Swedishbricks.net Techtips

Topic:

Antenna Replacement - 200/700/900 series sedan

Contributor:

Jon Rush
This assumes a sedan and that part of the whip on your mast is broken off and you can still hear the motor operating when you switch on the radio.

1. Loosen top nut on fender surrounding the antenna mast and remove nut and mast.

2. Remove the quarter-turn fasteners (Three? One by the antenna and two by the taillight.) from the interior matting of the trunk and pull the mat out of the way. You should see the antenna motor and shaft housing.

3. Loosen BUT DO NOT REMOVE the bolt below the antenna motor that hold the assembly to the bodywork. You will hate life if you remove the bolt completely, as you will never get it threaded in again. Take it a turn at a time until the whole assembly pops out of the support. It is held in by spring tension, so it may take a little pressure to remove it.

4. You do not have to take the wiring harness off. There is enough slack in the wires to rest the assembly on the trunk lip and do your repair there.

5. (working from months old memory, this step a little fuzzy) Remove the bronze colored bracket from the bottom of the assembly.

6. Loosen the nut at the center of the black disk and remove this cover carefully. You will see a dished washer between the cover and a white wheel. Note its orientation carefully for reassembly. There is also a thin cover seal around the perimeter, treat it gently.

7. Remove the white wheel and you should see the remains of the mast whip coiled around in there. Remove it.

8. Assemble in reverse order, popping the spring clip for the lower bolt back into the bodywork before tightening.

9. Take your replacement mast and straighten the tip of the whip by bending against the natural coil that developed in shipping. Turn the radio on and wait for the motor to stop running. Feed the whip into the shaft housing as far it can go, with the teeth facing toward the reel and have a partner turn the radio off. If the stars are aligned, the take-up reel will grab the bottom tooth and start pulling in the mast.

You do not have to be too precise here as long as you get it to take the mast early in the cycle. The motor will learn the top and bottom positions of the mast and operate accordingly. Keep bending and fishing until you succeed.

10. Tighten down the fender nut and wipe a little synthetic bike chain oil on the mast.

If you heed step three you can do this in less than 30 minutes.

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