deaddds

Battery was dead in the car so I put a trickle charger on and within a few minutes, heard a clicking sound. Traced it to the antenna motor. Unplugged the lead and it stopped. Is this common? I assume that was the drain on the battery but with the radio off how can the antenna be trying to work? Is there an easy fix to this or experience with this problem? Thanks

ELY442

I do believe there's a relay for the antenna. Have the battery fully charged and connect the lead. Turn the radio on and lower the volume. Listen to the antenna motor to hear if its still running. If it does, disconnect the relay. Sometimes those relay does stick and makes the motor run. Also, there's a plastic tape that makes the antenna goes up and down. I do believe the plastic has holes or teeth. If those holes and teeth wear off, it will make the motor run. The antenna is behind the fender and its a pain in the butt to get in there.

joe_padavano

The plastic cable that drives the antenna mast up and down has apparently broken. The antenna motor is now running all the time since it requires the mast to push down on a switch contact to turn it off. This is likely what drained the battery. You can get a replacement mast and rebuild the antenna.

deaddds

Two things. The antenna is in the down position already. Does that change the Diagnosis? Second, is it true the inner fender has to be removed to get the assembly out? Thanks

joe_padavano

No. The cable likely broke when the antenna mast hit the down stop.

The CSM says to remove the fender to cowl bolts at the bottom and pull the bottom of the fender out to get the antenna out.

deaddds

Battery was dead. Got a new battery and plugged the antenna lead in. Motor was turning while the master was down. Turned the radio on and the mast went up. Turned it off and the master would not go down and kept cycling. I was able to manually lower the mast almost all the way down. Could the plastic belt be just off? If not, where do you get a new mast/belt? Auto zone has nothing available.

joe_padavano

There is no "belt". The mast has a thick, flexible plastic cable internally. This cable winds on a drum that is driven by the motor. The cable eventually breaks where it bends to get fastened to the drum. They ALL do this eventually. You need to remove the antenna from the fender and replace the mast. Normal auto parts stores will not carry this, so don't waste your time looking there. Google GM power antenna mast replacement.

BlueCalais79

This happened with my power antenna in my 79 H/O, same exact thing. Battery was killed within 24 hours, it's a massive drain on it. I need to replace my power antenna as it's the mast staying in the down position and the motor is still running thus the clicking sound. I disconnected it at the connection that goes from the antenna to the relay and no more dead battery issue. So I need to pull the power antenna, a not so wonderful job. This happened 3 years ago. Hopefully I will get to it before I croak.

Also, this probably not the best way to do this job, but I am going to go through all the motions and remove the inner fender well to get at the power antenna that way. I've been meaning to freshen up a few things in the engine compartment as well so this prolonged procedure will serve multiple purposes. I do not want to mess with unbolting ANY sheetmetal.

joe_padavano

Based on my current rate of progress and acquisition of NEW projects, I figure I have to live to at least 150.