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Car Forum / Honda Cars / April 2005Power antenna malfunction
I just noticed this morning that the power antenna of my '94 Accord LX got stuck in the open position and I could not push it down even manually after turning the radio off. Later I extracted the antenna and I took it to a Honda dealer's part store to see if the length of the plastic strip in it is the original length by comparing it to a new one there. Well, it looked like mine was about 6 inches shorter, so probably that torn piece was stuck in the antenna motor's wheels, meaning I would have to remove the motor itself to extract that broken off plastic strip. Unfortunately, when I looked at the motor behind the trunk panel, I found the motor so well hidden in there that I could see no easy way to remove it. Anybody here has done it before and has a good advice how to do it? In the meantime I disconnected the motor by pulling out its connector in the hope of at least saving the motor from possible overload when turning on the radio that still can recieve some strong FM stations without the antenna, plus I can still use my MP3 player through an FM adapter. Rudy > Anybody here has done it before and has a good advice how to do it? Apparently not. I guess I'll have to figure it out the hard way then. :-( To avoid making more scratches around the antenna than I already have, I better get the special antenna nut (sucket) wrench before I commit to it though. I wish I knew where to get one. According to the Service Manual, its part number is 07JAA-001000C. Rudy "R. P." <r_pol12gar@hotmail.com> wrote in news:44Kdndhr9-wNyKffRVn- tw@comcast.com: >> Anybody here has done it before and has a good advice how to do it? > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > commit to it though. I wish I knew where to get one. According to the > Service Manual, its part number is 07JAA-001000C. You can try a bicycle-repair shop, believe it or not. Certain bicycle parts are tightened using a similar sort of socket.  SignatureTeGGeR? The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ www.tegger.com/hondafaq/ Chain ring bolts. I used a pair of round needle nosed pliers to get the mounting nut off. Snap rings would work too. The trick is to use something that you can concentrate on turning without having to concentrate on holding it the slots. ... Cheers, Mike Davis > Chain ring bolts. > I used a pair of round needle nosed pliers to get the mounting nut > off. Well, I got it also off with bent needle nose pliers and managed not only scratch the paint around it but the process also scratched the nut itself (gold color, not chrome!) and dulls the grooves in it enough to worry me that I might not be able to turn it in the future if I repeat this method. > Snap rings would work too. I'm not familiar with these ones. > The trick is to use something that you can concentrate on turning > without having to concentrate on holding it the slots. ... I agree and pliers are not the tool to be able to do it. At least not for me. Rudy "TeGGer®" <tegger@istop.c0m> wrote: > You can try a bicycle-repair shop, believe it or not. Certain bicycle > parts > are tightened using a similar sort of socket. Even if they have it, that does not mean they have it for sale. Honda service shops also have them but not for sale. But it's an interesting idea to pursue, anyway. Rudy "R. P." <r_pol12gar@hotmail.com> wrote in news:BrWdnXSy_PrDO6bfRVn- tQ@comcast.com: >> You can try a bicycle-repair shop, believe it or not. Certain bicycle >> parts [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > service shops also have them but not for sale. But it's an interesting > idea to pursue, anyway. They sell them. I own two sizes. They are about as cheap as ordinary sockets. The ones I've got have a hole in the middle so axles and the like can protrude, and have a couple of flats so you can get a wrench on them. http://tegger.com/hondafaq/misc/bicycle_socket.jpg You can modify the pins with a grinder to make them fit your application. I guess you could probably even grind down an ordinary hex socket to do the same thing. SignatureTeGGeR? The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ www.tegger.com/hondafaq/ "TeGGer®" <tegger@istop.c0m> wrote: > They sell them. I own two sizes. They are about as cheap as ordinary > sockets. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > http://tegger.com/hondafaq/misc/bicycle_socket.jpg I see. Those nicely manicured hands sure don't look like that of a grease monkey. ;-) The hole in the middle is probably not large enough to accommodate the bottom of the fully extended antenna mast in case it stuck in the extended position as was in my case. > You can modify the pins with a grinder to make them fit your > application. Looks like that would be necessary because they are too wide to fit in the nut grooves. > guess you could probably even grind down an ordinary hex socket to do > the > same thing. Sure, if you have a well equipped work shop which I don't. :-( But I still would like to hear how the heck can one get to that antenna motor that is so tightly sqeezed in there between the side wall and another supporting metal bracket. Do you have a picture of the removal process somewhere? Rudy I pulled the mechanism out of a 90 Prelude. It wasn't too hard at all. YOu have to undo the fender mounting carefully if you don't have the specially shaped tool. I had some narrow needle nose pliers that did it fine. Snap ring pliers would work well too. Then you have to pull the trunk lining back to get at the motor. It's held on to a bracket with one bolt (6mm maybe, something like that, I can't remember). Then unplug the antenna and electricals and the unit should come out. The piece that broke off will be in the drum-shaped part of the unit, which is held together by a few screws. I don't have the Helm manual here with me, but its not a tough job at all. Cheers, Mike Davis > I pulled the mechanism out of a 90 Prelude. It wasn't too hard at all. > YOu have to undo the fender mounting carefully if you don't have the [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > I don't have the Helm manual here with me, but its not a tough job at > all. That's reassuring though I don't know how similar the antenna of your '90 Prelude was to my '94 Accord. There is also some kind of drain pipe there I think which might have to be unattached. It also occured to me if the teeth of that plastic cord need to be greased before insertion and if so, what kind of grease? I haven't seen any specific mention of this in the Service Manual. Maybe TeGGer knows the answer to this, too. Rudy > I pulled the mechanism out of a 90 Prelude. It wasn't too hard at all. > YOu have to undo the fender mounting carefully if you don't have the [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > I don't have the Helm manual here with me, but its not a tough job at > all. At last I figured out how to wiggle in the end of the antenna cable so the motor retracts and extends the antenna mast correctly. My problem was that after the first few tries, there was still about 3 inches of the mast up when I turned off the radio despite having the same cable length as in the old antenna. So I figured I should wiggle in about 3 more inches before I turn off the radio, but I could not do that. Then a light flashed in my head and I found the trick I was looking for. Next time I wiggled in the same small cable length again as before, then turned off the radio: those 2-3 inches of the mast still sticking out, of course. But now, after turning on the radio again, I was pushing back down the mast against the motor's force, enough to hear that the rachet wheel skipped several teeth on the plastic cable and then the mast did not quite extend fully. That was exactly what I wanted because when next I turned the radio off again, the mast was fully retracted after some ratchet noise from the motor. After these "adjustment cycles" the antenna was working as it should, without any more teeth skipping. I am sharing this info, so others out there in similar situation don't have to go through the same frustruation I've been through. (But I still want to install that 3-way antenna motor override switch I mentioned before.) Rudy >> I pulled the mechanism out of a 90 Prelude. It wasn't too hard at all. >> YOu have to undo the fender mounting carefully if you don't have the [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > > Rudy 2-3 inches of mast refusing to go in usually means a piece of the old cable broke off and remains in the motor. Did your new mast have a longer piece of cable than the old one? If so, it will start leaving some protruding mast again shortly. The fix is to remove the motor, open it up, and take out the broken piece of cable. Then when you feed the new one back in, if it doesn't go all the way down the first time, turn the radio on, then immediately off before the antenna can move up very far and it will pull it the rest of the way in. The ratcheting noise was a hint that you were breaking it. There is not enough room for the extra cable in the little drum on the side of the motor until you remove the broken piece. Hopefully, you haven't destroyed the motor yet. > 2-3 inches of mast refusing to go in usually means a piece of the old > cable broke off and remains in the motor. Did your new mast have a [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > time, turn the radio on, then immediately off before the antenna can > move up very far and it will pull it the rest of the way in. Well, you obviously missed my last (March 26) article under another similar thread, titled "Disabling the power antenna" where I did describe in detail how I removed the motor assembly and the broken piece of the cable from the old antenna. The new one has been working fine, thank you. > The ratcheting noise was a hint that you were breaking it. There is > not enough room for the extra cable in the little drum on the side of > the motor until you remove the broken piece. Hopefully, you haven't > destroyed the motor yet. I disagree about the ratcheting noise, because it happens quite frequently during cold winter operation as the motor is struggling to move the cold and rigid antenna cable. That's the main reason why I want to install a manual override switch in the radio-to-motor control wire. Rudy >> 2-3 inches of mast refusing to go in usually means a piece of the old >> cable broke off and remains in the motor. Did your new mast have a [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > of the cable from the old antenna. The new one has been working fine, > thank you. Apparently. Why a different thread? I've never really understood why people will post the same problem in multiple threads. Maybe just trolling? You certainly didn't do it any favors forcing it down. The prescribed method is to quickly cycle the motor. >> The ratcheting noise was a hint that you were breaking it. There is >> not enough room for the extra cable in the little drum on the side of [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > want to install a manual override switch in the radio-to-motor control > wire. So you did damage it, or maybe it partly stripped the gears all by itself. There should be no racheting noise at any temperature. > Apparently. Why a different thread? I've never really understood why > people will post the same problem in multiple threads. Maybe just > trolling? It was not the same thread initially, but because Mike, having read both threads, decided to address this issue there, too, starting with the comment "BTW, in regard to your other post, ..." so I answered him there, figuring that if he read both threads, others might, too, as the subjects sound very similar. Sorry, I was wrong assuming that, at least when it comes to you. No troll was intended at all. > You certainly didn't do it any favors forcing it down. The prescribed > method is to quickly cycle the motor. Where is it prescribed? I have the official Honda Service Manual for this model and I could not find any details in it about that. I wish you could have joined this thread sooner. Besides, your method would require another person, one at the radio, another holding the antenna mast till it's pulled in. I am not in a position to quickly get somebody to help out when I also have the time working on this. What I did seems to work and the antenna extends and retracts fully without any more ratcheting sound. > So you did damage it, or maybe it partly stripped the gears all by > itself. There should be no racheting noise at any temperature. Well, I noticed that you ignored my comment about operating the antenna at freezing temps when the motor struggles with the antenna while it refuses to move. There is plenty of ratcheting then. When I pulled out the old antenna cable, I didn't see any stripped teeth on the cable and I'm pretty sure the gear teeth are even tougher than those on the plastic cable. So it looks like the contact between the gear and the cable is not as rigid as you are implying. But be as it may, the new antenna seems to work just fine right now. However, I would still like to know what that prescribed method is that you referred to, 'cause I sure could not push in more than perhaps half an inch of the cable initially, without assistance from the motor. That gear seems to be pretty stuck in one position without operating the motor. Kinda' like a car in Park shift position. That initial half an inch, however, was enough to make the motor pull in the cable after turning the radio off. I would also be interested in what prescribed method you know to pull out the cable, like for inspection, for instance. Rudy |
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