And my god, the prices for a new one are high!

Got home from fireworks, and it wouldn't go down when I shut the 'vert off... I walked over and tried to push it down, but it seems to be stuck up. When I turn the radio on / off I hear a whirring noise and a few clunks from where the antenna motor is.

I wouldn't mind replacing it with another power antenna, however, I used to have a bookmark for a shorty style antenna (just a few inches tall at most). It was less just a straight pole and more of an angled sleek little thing that kind of matched the C5's curves. Anyone happen to know what I'm talking about?

 

Can't help on the shorty antenna but this will help if you decide to replace the stock one.

Pull the antenna and take a look. It might still be useable if the teeth are not broken.

How To Replace a Defective Telescopic Antenna

Now this is a simple mod and the OEM assembly with motor is $130+. You'll know you have the problem because the antenna won't fully retract



Parts:
Adjustable wrench
GM OEM Power Antenna Replacement ($13 E Bay).




Make sure the antenna is fully retracted and that the radio is off

Remove the antenna mounting nut located on the base of the mast on the outside of the car. If the mast is bent it may be necessary to cut off the old mast). If you can't all of the plastic cable out as one piece, (sometimes the plastic gets really hard and breaks into pieces then falls down into the motor), you can just pull the motor after you have pulled the mast out and get all of the pieces out. To do that you'll need to take out the outer right turn signal housing.




Turn on the radio and pull out the old mast and serrated cable completely out of the antenna motor. (Note which way the serrations on the cable are facing)

Feed the serrated cable of the new mast into the antenna hole and stop when resistance is felt. (about 12”). Make sure the cable is fed in with the teeth the same way the old cable came out.



Turn the radio off to lower the antenna until the serrated cable catches.. You may have to cycle the antenna a few times until the cable catches the gear mechanism and retracts into the antenna motor.



Replace and tighten the antenna nut into the mast base.



Turn on and make sure that the mast fully extends without binding. Clean the surface of the antenna to remove any adhesive etc.

10 minute job.



If you encounter a stuck mast here’s advice from the mast vendor:

You see the new "Retaining Sleeve" (silver, 2 inches or so, with slots) on the shaft of the new antenna mast, the original one is most likely a little corroded/frozen into the shaft of your antenna No problem : You are in need of what I refer to as the "snap and tap" technique of mast removal

Turn radio on and let cycle to as much extension as is currently possible

Take hold of the thickest metal mast section (closest to fender) with you thumb and forefinger about 2-3 inches above the top of the antenna shaft hole

Push the thickest mast section into the shaft (as much as it will go within that 2-3 inches)

Hold tightly with thumb and forefinger and Snap your Wrist upward.....you will here the mast bottom "tap" the bottom of the frozen in place retaining sleeve (what this is all about) Repeat this over and over again In-Snap-Tap-Repeat Short Firm Bursts of Energy Focusing the energy blow to the point of the tap This will free the retaining sleeve little by little till it comes out completely.

I found mine on E Bay but occasionally they are not listed. You can get a replacement here: http://www.antennamastsrus.com/GM/Ch...01993-2004.htm (thanks to bighank for the link)

 

Wow... damn, thanks DeeGee!

I'll give that a try, would defintely be pretty damn sweet if that's all I've gotta replace.

Also, if that's all it takes to pull the mast out, I can just cap / plug the hole til the replacement shows up.

 

Good info by DeeGee as usual.

 

Probably teeth broken or bottom plastic part of antenna broken and inside motor, Takes about 2 hours to fix. Remove right taillight lens and you can get access to the motor. After unbolting slide it out of the taillight hole. Drill out 3 plastic rivets holding motor cover on. Carefully remove parts until you get the broken mast piece out. Relubricate and use 3 self tapping screws to replace motor cover.
Reinstall and feed new mast thru top hole (after mounting motor on car).
Antennamastsrus.com has pics and are very helpful if you call them. Fixed mine about 5 years ago and no trouble since.

 

I'm on my 3rd antenna and both the others were damage to the mast and not the tail. Both came out cleanly. Pull the mast out and inspect the nylon tail. It'll be obvious if either it or the mast is damaged. If its left anything behind, just do as bighank says. If its clean it may even go back in and work again after a clean up.

Let us know what you find.

 

Antenna wouldn't collapse, so I had to snip it near the base. I pulled out the whole motor with the antenna base still attached (couple of inches). Tossed that on the work bench and put a plug in the rubber grommet that the antenna pokes through. Digging into the motor is going to have to wait a few days as we've got a tree down in the back yard which takes precidence. Thanks for the info so far, guys, and here's hoping it's the cable and not the motor.

 

Finally got around to fully pulling apart my antenna motor, looks like the cable snapped just a few inches from the mouth of the motor. Just put in an order for a new replacement mast and will get everything back together soon as I can.
Hope all goes well with that.

Thanks for potentially saving me some change guys!

 

No trouble at all. Let us know how it goes.

 

Well, managed to get the new antenna in, had a number of cursing-inducing headaches though. The little retainer 'clip' was stuck in the tube and I didn't realize it til I'd already put the motor back in. I tried to pry it out, only to put a nice inch or so long gash in my paint. It's small, but noticeable. Also, while trying to put the grounds back in for the antenna tube, one of the wires that shares the body ground snapped, so I had to splice that back on as well. Irritating, but I have a working power antenna again, so F it.

 

Glad you fixed it. Sounds like you had as much fun on that job as i did putting in new plugs and wires