93 Taurus SHO Power Antenna problems

[TeflonJack]

Hi,

About three months ago, my power antenna failed on my Ford Taurus SHO, I wanted to just replace the mast, but the mast on replacement factory Ford antennaes are not removeable. So, I took it to a local radio installer to have a new power antenna put in. He has been in business for about 15 years. They fitted my car with a Metra 44-PW22 power antenna. Everything was supposedly ok, but it wasn't. Driving home from the shop the same day, the antenna was going up and down on its own. I brought it back, the tech said he will take another look, he made an adjustment and said this is the way the antenna will only work in the car - basically telling me that when the car starts the antenna goes up (no matter whether the radio is on or off) and down when the car is turned off. I told him this is not acceptable.

His boss comes out and says your car needs a power trigger since your factory equipped radio is not supplying enough power to the antenna- he has to order it, its $20.00 and he will have it in two weeks. So I go ahead and order it. Now, this doesn;t make sense since the factory antenna has the same voltage/amp specs as the replacement.

Two weeks go by and I go to install the power trigger-a small box behind the radio. Everything worked like it should for a day. The antenna went down again and up on its own. So I brought it back and this time watched them. I noticed that they attached a wire from the antenna directly to the battery terminal (have no idea why), they said for grounding purposes - it doesn't look right. Do you know anyone with this?

Well after about 12 trips (over the course of 3 months, every weekend), to this installer, it still isn't right. It worked for two weeks after they solved a voltage issue and then it went down and now doesn't come back up.

What should I do? Should I just have them remove this antenna, refund my money on this and install a factory replacement antenna (which is $160.00 at ford) ? replace with a manual antenna? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
TJ

[KimMG]

Get your money back. On one of my cars, I installed a rocker switch (on-off) to control the antenna. There was no antenna control from the radio. I supplied the power for it directly from the battery.
On another car, I connected the power wires to the cigarette lighter and used a on-off switch.
I bought the power antennas from Radio Shack for about $40- each and the two switches and crimp connectors was about another $5-
They go up and down when I want and provide good reception.
It took about an hour to install each one.

[shorod]

Originally Posted by TeflonJack

Hi,

About three months ago, my power antenna failed on my Ford Taurus SHO, I wanted to just replace the mast, but the mast on replacement factory Ford antennaes are not removeable. So, I took it to a local radio installer to have a new power antenna put in. He has been in business for about 15 years. They fitted my car with a Metra 44-PW22 power antenna. Everything was supposedly ok, but it wasn't. Driving home from the shop the same day, the antenna was going up and down on its own. I brought it back, the tech said he will take another look, he made an adjustment and said this is the way the antenna will only work in the car - basically telling me that when the car starts the antenna goes up (no matter whether the radio is on or off) and down when the car is turned off. I told him this is not acceptable.

His boss comes out and says your car needs a power trigger since your factory equipped radio is not supplying enough power to the antenna- he has to order it, its $20.00 and he will have it in two weeks. So I go ahead and order it. Now, this doesn;t make sense since the factory antenna has the same voltage/amp specs as the replacement.

Two weeks go by and I go to install the power trigger-a small box behind the radio. Everything worked like it should for a day. The antenna went down again and up on its own. So I brought it back and this time watched them. I noticed that they attached a wire from the antenna directly to the battery terminal (have no idea why), they said for grounding purposes - it doesn't look right. Do you know anyone with this?

Well after about 12 trips (over the course of 3 months, every weekend), to this installer, it still isn't right. It worked for two weeks after they solved a voltage issue and then it went down and now doesn't come back up.

What should I do? Should I just have them remove this antenna, refund my money on this and install a factory replacement antenna (which is $160.00 at ford) ? replace with a manual antenna? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
TJ

I think the installer is correct that the antenna will go up any time the radio is on (regardless of the mode -- tuner, tape, CD) and down when the radio and/or car is turned off. That is typical for many factory audio systems. Aftermarket units often times only activate the power antenna wire when the radio is in use (units with a dedicated "antenna" lead and not just the "remote" lead). On your '93 SHO there should be a power antenna module mounted above and behind the glove box. This module receives the signal from the radio and power from the fuse panel to provide the appropriate battery voltage to the power antenna unit. You are correct, the antenna unit should be getting sufficient power without needing an auxiliary control unit. It sounds like what they added is essentially what your car already has. The antenna module should have a yellow/black wire that receives battery voltage with the key in accessory or run. There should also be a light green/yellow wire that receives battery voltage constantly. The black wire should have a good ground, and the orange/light blue wire should get its signal from the radio. The red/pink and dark green/yellow wires go to the antenna motor, and the remaining white/pink wire goes to the starting system. I believe this wire turns off the power antenna during starting to lessen the accessory current draw on the battery during starting.

-Rod