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Car Forum / Mercedes-Benz Cars / June 2007power antenna
I have a 1984 380SE. The antenna will only erect to the intermediate position, not all the way. I've read that the antennas are prone to failure, but now that I have one half failing, I am wondering if I should be looking at the switch before replacing the antenna? Any thoughts or experience? If it will go halfway up, that means your antenna mast is extremely dirty. Have someone turn on the radio while you assis the antenna to go up higher. Once you get it as high as you can, clean the antenna with wd40 or similar... exercise your antenna up and down... cleaning each time it goes up. > I have a 1984 380SE. The antenna will only erect to the intermediate > position, not all the way. As Tiger said, it's probably that your mast is sticky. It's a pretty straight-forward job to replace the mast itself, I got one from AutohausAZ for $15. Once you get it out, you take the cover off of the unit to see how the mechanism works, and you can force it to spit the old antenna out and then suck a new one in. For what it's worth, you don't need to take the mechanism out of the case (as I did, 'cause I didn't know how to get the old antenna out), just turn the black plastic gear a bit to kick off the motor (with the ignition switch and radio on and switch in the "up" position) and the old antenna will pop right out. Should be easy to figure out. On my list of TODOs is to videotape the process and stick it up on YouTube, since I have to pull mine out again since I didn't get it adjusted quite right. -tom! -- >> I have a 1984 380SE. The antenna will only erect to the intermediate >> position, not all the way. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > process and stick it up on YouTube, since I have to pull mine out again > since I didn't get it adjusted quite right. Would be much appreciated. Changing the mast is still on my TODO list ;) Ximinez  SignatureOur three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency... and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/paulfitz/spanish/t1.html >>> I have a 1984 380SE. The antenna will only erect to the intermediate >>> position, not all the way. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Ximinez me too! mine is stuck 1/2 up. j. I don't know about your car but my 84 500SEL has a switch on the dash that makes that happen. You can make it stay down, go up part way, or go up all the way. I have no idea how it works but the problem could be in that system if your car has it. Paul McKechnie >> I have a 1984 380SE. The antenna will only erect to the intermediate >> position, not all the way. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > -- On Jun 7, 6:27 am, "Paul McKechnie" <pmckech...@carolina.rr.com> wrote: > I don't know about your car but my 84 500SEL has a switch on the dash that > makes that happen. You can make it stay down, go up part way, or go up all [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > - Show quoted text - Very likely it's the antenna mast. You can tell for sure just by listening. If the motor keeps running but the mast stops going up before being fully extended, then it's a mast problem, not electricial. Cleaning and lightly lubricating it may solve it, at lleast temporarily. You can get it fully extended as your cleaning it by pulling on it while the motor is running to assist it. But what happnes over time is the plastic cable that is used to push it out, gradually wears out. And I think it probably rapidly wears out once it's stuck and failing to extend, because that section of cable is then getting even more wear. So don't be surprised if it starts sticking again soon. I don't hink you even need to remove the unit to install the new one. It's supposed to be able to be done by just pulling it out by hand as the motor is making it go up. You then feed the new one back in as it's in retract mode. However, I think it's a good idea to open the case, clean out any gunk, and put some oil on the roller/tension pivot points. If that gets corroded a bit, it won't keep tight tension holding the cable against the wheel that moves it. The masts are available on Ebay for ~ $15 |
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