Antenna motor?
 

Hey guys...so I hardly listen to my radio because I hate commercials. Now I am so sick and tired of all of cd's I want the radio again...problem is apparently my antenna is busted because it won't come out anymore when I turn on the radio and off my cd player. I am using an aftermarket cd player if that makes a diff, but the antenna still worked after I had it installed and now it doesn't. I gave it a lil tug, but nothing happened. Any ideas how to fix it or check it?

Have you tried to listen to see if the motor is even trying to work? My antenna mast broke on my car awhile ago. I turned on the radio one day and the antenna mast just popped right out and fell off the car. I ordered a new antenna mast, but while I was waiting for it I could hear my motor still working when I turn my cd player from cd to radio or when I had the cd player on radio and turned the car on or off. Once the new antenna mast came in I pulled my antenna motor and installed the new mast. It has worked great ever since. So I would first see if your antenna motor is working. I'm guessing either your antenna mast has broken inside or your antenna motor has failed. If you want to take a closer look pull out the drivers side truck interior panel. The antenna motor with be visible then.

Truck panel?which one is this? I think the motor is dead. Before I used to hear it coming out cause it would go "click click click click" now I hear nothing and it doesn't come out at all.

Do you have the power hooked up to the radio? It should be on the harness. Do you have a stock harness or a different one. That may have something to do with it. :)

First off you should check that current/volage is available at the actual motor when it should be. A 12 volt bulb/lamp will provide the best test.

Woops I meant trunk interior panel. If you take out the drivers side trunk interior panel it will give you access for checking voltage,removing motor, etc. Theres a clip up behind the rear seat that will need to be removed. It is also clipped on the inside of the panel right to the side where the trunk opens. After that you should be able to easily get the panel out with a little maneuvering. Might be a little easier for you to remove the top trunk interior panel first. Hope that helps.

How do I test it with a bulb? I have a multimeter would that work? I'm not sure how to use it exactly though cause it has lots of symbols and crap for diff currents or something. I will try to get in there this afternoon and at least familiarize myself with everything in there even if I don't fix it or test it.

Multi-meter would work. My guess would be he suggested a bulb because people typically have 12v bulbs available more so than a multi-meter. Just attach the two ends to the bulb and turn the radio on, as so the antenna motor would get power.

Ok that totally makes sense. Thanks Jay!

A multi meter will work but a bulb is a better option. A high impedance meter draws only a minute current and will not show up resistance in the circuit. However a bulb or test lamp as a result of any resistance, will not illuminate to full brilliance and will therefore show up a fault.

Yes, simply connect the two bulb contacts to ground and the circuit to be tested for voltage/current, i.e. in this case with the radio switched on.

Go ahead and experiment with your multimeter, you will learn a great deal.:)

There's a small chance the fuse for the antenna motor has blown, but you'd likely be seeing other things not working. That's fuse #22, under the hood.

The connector for the antenna motor has three wires:

• Black = ground
• White = +12V constant (from fuse #22)
• Black/Green = control from radio

The latter gets +12V to raise the antenna, or open-circuit to let it retract.

It's also possible that the antenna control wire behind your radio has disconnected.

Decide where you want to open up things first -- either pull the radio, or open up the trunk to reach the antenna motor.

The radio might be a little easier. From there, you can check the output of the radio to see if it's still trying to raise the antenna. And you can disconnect the radio and temporarily apply +12V to the correct pin on the harness to raise the antenna yourself. That will narrow the problem.

See the link below my signature for the radio harness pin-out.

Could also be a mechanical issue. Antennas need to be cleaned occasionally. But I think you'd have heard the motor if it was physically stuck.

Thanks SVXdc...hopefully I'll have time to do this before the end of the week. I'm in the process of moving/packing plus a million other things so I don't have a lot of time :(...but thank you. I think this info will solve the problem...or at least locate it for me :D