Fixing power antenna, has anyone done it? Options

[Xander_X]

As I have yet to find a working power antenna, in the interim, I thought I may try to fix mine.

When I first got the car, the motor ran but the antenna would not move up and down. A very common issue with power antenna after years of use. Now, upon taking it apart, I basically just put it back together, but had to figure out how to put the ribbed plastic tether back in the motor. I had someone turn the radio off for me as I essentially "shoved" the end of the tether in it's respective whole in the motor assembly until I found the position it was supposed to go in. Once I did, the motor sucked it up and I tightened the antenna tube back into the motor assembly. It then would go up and down ... sort of. When it went down, it worked great, low motor noise, and motor stopped as soon as the antenna was all the way down. But on the way up, the motor was quiet until the antenna was all the way up, then it continued to make a louder almost grinding motor noise. So now, basically the main problem is, I'm trying to figure out why it's not recognizing that it's all the way up and stop the motor?

[Xander_X]

Autozone, $20. The nylon center will last about a month before it strips or breaks

Doesn't seem worth it to me. Would rather pay for a Toyota one. You know, I guess it wouldn't kill me to pay the price of Toyota if I had a 100% guarantee that's what my problem is and that it would work.

1sttoyotaparts.com has it for sale at US$50. That said, Toyota seemed to use the same mast design for a lot of cars, so you should be able to find used ones for very cheap via the junkyard. They'll probably last about as long as the Autozone ones, and if you disassemble the antenna at the yard it's fairly easy to check the condition of the cable and telescoping sections.

Problem is, at a junk yark, no power. It's difficult to get the mast out, without breaking the tether, if you just try to pull it out without using the motor to do it. But I guess I don't have to pay for it if it breaks inside the motor do I ... so I could give it a try.

[Special_Edy]

Autozone, $20. The nylon center will last about a month before it strips or breaks

Doesn't seem worth it to me. Would rather pay for a Toyota one. You know, I guess it wouldn't kill me to pay the price of Toyota if I had a 100% guarantee that's what my problem is and that it would work.

1sttoyotaparts.com has it for sale at US$50. That said, Toyota seemed to use the same mast design for a lot of cars, so you should be able to find used ones for very cheap via the junkyard. They'll probably last about as long as the Autozone ones, and if you disassemble the antenna at the yard it's fairly easy to check the condition of the cable and telescoping sections.

Problem is, at a junk yark, no power. It's difficult to get the mast out, without breaking the tether, if you just try to pull it out without using the motor to do it. But I guess I don't have to pay for it if it breaks inside the motor do I ... so I could give it a try.

Bring a cordless drill battery and two pieces of wire with you to the junkyard. Remove the interior panel off the drivers side of the trunk. Disconnect the two wire plug on the power antenna that plugs into the motor( black wire with yellow stripe and blue wire). Now use the two wires you brought to run power from the cordless battery to the motor.
18V - 4.4V battery it doesnt matter, the motor will operate fine off this power source