Aerial Mast Change......... - keep

**Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 6:06 pm

here's how to change your aerial mast..........

1. first remove the relevant boot trim (described elsewhere on this site!!)

then you will see this............
[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/TILLERTHOU/mast1.jpg[/img]

2. unplug the power connector (held on with tabs), drain tubes at base of unit and coaxial cable.
loosen the gold nut (10mm) to the left of the arial unit.

3. unscrew the retaining nut on the mast (as in pic below). i used circlip pliers, but pushing the nut round with a screwdriver would work too (don't scratch the paint though!!)
[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/TILLERTHOU/mast2.jpg[/img]

4. completely remove the gold nut inside the car now whilst supporting the arial. you should now be able to remove the aeial from the car

5. remove the 4 gold screws as seen in the pic below.....
[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/TILLERTHOU/mast3.jpg[/img]

6. you will now be confronted with this...
[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/TILLERTHOU/mast4.jpg[/img]

pull off the round wheel - carefully - as the cord inside will unravel! then remove the white plate to reveal the innards - as shown below.....
[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/TILLERTHOU/mast5.jpg[/img]

the cord on mine came away as it had snapped inside the mast itself

7. pull the mast firmly out of the main arial body as below....
[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/TILLERTHOU/mast6.jpg[/img]

8. on your old mast, slide off the short metal tube and rubber bit (!) and slide it over your new mast as below.....
[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/TILLERTHOU/mast7.jpg[/img]

9. feed the cord into the arial body, and push the new (retracted) mast in firmly....
[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/TILLERTHOU/mast8.jpg[/img]

10. place the cord between the large sprocket and small round wheel. then refit the white base plate as below...
[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/TILLERTHOU/mast9.jpg[/img]

11. wind the cord into the plastic wheel...
[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/TILLERTHOU/mast10.jpg[/img]
and push into place.

you should be back here again!!
[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/TILLERTHOU/mast4.jpg[/img]

12. refit the cover, bung it back into the car - fitting is the reversal of removal (shockingly enough!!) - job done!

[img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/TILLERTHOU/mast11.jpg[/img]

and don't forget to refit the drain tubes..................you could also apply grease to moving parts too - i did!

also, if you break anything, don't blame me!!! (own risk an' all that......!)

**Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 6:34 pm

nice guide there chap

:D

**Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:08 pm

Top job

**Posted:** Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:33 pm

Comprehensive! Tops!

**Posted:** Fri Oct 20, 2006 7:02 pm

nice one...how much are the new masks?

**Posted:** Fri Oct 20, 2006 7:08 pm

Approx £25 from Mazda :thumbright:

**Posted:** Sat Oct 21, 2006 12:42 am

Worth putting on the main site? Looks good to me

**Posted:** Sat Oct 21, 2006 3:23 pm

Nice guide!

i just unplugged mine and left it down though! cheaper! :laughing6:

this sounds like whats wrong with mine though, maybe fix it one day

**Posted:** Sat Oct 21, 2006 10:47 pm

the only reason mine was fixed is because i snagged one off ebay for £12.50!!

**Posted:** Wed Oct 25, 2006 10:25 am

You havn't half done that complicated! All I did was take of the locking nut in the top, turn on the stereo and it pushed aerial right out. Then fed white plastic into hole, turned stereo off, which pulled the aerial back in then put the nut back on!

**Posted:** Wed Oct 25, 2006 12:27 pm

[quote="paul323f"]You havn't half done that complicated! All I did was take of the locking nut in the top, turn on the stereo and it pushed aerial right out. Then fed white plastic into hole, turned stereo off, which pulled the aerial back in then put the nut back on![/quote]Quite often though Paul you need to replace your mast because the plastic bit has snapped off inside the motor, so you need to get that out first. I take your point though. :-)

**Posted:** Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:33 pm

[quote="paul323f"]You havn't half done that complicated! All I did was take of the locking nut in the top, turn on the stereo and it pushed aerial right out. Then fed white plastic into hole, turned stereo off, which pulled the aerial back in then put the nut back on![/quote]

my plastic cord had snapped completely inside so i had to take it apart!!

knackered mast only, i see yours is much quicker!!

**Posted:** Fri Nov 03, 2006 4:10 pm

Fair enough, didn't think of that!

**Posted:** Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:49 am

[quote="andym323"]Approx £25 from Mazda :thumbright:

[/quote]

Try £38

**Joined:** Sun Sep 20, 2009 12:06 pm **Posts:** 182

Need help on this!!

I did everything and it worked first time around, then the cord disconnected itself from the mast while pulling the aerial down. Basically the thing kept on pulling even when it was fully down and then stopped after a couple of seconds. These couple of seconds pulled the cord out of the mast. How do I securely fit the cord into the mast without it pulling off and how do I stop the cord from continueing when the aerial is in???

**Posted:** Sat Jun 05, 2010 9:23 pm

Was it a new mast you fitted? This sounds like the cord was broken so now it's too short, hence the "overrun". If this wasn't a new mast then that's what you need. New mast from Mazda about £30. I did mine easily myself after having similar problems to you and it works fine now.

**Posted:** Sun Jun 06, 2010 11:33 am

If you are a gold member Bourne Road Garage Mazda Crayford give discount

**Posted:** Sun Jun 06, 2010 3:10 pm

I've got an aerial to fit your car. Fully working condition, stripped, cleaned and greased up ready to go.

**Joined:** Sun Sep 20, 2009 12:06 pm **Posts:** 182

BillyBoy - If the cord was too short then the aerial would not fully extend in the first place, which it does, I think I'll re-do the thing tomorrow and see what happens when it's retracting to see how to adjust it. A new mast is not worth the money, especially when analogue is being cut off.

paul323f - quality but I'm not a gold member

Lethagized - Yes, thanks for the PM. If this doesn't fix itself then I'll let you know. What's your new aerial like? is it digital?

**Joined:** Sun Sep 20, 2009 12:06 pm **Posts:** 182

This is doing my head in lol, tried again and even though it kinda worked the cord still ended up coming out and the motor over running. Guess it's time for a new one, I'm kinda stuck on analogue or digital.

**Joined:** Sat Feb 05, 2011 2:26 pm **Posts:** 3

Thanks so much for this guide!!! Was still very frustrating getting the aerial in and out of the car, as there isnt very much room. This definitely made it possible though, as Dad and I would have had no idea whatsoever!

**Joined:** Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:19 pm **Posts:** 1

£500 ... £500 !!!!!!!!!!!!! That's how much my folks paid to have the radio mast replaced on their (now my) 323f... absolutely gutting when I discovered I could've done it myself... £500 quid for fecks sake!!!!!!!!

great instructions by the way.

cheers

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