by takin off all the whole interior panel (which runs from the trunk to the door!)

but you can also remove the antenna just to cut the mast so you can put it in the down position. just take a hammer and a flat head screwdriver and hammer the screwdriver to untwist the nut that holds the antenna in place.once you get that off, put some kind of lubricant on the antenna and let it work it's way down. then, with a couple of hella hard jerks, it should come out. (it will look scary cuz you will see the entire area around the antenna lifting up everytime you try to pull it up.)

hope this helps.

have you considered getting a 'sport antenna'? the short ones that just stand up? i want to get one but i'm not sure how good they are.

I would like to keep it stock. I will go buy the mast from the Acura Dealership, and put it in myself. But I would like instructions as to do this myself. Thanks for your replys so far.

I'm not going to take a screwdriver to the gold plated piece that is around the antenna. I can use a bent long nose pliers and do the same thing. I'm interested in getting instructions to do this the same way to Acura Dealership. Thanks guys.

be sure to post up the instructions when you get them, i'm very interested to know how to do it myself as well

I'm supprised no one has came up with an idea yet. This is a part that fails easily. Your all telling me you #1 Live with the problem! #2 Pay tons of money to get it fixed! or #3 Use an aftermarket part! I want to keep my car original and would like to know how the dealer ship would fix this or repair the problem. Please dig deep. Thanks.

snap ring plyers are what we use in the garage to remove antennas like the one you are describing. DO NOT use a hammer and a screw driver... just imagine if that screw driver slips off and nails the paint job...


And I believe there is an access panel for the motor... so you don't have to take off the whole interior peice.

There is no access panel. Just the simi hard cover that is attached with plastic Rivets. I'm not sure how you can remove the Rivets with out damaging them. This is what I'm asking is the procedure for doing this, and if that is what I need to do.

There is no access panel. Just the simi hard cover that is attached with plastic Rivets. I'm not sure how you can remove the Rivets with out damaging them. This is what I'm asking is the procedure for doing this, and if that is what I need to do.

yes theres about two or three interior panels u have to remove to get to the antenna. its seems difficult but really isn't, just remember to keep all the plastic screws amd rivets in one place so u don't lose them. for tools, nothing too complicated such as screw drivers and pliers. i purchased a new antenna from ebay for like $45.00 shipped and installed it myself.

I may need to add then that this is a 95 GSR. The too guys to post have pictures of pre 94 cars. Yours maybe different than mine? There are no access panels at least not before you remove the trunk liner. There are about three plastic Rivets that line the top of this cover. How do you remove them?

i have a 98 gsr and purchased the replacement mast from the dealer which cost $60. To take the old mast !: Turn off radio so the old mast goes down, if the mast is stuck extended then go afead and cut the top section off. 2: Remove the nut that you see on the fender counter clockwise 3: Turn on the radio so the antenna extends itself and as soon as its fully extended just pull the old mast and remember to look where the teeths are facing while pulling the mast. Replace old mast with new one by inserting the cable facing the way the old one was then turn off the radio so the mast would catch the gears. it may take you a couple of on and off's to get the mast fully in but its really easy. 4: return nut then tighten.

fyi i tried looking for replacement mast for cheaper like the ones in crutchfield but they dont have the correct item for my car which is a 98 gsr.

i don't know if my mast is different than yours since i have a '97 gs-r, but i was able to get mine off ebay for $30. i'm pretty sure that www.bestforeignparts.com sells them for about the same.

also, my problem is that part of the cable from the mast broke off and is still in the motor. how would i go about exposing the motor to remove that bit of cable?

Have you tried installing the new mast in even with the broken piece still in there? You could probably try turning the radio on and off a couple of times and take a flashlight and peek inside if it kicks the old one out, but other than that all i could think of is taking the motor out and go from there.

Thanks for the help. Yes I believe that it is broken in there because I can move the mast up and down with no resistance. I will try your sugestion this evening.

I think the mast just didnt catch the gear. If all gsr has the same antenna motor then the mast gear should be facing your left reverse light. Try setting the mast all the way down with the radio on until you feel the mast push something for like 2 inches or so then turn of radio to see if you caught the gear. hope this helps

i just want to pep boys and bought a short sport antenna and it worked great, took about 5 mins to install and the sound if good

Last year ice made my antenna not move up and down and it would make a loud noise when the motor would try to move it. Now just a year later it is broke again this time in the up position and the motor sounds like it is spining free (not connected). How do I fix this with out paying 200 dollors again. How do you take it apart yourself. If I look in the trunk the carpet is covering where the motor would be, and the carpet is held down by plastic rivets.

I can tell you all about this, but it's not going to make you happy. If you have the Integra the panels are pretty easily removed. The plastic revets are either expansion type or have screws. There is no other way to get to and remove the motor. The screws can simply be removed and the expansion type, you just pull on and they'll come out. They will snap back into place, really no worrys. What has happened is the nylon gear strip (NGS) located inside the mast has broken at the very bottom. The NGS is nolonger meshing with the motor gear. Once you've turned on the radio, the mast rises, the NGS reaches a point where it's broken , mast is fully extended. Now, since the NGS is broken and nolonger meshing with the motor gear, the mast will go up no further or go down. To get the mast to go down, have someone turn the radio on. Then as they turn the radio off you can softly push down on the mast. By doing so, you're pushing the NGS so that it remeshes with the motor gear and the mast will go down, but once it's raised again the same thing will happen.

You have one of two options, This is where things get complicated. You can purchase the NGS/mast at the dealer only, $ 70.00- $ 80.00, and you can attempt to replace it, but I did that and although the mast once again went up and down the motor would continue to run a few seconds after each activity like it didn't know that the mast was fully up or completely down. The motor has a clutch to release the tension in this event , but as an example: The mast rises then I would get a click, click, click, click click, click, click, then the motor would stop. I could never figure out or find anyone that could explain why the motor would not sense that the mast was up or down and stop. I have a great deal of experience in electronics/ mechanics with a number of resources which dumbfounded me. Therefore, I paid $ 80.00, ran the mast up and disconnected the motor. The second option is to replace the whole assembly. Good luck!! Well, after reading further it does seem that someone was successful at replacing the mast. Maybe they can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Don't worry about breaking the plastic rivots. you can get a whole bag of new ones at napa for like $6. If you do end up taking the whole panel off, I believe you have to take the back seat out as well. I know it sounds difficult, but I have done it and it isn't really that hard, just be carful so you don't scratch up the panels to bad. Good luck!

This thread is old. You guys should just do what I did and shave the antenna. It looks good and you still get good reception. I have shaved lots of stuff off my car.

Sorry I just noticed this thread. I wanted to keep my antenna stock also.

When I got my car, the antenna would not retract and it was halfway up and bent (you can see it if you look closely at the sig below). I used a pair of bent nose pliers to unscrew the outer ring and removed the inner trunk trim on the left side just enough to unbolt the entire antenna assembly. There was also a water hose that had to be pulled out of the assembly. After unplugging the electrical connections (2 plugs), it was easy to slip the mast and assembly out from inside the trunk. I got a new mast for about 60 bucks from the dealer but when I started to work on removing the old mast from the assembly, I managed to break the aluminium tube that it fits in. The tube was corroded so it broke easily. I think I paid another 20 bucks for a new tube from Acura. I should have bought the entire antenna from Acura for $160.00 and not have any more headaches.

Anyway, It was really tough to remove the broken part of the tube that was stuck in the main assembly. I had to dig it out with a screw driver. The techs at Acura said that it was impossible to do and that they get that same problem a lot, but I did manage to get the tube out. I had to open the gear housing to remove the broken piece of nylon gear strip that came off the mast. After that, it was just a matter of replacing the tube and then reinstalling the main asssembly back in the trunk.

Basically, you turn the radio on and feed the new mast in from the outside of the trunk ensuring the teeth face the correct way, then turn the radio off, allowing the motor to pull the new mast back into the main assembly.

Spyorg,

I'm going thru that antenna replacement right now. I just want to clarify that the "broken part of the tube that was stuck in the main assembly" you are talking about is the brass looking tube about 3 inches long thats on the replacement antenna (from e-bay, of course!)?????

I think my old one is stuck in there.......

Thanks for your help, or anyone elses for that matter..........

I'm not sure if you bought the oem replacement on ebay, but I think the tube comes separately. The tube I am referring to seemed to be about 5 or 6 inches long and about 3/4 inch diameter. It fits into the main housing and the antenna (the brass looking section of it) goes through the tube. The tube breaks very easily due to corrosion leaving half of it stuck inside the plastic housing. It takes a lot of patience and time to dig it out, but it can be done, breaking it out a bit at a time. I would not do that a second time...

I bought the replacement on Ebay. Where can I get this "tube" then??

Is there a schematic or blow up of this antenna area that I can get?? a pix is worth a thousand words.........

Thanks dude!

Hey I have an idea that may help! leave old threads alone!!! Do Not bring them back! Oh yeah then go read the user guidelines so you don't break them again.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/spyorg/images/anthousing.jpg

This is what the housing assembly looks like and you can see the tube I mentioned. This should already be on your antenna housing and if its not broken you do not need to get one.

By the way, I think you should ignore the previous poster since this thread is relevant to what you wanted to know...

THANKS! I'll yank mine out of the car tomorrow and compare.

I'm still a little fuzzy on the tube thing, but once I compare your pix I should be alright............I'll keep you posted here once I look at it......

Thanks again.

yes, i'm ignoring that last post.......

Looks like mine is the same as the pix. Also looks like when I look down into the tube where the antenna was, there is something stuck in there. I assume its whats left of that brass sleeve...............I'll start digging...........

ok, took apart the antenna. got that brass sleeve out also....took a while!!! I cut out a few bits, then I decided to hammer it with a thin screwdriver. and viola! it fell out the bottom mostly intact. I put everything together and will try to put it back in the car tomorrow............darn, i just remembered i coulda took some pix. yeah well, its only a freakin antenna, so I dont think anyone cares!!!!

..good job man! I think u got it. I'm sure some people are interested, but I guess there will always be those who think they know it all...

Ok, put the antenna back together and slapped her in the car. PERFECTO!!! The antenna even goes all the way down!

Thank You spyorg for all your help! I really appreciate it. My wife thanks you too, cause it's her car.


Bruce

By the way, I think you should ignore the previous poster since this thread is relevant to what you wanted to know...


ignore me all you want I was only giving a heads up, when a mod sees old threads dug up they close them, and if the behavior continues they ban whoever is doing the digging. It is cleary stated in the guidelines that if a thread is a few weeks old let alone months start a new thread whether it is the same topic or not.

Glad to have helped, Imsoaks, your wife must be proud of you now! :)

Thanks for the heads up, knorwj. I think the rules should be tempered with common sense, but what do I know? My sincere apologies if this thread has caused any problems.

I cant believe how stupid you are. And btw sounds like you should listen to the guys with the 2nd gen integras, not the other guy, and also go back to elementary school. I just fixed my antenna today in like 15 minutes, including pulling all the panels and removing the exterior mast bolt. I would never spend that much money, ESPECIALLY taking it to the dealership when it's not warranteed. I could fix the crap in about 5 minutes and have it back together but I am buying an s2k antenna and converting it instead. Anyone with a brain stem can do it so you might not want to try.