catpa3

Hi Guys !

My power antenna stopped working a few weeks ago so I purchased a Hirshman replacement power antenna and installed it...no matter what I do I cannot get the sucker to work. Car white to antenna red/car green to antenna white and antenna black to ground. These were the instructions from the manufacture but no go.
I've checed ever fuse and they're okay, is it possible that there is a relay somewhere that I am unaware of ??? HELP !!!!!

thanks,
Tim :nonod:

Corvette ED

The power antenna relay is in the rear floor under the plastic storage tray.

catpa3

Thank you ED. Is it an easy installation ?

Tim

Fasteighty

Sorry in advance for sorta hijacking this thread, but i was just out working on my 80's antenna and ran into a problem as well when it comes to the relay. I was all ready to buy a replacement antenna since I thought it no longer worked....come to find out the relay plug had been unplugged..... :rolleyes: So I plug it back in and the antenna motor runs constantly even without the keys in the run/acc postion???? The antenna also does not retract so I will have to get the fix kit for that. My question is why does it run constantly when the antenna relay is hooked up? The wires coming out of the relay plug are black/orange/yellow. I believe its a problem with where the Orange wire is hooked up but cannot find the end point. Any help or ideas where the orange wire should end up?


[Modified by Fasteighty, 12:12 PM 8/17/2003]

WoodchuckH2

I am glad you asked this question, my 81's antenae went up and stayed up and the motor ran constantly, finally had to cut the white wire (opps) to get it to stop running. Is there a rebuild kit for this unit?

catpa3

That's funny, it's the exact same thing that happened to mine; although, I cut the green wire to get the motor to stop (just a guess). Now that I have a replacement I'm starting wonder if it isn't the antenna relay and not the antenna at all.
Will let you know.

Tim

theoUK

The motor runs constantly on a broken antenna, because the internal flexible cable is broken. The cable is wrapped around a drum inside the casing. When the ant goes down as far as it can it pulls the cable tight which actually moves the whole motor a tiny bit against a spring. This opens the "down" contact and cuts the power. Then when you put it up, it reaches the top and the flexible cable gets "compressed" wrong word really, but if you can imagine it cant go anywhere 'cos its inside the narrow aerial. This again moves the motor a little but in the opposite direction, and opens the "up" contact, cutting the power. But if your flexible cable is broken, then the motor thinks the aerial has never gone right up or right down and just keeps on turning. That's why someone's pulled the plug on it! Yes you can get a new flexi cable to fix it...I got one from Ecklers for less than $20. Not too bad a job to do.

Bromleys Corvettes

Thanks for the info. I am working on an 80 with same problem.

malicatasr

Sounds like a McGyver episode cut the green wire... No cut the white wire. Boom. I have the same issue in my 82. It wound up being the relay.

Grumpy 427

Well need to bring thread back to life. LOL i cut the green wire. Took it apart today, and yes i have a broken cable in mine. So who has the rebuild kit? Ecklers site said NATIONAL BACKORDER. What about Mr Wilcox, do you have one in stock?

MarkinSETX

​​​​​​i bought one a while back from antennamastsrus.com
​​i rebuilt an 81 power antenna and it works great now. Good luck.

Grumpy 427

I ordered it this morning, they are in stock.
http://www.antennamastsrus.com/GM/Ch...01979-1982.htm

Lakeside49

Update -
Just as a forewarning on the mast repair kit from this "MastsRUs outfit, I have gone through three replacements from them. Exactly four years ago to the month, I used their part to rebuilt my original antenna. It appeared to be a high quality product, but the plastic mast broke after two years to the week on a nice warm Michigan summer morning. It probably cycled up and down about 40-50 times at most in that period. I then bought another new one from them. The mast would not fit through the base antenna. The owner told me to file it down at the top where it exits the base antenna. It worked. However, it broke two weeks ago where the metal `catch' meets the plastic, exactly two years later to the week. I wrote the MastsRUs owner and gave him a chance to explain and rectify the prematurely (my opinion) broken nylon cable; he responded `sorry, too bad'. I bought a replacement from one of our vendor sponsors that appears to be a little different design than the `MastsRUs' variety. I installed it this evening and paid particular attention to finding any functional irregularities whatsoever in the antenna itself. There were none. The premature failure is due to the quality of the MastsRUs antenna repair kit, particularly the durability of the nylon lift/retract cable where the steel hooked `catch' mates to the nylon cable. Bottom line, the MastsRUs power antenna repair kit is around 50% cheaper than the repair kits from, say, Corvette America, but I have avoided reordering another kit from this supplier due to my personal experience with premature failure - and, really hoping the new one I just installed this evening is not made by the same supplier as the MastsRUs product that lasts only two years in my vehicle. Hoping others have had better experience with the MastsRUs replacement mast-cable than I did.