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I doubt very much anyone makes power antennas for 1984 Oldsmobiles. You'll need to find a used one or put in something aftermarket. They're pretty much generic. I put in a new, generic one from Autozone into my '78 Toronado. Works fine, goes up and down automatically when the radio is switched on and off just like it's supposed to, and I doubt anyone would ever notice that it's not original.
The annoying part was having to cut through the passenger side inner fender to get at it.
I tried to email him, no answer. Does anyone know if he is still doing this.
Barney visits his out-of-town daughter for a period each month. He will return and get back to you. He is retired and works out of his home in Texas. He does great work and gives prompt repairs.
If you can find a new one, it's under part number 22048604. They have supersession numbers as well, but those antennae were not like the original style. This was the last of the good ones. However, even NOS you will likely run into nylon cable breakage.
I did a steel cable replacement for an NOS one I had for my 85 442 in June of '23. The cable was already broken when I took it apart. People can buy all the nylon cords they want, I never trust them because if it operates long enough, it WILL break. Could last 5 minutes, or 5 years. Who knows. I'm not taking that chance. The steel cable eliminates that. So far so good with no issues.
If your original antenna is not molested, get it rebuilt. I sold 100s of those back in the day. The original antenna has a couple of brackets that are spot welded to the antenna housing. The OE replacement antenna requires those special brackets.
If your original antenna is not molested, get it rebuilt. I sold 100s of those back in the day. The original antenna has a couple of brackets that are spot welded to the antenna housing. The OE replacement antenna requires those special brackets.
For a G-body Olds, there is only one bracket. The last new GM one I bought actually came with the bracket packs inside. They used small screws to attach instead of spot welding.
I have a feeling the only issue with the antenna is the broken cable and that's easily fixed. If you have any mechanical skills at all, you can rebuild it yourself. Unless you've got a bunch of broken parts other than the cable, they're pretty robust otherwise. The cable is the achilles heel on those things.
FWIW, I installed an aftermarket electric antenna in my 96 98 since the OE one was bad. From the outside it looked nearly identical to the OE antenna. If you lifted the trunk lid you could see that it was aftermarket, as it didn't fit too well on the factory bracket. You can find imported antennas on Amazon.
I cheated. . I used zip ties instead of bolting in the brackets and got them as tight as I could. One heck of alot easier to remove if I need to. I've had my delco AM/FM/CB triband power antenna re-fitted with a metal cable so hopefully I will not need to do this job again for a long time.
I cheated. . I used zip ties instead of bolting in the brackets and got them as tight as I could. One heck of alot easier to remove if I need to. I've had my delco AM/FM/CB triband power antenna re-fitted with a metal cable so hopefully I will not need to do this job again for a long time.
That is one option and nobody will fault someone for not wanting to do it the way the factory did. For G-bodies, you have a single 10mm head bolt that holds the entire lower part of the inner fender, accessed from the inside. Top side is held by the bezel nut that threads into the top of the mast barrel. That lower bolt is unreachable to normal humans. It takes careful taping off the paint edges on the doors/front fender, mechanical unbolting and finesse to unbolt the outer and inner fenders and move them out, reach the bolt head with a wrench. Not a 1 hour job unless you've done it 2 million times. More like a 2 hour job for what should take 2 minutes max. If you didn't have to mess with the inner fender, it wouldn't be too bad as the flimsy sheet metal on the outside is rather forgiving when pulling out from the bottom to access the antenna and remove it. But don't go nuts as it can be easily bent too. But that one bolt is the major PITA.
Here's a picture showing a finger pointing to the bolt. I'm thinking of putting in some sort of J-nut or something like a nut-sert on the inner fender next time I do one as to get the bolt head to the outside. I don't trust the zip ties, personally.
A J-nut or a nut insert does sound like a better idea, I may try that as well next time. I jammed in I think 3 zip ties through that bottom hole if I remember correctly so there is decent support there. Here's another item I did, learning from the past. One time the cable snapped leaving the motor running even when the radio was turned off. The battery would have been run down in short order. But Brian Monahan taught me this trick: when you re-assemble everything, configurate that main 3 wire plug connecting the antenna to the wire running through the fender to the relay so that the plug assembly rests on top of the inner fenderwell by the hood hinge, where it can be easily assessable. This would also assist in testing whether a relay went bad. Hiding in plain sight. This is a real peace of mind move, and there generally is plenty of wire to do it. I waited for the judges at the Nats last year to notice it and they didn't. And when I pointed it out to them, I wasn't marked down for it either. In fact, they all nodded their heads in approval and one even said, 'Good Move" later in the day
. I used zip ties instead of bolting in the brackets and got them as tight as I could. One heck of alot easier to remove if I need to. I've had my delco AM/FM/CB triband power antenna re-fitted with a metal cable so hopefully I will not need to do this job again for a long time.
