Before Christmas I executed a very successful mechanical rebuild of my antenna. (cleaned and re-greased EVERY moving part inside). Well I thought I observed it earlier, but now I know for sure, that my reception sucks (probably only on the diversity antenna). I have a beautifully quiet operation of the stem, but the grease must have gotten in the signal transfer area. I thought it might, but I had hoped that the VHF signal would penetrate. I am now observing it does not.

So my question is: what is the transfer point, and how can you gease the mechanics while keeping the signal path clean, since the greasy tail will pass the area before the first segment latches in.

TIA for any pointers.

John

 

jsut get a standard black mast antenna like i did looks good ( better then that greased metal thing) and it gets great reception, not hard to do at all

 

standard mast black power antenna or regular? if its power where did you get it ? $$

 

no im talking standard mast not power at all, you can even get one of those trendy cell phone look alikes, same install and looks nice. the whoel power antenna thing is no good on old cars.IMO

 

John,
As you know, I have worked on my several times successfully. I had the problem you mention originally then I cleaned everything and switched lubricants. I use a CRC brand "2-26" type electrical grade spray lubricant. I got my at my local appliance parts store but you should be able to find it there or maybe high-end electrical supply or electronics parts store. Just call around - it's not as easy as WD-40 to find but I know I have seen it many places. I think I paid about $3-4 for my last can.

Hope that helps!

 

My antenna is broken but the motor works. Can you tell me where you got your antenna from and how to install it. I've also been trying to just disconnect the motor but I don't know how to get to it.


Thanks,
Roman

 

Tick Tock:

THANKS. Yeah, I used a bunch of VCR quality phono lube. The rebuild indeed was not as difficult as I first thought it might have been. The grease you mention, does it conduct electricity, or does it "push aside" easier in electric contact areas like WD-40 would?

My plan is to jusr take the mast out first, clean the "intake" with some of the long stem cotton swabs and a good solvent, and clean the bottom segment of the mast dramatically so that it is grease free, and reassemble. If that does not work I'll take the whole unit out and do an other overhaul. Then I'll use the grease you recommend.


Roman:

My stem was not broken, just bent a bit, it stuck about 4-5 inches out on retract which I could not stand, and it labored hard on up or down movements. Hence I overhauled mine by straightening the stem and cleaning and re-greasing everything inside. The unit has screws and fully disassembles, it is quite nice.

If your mast is broken, Nissan dealers sell a replacement masts. I believe at Courtesy it's less than $30. Check with Kaleb to get a precise price.

To put the mast in, you should not have to remove the motor assembly, you can just feed it in. However, my Max is a 93 with less than 70K miles, and the grease had dried and hardened causing the motor to work overtime and still not take my mast all the way down. That's why I decided on the complete overhaul, after which it ran ever so smooth and quiet.

Differenr people like different things. I think this is a really good antenna assembly, so I will maintain mine and even replace it with OEM if it ever would get that far. A mast replacement is a small price to pay to maintain the diversity antenna our cars came with.

Cheers,
John

 

Thanks for the reply but I still don't understand how you managed to get the antenna completely out and where you found the screws for the whole assembly. I also have a 93 GXE so it should look the same. I have opened the trunk and looked to the right behind the insulation and I found the motor but I don't see how to get to it. There is a beam right in front of it which, as I see it, prevents me from getting to it.
I would really appreciate it if you could tell me how you fixed your antenna, perticularly how you managed to get take it out and disasemble it, in more detail.

Thanks,
Roman

 

The antenna is affixed at three points. One is where the mast comes out. You can see two slots in the chrome ring. This needs to be removed (it twists off) with a narrow needle nose plier or, which is what I used, a pliers to set and remove snap rings.

If you removed the trunk liner, you have observed the beam in front of the antenna assembly. The antenna is actually mounted to the beam. It is held in by two phillips screws that you can remove from the luggage side of the trunk. If you remove these three fasteners, the motor assembly will then come loose. All electric connections and coax plug in, so they can be fairly easy disconnected. At the bottom is a drain hose which is a ***** to remove from the antenna because the nipple on the antenna has a sharp edge (to prevent the hose from coming off). So if you follow the plastic drain hose down into the abyss of your fender, it leads to a metal Y connector (in mine it did because there is a second drain from the sunroof) and this metal Y sticks through a grommet in the rear fender, easily pulled in and up. Disconnect antenna drain hose from Y (easy) and disconnect hose from antenna at your bench (not even necessary, be careful, it's plastic, if it breaks, you're out of a drain).

Reassembly is easy. You will find that the thoughtful Nissan engineers have but guides and brackets to the beam which makes mounting the motor in the correct position a snap.

Once you have the antenna on a bench, screws hold the cover on, and all pieces are removable. I don't know by heart the original sequence, but it was obvious when I looked at it.
You will have to remove the electric motor if you want to get to the last two gears for cleaning and re-lubing.

Putting the mast in on the bench is a little cumbersome. There is a white plastic case that holds the plastic tail which moves the rod up and down. It is engaged on the gear, so you have to push it into the case most of the way, and then hold it under tension (not much, but tricky enough) and then you need to push it back home so everything seats properly.

You can also feed teh tail in once the antenna is back in the car, but I chose to do it on the bench.

TAKE A CLOSE LOOK where the various rings and snap ring go and their sequence when you take it apart. I thought that was obvious but I mis-remembered and probably wasted an hour not getting the tail container affixed until I realized I must be doing it wrong. Different (correct) sequence and it fit right together.

If you are unsure just take lots of notes.

Hope this helps,
John

 

where did you buy the antenna mast?

 

i'm getting one from advance auto parts next week. i would have ordered it today but i don't have the $$ to prepay for it. i think it's made by Metra or somesuch. it's $20 for a replacement mast and plastic windup thingy.

 

how do you get the old antenna out once you get the new one?

 

erm... i guess you just yank it off at the base? look at it, and read the instructions that come with the new one. Often times replacement parts come with brief instructions on removing the old one.

 

yeah can u link me to what you buy or tell me alittle more
i have a power antenna system and the motor is just gindind but it goes up not all the way but down all the way atleast
thanks

do anyone know if 95-99 maxima mast will fit in the 3rd generation models
or will it be too long???

 

the website doesn't have very good info as far as saying what part# is for our cars. it's better to go to the store in person. otherwise i'll just have to tell you once i get it..

 

do anyone know if 95-99 maxima mast will fit in the 3rd generation models
or will it be too long???

 

No,it won't fit,buy one for a 3rd gen,they are all over ebay...

AND STOP BUMPING 6 YEAR OLD THREADS.