Antenna Mast Replacement Problems

[j30freak]

I just attempted to replace the antenna mast on my J30 yesterday. Followed all of the instructions from searchng here.

I even had to remove the motor assembly and remove the broken pieces of the old nylon mast.

Once I did that, the motor pulled the nylon mast in just fine, but once it pulled it all the way in IT KEPT GOING!!!...popped the top of the antenna off and pulled the nylon mast all the way in and snapped that off too. It now resides in the motor assembly.

Funny thing is the new antenna is now stuck in the same position as the old one was. :rolleyes I am hesitant to try another mast for fear that it would break that one also. Any suggestions?

[VimyJ]

Don't know if this will help but from my notes comes this write up. Thanks to the original author whomever he might be.

You probably have a broken antenna stem provided the motor is still running. I will try to explain the procedure to fix this problem :1.Remove the external top chrome plug with needle nose pliers ( be careful not to scratch the paint )2. Take the motor assembly out from the trunk. You need to disconnect it's power, it's antenna line and a clear plastic drain tube.3. Open the black plastic casing of the motor ( is held together by 5 screws )4. Lift the white plastic wheel and see if your antenna stem is broken. Remove all pieces from the unit.5. If it, is buy a new antenna mast with stem ( appx. $30 from Infiniti )6. Remove old weather seal from the chrome plug ( in step 1 )7. Regrease the motor housing worm gears with White Lithium Grease.8. Put the motor assemble back without installing the top chrome plug.9. Start your radio, wait till the motor stops running.10. Feed the new stem ( teeth facing out, as far as I can remember ) into the aluminum tube.11. Now turn off your radio / power. The feed should catch on and the antenna should retract into the housing tube.12. Try this a few times if the stem is not caught properly the first time.13. Once the antenna has full retracted. Put the chrome plug back on.14. Make sure that you reconnect the drain pipe to the bottom of the motor housing.

Give it a try, it took me about 45 minutes to do this.

[nlzmo400r]

well nissan over here wanted 165 bucks to replace my antenna, so jesus whatever u do do it yourslef

[j30freak]

Don't know if this will help but from my notes comes this write up. Thanks to the original author whomever he might be.

You probably have a broken antenna stem provided the motor is still running. I will try to explain the procedure to fix this problem :1.Remove the external top chrome plug with needle nose pliers ( be careful not to scratch the paint )2. Take the motor assembly out from the trunk. You need to disconnect it's power, it's antenna line and a clear plastic drain tube.3. Open the black plastic casing of the motor ( is held together by 5 screws )4. Lift the white plastic wheel and see if your antenna stem is broken. Remove all pieces from the unit.5. If it, is buy a new antenna mast with stem ( appx. $30 from Infiniti )6. Remove old weather seal from the chrome plug ( in step 1 )7. Regrease the motor housing worm gears with White Lithium Grease.8. Put the motor assemble back without installing the top chrome plug.9. Start your radio, wait till the motor stops running.10. Feed the new stem ( teeth facing out, as far as I can remember ) into the aluminum tube.11. Now turn off your radio / power. The feed should catch on and the antenna should retract into the housing tube.12. Try this a few times if the stem is not caught properly the first time.13. Once the antenna has full retracted. Put the chrome plug back on.14. Make sure that you reconnect the drain pipe to the bottom of the motor housing.

Give it a try, it took me about 45 minutes to do this.

This is exactly what I did. The problem is that it pulled the new mast in so far that it broke the antenna mast . It was a Metra Nissan replacement from Pep Boys.

[texasoil]

the slip clutch on the big take-up wheel is stuck. take it apart and clean and regrease it. It HAS to slip when it gets to the end--either up or down.

[Aus94Q45]

There has to be some type of switch in there to stop the motor once it slips. I have not taken mine apart so I cannot give you details. However, it could be that the switch is not cutting off when it detects a slip. Between the time to check this, reinstall and, add + $25 per "test" mast you may want to just replace the motor assembly and be done with it.

[j30freak]

Thanks. I will be replacing the motor assembly. I'm not sure whether the motor teeth are chewed up either so motor assembly replacement seems like the way to go.