OK, here is my antenna problem. My antenna has been broken for give or take a year, i just never got around to fixing it. I could hear the motor running, so i figured it was just dirty. So i went out, turned on the radio, and yanked the sucker up and cleaned it off with goop off (to lube it up a little). I then turned the radio off, heard the motor go on, but the antenna stayed. I gave it some "help" (pushed it down about 3 inches) and it went down fine. it now goes up without problems, but needs some "help" to go down. Anyone have a solution? the antenna does not appear to be bent at all.

 

lots of lube... i don't know how those things work

why not just leave it up?

 

If I leave it up, its sure to get snapped.

 

ok, so turn it on and off, while someone sprays it with wd40. this will lube it good, and get it into all the joints. you might need to "help" it during this process. also, you could have stripped one/some of the gears for the antenna by shoving it around

 

just shave it off I did and my radio works fine(door handles too)

 

this happened to the max i have a few years ago when it was still my dad's. the problem was with the gears engaging. from what i hear they're plastic and get worn down and broken. i did not fix it myself so i do not remeber how it was done. i'm pretty sure they just replaced the entire motor assembly. typical dealership repair. to get to the motor you need to take some of the panels on that side of the trunk off. what comes next is beyond me... i'd look at the gears themselves... i doubt that your problem is simple lubrication, i think it's the gearing... hope you get it worked out

 

well often when they get stuck, they are try and have gunk in them. gears breaking create a totally different set of symptoms

 

This happened to my 95 about a year ago. Same exact story...would go up but wouldn't go back down unless i pushed on it. Then one day it just stopped working all together. I think that it is a common problem for the power antennas that the motors just die after a while. I talked with a sales guy about it when i was getting some body work done on that same fender and they said that they would have to replace the whole motor assembly and the parts would be about 70 bucks. Best of luck...let me know what you do.

 

im betting pulling it out and forcing it around striped a couple teeth of the gear, and it cant grip unless you help it. not going all the way down/having a really unsmooth motion is more a need for grease

 

I lubricated the antenna and it worked a little while.
Then i twisted it just a bit and since have no problem almost a year.

 

Best lubricant to use on any antenna is any kind of silicone protective spray. Other lubricants are not as well preserved when it gets very very cold. I say this because I live in Chicago where it does get extremely cold.

I also say this because the silicone spray I have used (...for about 5 years now) on key-holes, antennas, etc. is honestly the ONLY spray that actually prevented the freezing up of these components in my car when it was -20 outside.

 

yea, for me, silicon lube is nice because its a "dry lubricant" it doesnt give a greasy feeling or freeze