Guys

Today my electirc aerial has started to make some whining noise for about ten seconds afer it has gone up, it also seems shorter and the last piece is loose? Do I need a new aerial or motor? It goes down ok.???

Viresh

sounds like its gotten stuck???

My aerial doesn't seem to go up all the way and it doesn't budge when I try pulling it. But I havn't done anything about it because i still get good reception...

anyone else got any advice?...

Thanks Ninja - Does yours also make this loud noise - sounds like drilling?

Sounds like a good woman

anyway I would say give it some refreshment like some Wd40 or some grease, mine gets stuck sometimes and takes its time going down but a bit of oil does the trick .....

My aerial has the drilling sound and I've tried greasing and wd40 which helps for a while. Other than that I've just got used to it!

Seeing as though I always play Mp3's from a hard drive or CD-R I thought it was annoying how everytime I turned on my headunit the aerial came out even the I wasn't and never really listen to the radio. So I looked up in the "guides" section of this site and installed a remote aerial switch!

Much less annoying!!!

Thanx to whoever typed that up.

hey ninja my car did that too but i can configure the aerial on the cd player so that every time i which on the music it does have to pop up maybe u guys can do too!!

aha! i had this problem, and i discovered that my Stereo has this AF function, where it is constantly searching for changes in the frequency of your programmed stations, for example if you go for a long drive... therefore the aerial was always up!

Turn this function off, and hey presto i can listen to CDs without the aid of the aerial!

yes tucker thats what i meant hehe :twisted:

How do you turn the AF function off? I have a pioneer head unit

My Aerial packed in so I chucked it, insulated the activation wire and fitted a slanted bee-sting aerial intended for a Golf roof fitting. It works fine and looks OK too (I think so, anyway ...)

i also have a pioneer headunit which is maybe the reason why we can't seem to find this function - probably don't have it

not sure.... mine is Sony,

RTFM!!!

I just replaced my aerial with one from Maplin Electronics, it cost £20.

Installation was a bit tricky as the fittings didn't match exactly, it took me 4 hours but you could probably do it in 2. here's what I did:

you'll need.

screwdriver, wirecutters/strippers, electrical connection block, co-ax socket (although I just soldered the cables and wrapped in insulating tape),

Once you have stripped all the plastic covers out from the boot you'll see the aerial is bolted onto a small galvanised frame which in turn bolts onto the side of the car. Undo the nut holding the bracket to the car, the bolt is captive so don't worry about it falling away. Undo the chrome cap on the top of the aerial (outside the boot, where the aerial disappears when its retracted) it looks like it needs a special tool to do this but I used a set of plumber pliers, try NOT to mark the chrome cap, you'll need it later.

unscrew the top and take it off along with the chrome cap, black plastic cap and black rubber seal. Be careful not to lose any of the white sealing rings. Make a note of the angle of the collar that protrudes out of the hole, I used this instead of the new one provided.

There is a plastic drain tube at the bottom of the aerial which joins into a Y piece and then to a fitting on the side of the car, disconnect the plastic tube, it was easiest to disconnect at the car fitting rather than the Y piece or the aerial. The other tube that goes into the Y piece was fairly slack and just lifted out.

The black aerial cable has a joiner about 12cm from the aerial, mine was wrapped in tape. Just pull them apart.

disconnect the wiring connector and remove the aerial.

unsrew the galvanised bracket from the bottom of the aerial. you'll see the bracket doesn't exactly match the new aerial, I had to file the screw holes into slots and buff through the bracket at the hole to get it too fit. screw the galv bracket onto the new aerial.

disconnect the drainage pipe fron the old aerial and fit to new.

at the top of the old aerial there is an angled collar, slip a flat bladed screwdriver under this and twist, pushing the collar up, there is a small retaining stud which will slip through with a little pressure. Fit the collar over the new aerial and put the whole thing back into the car. The new aerial is slightly longer than the old one but this can be accomodated becase the base bracket fits into a slot not a hole.

manouvre the collar until it fits as noted earlier when you took it off.

replace the nut on the captive bolt which connects the galv bracket to the side of the car, just tighten it finger tight in case you need to adjust.

Now take the OLD black rubber sealing washer, black plastic cap chrome cap and place over the aerial take the NEW threaded cap and place it inside the whole on the old chrome cap, its a really snug fit but will go through with finger pressure to form a water tight seal now screw the new top onto the new aerial and tighten. close the boot, get a bucket of water and pour it over the aerial, look inside for leaks, is ther are any the slacken the seals and move to get a better seal and retest.

You may want to disconnect the battery for the next bit as the wires to the aerial seem to be powered all the time, even if the ignition is off. If you choose to live life dangerously then cut and connect each wire individually to avoid shorts.

Cut the wires and connect to the new ones, the pink (middle on the old connector) is the control from the radio which connects to the new green wire but check with a multi meter just in case. I just connected the wires through a standard terminal block.

switch on the radio and ignition on and the aerial should extend.

repeat the bucket of water test with the aerial extended.

now cut the coaxial cable ON THE NEW AERIAL. fit the new connector. This is where I cheated by cutting the socket off the old aerial, I cut the co-ax about half it original length and soldering it to the new aerials co-ax.

tape it all up and test your radio.

tighten the galv bracket nut.

reconnect the drain tubes.

put all the covers back in place in the boot and thats you.

I should really change my name to Haynes :)

<disclaimer>
you do all this at your own risk, if in doubt get a qualified person to do the work for you.

Craig, Richard or Mark this last post could do with going on the main site in the guides.

Good work John, I'll be electrocuting myself shortly to stop my whining aerial. Cheers.