Electric Antenna Repair

[BAZPRADO Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BAZPRADO]

I think the stealership is trying to rip me off! Although the Antenna motor works and the Toyota parts guy told me that it is generally an easy fix that requires an inexpensive piece, the service dept. want to replace the motor, which is around $275.00, lots of money.

Does anyone have an idea how to remove and reinstall the motor from inside the fender? I have a 2001 Prado VX 5 Door. It appears that this can only be reached from under the car, a stupid design if you ask me. Aomeone has already mentioned that I need to take off the mudguard, which is no big deal, but then what comes after that? Do I need any special tools to remove it?

Why the heck couldn't they just install a wire antenna in the windshield is beyond me. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

[Big Fella Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Big Fella]

Bazprado,

I currently own a 90 Series and had to replace the electric aerial mast. As you said your motor is fine so it should not need to be replaced. The cost of the mast only was around $90.00 AUD. It was a fairly simple process to replace but it involved a 2nd trip to Toyota for the little plastic clips that hold the plastic splash guard in.

From memory:

Take off the front wheel. It will be a bucket load easier with it out of the way.
Remove the plastic clips that hold the splash guard in place. Every last one of mine broke on the way out.
Unscrew the top fascia plate of the aerial (its the round thing with the 4 grooves in it that sits around the aerial head).
Unbolted aerial from under guard and disconnected wires.
Peel back plastic water splash cover from motor.
There are 3 or 4 phillips screws on the side of the assembly (its the big flat round thing) careful when you pull this cover off as the long grooved plastic strip is all spooled up and may spit out at you (like the old spring snake in a can).
Unscrew aerial from unit.
Thread new grooved plastic strip into housing.
You will then have to coil this up into the housing without it spring back into your eye and put the cover back on.
From there its just reverse stepping the stuff I wrote above.

I hope this helps you in some way.

Maybe someone else has a better way of explaing this but its how I remember it.

Cheers,

Big Fella

[BAZPRADO Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BAZPRADO]

Thanks much for the tip, I guess with my luck, I should go ahead and order these clips prior to starting the removal. Do you have a part number for the clips or would the Toyota parts Dept. fellow be familiar with what it is I am asking about?

Cheers/

[Big Fella Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Big Fella]

Baz,

I will have a look for the part numbers later today if I still have the invoice. It was only a small amout so I may have just chucked it out in the bin.

Big Fella

[BAZPRADO Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BAZPRADO]

By splash guard, do you mean the big black plastic cover that goes all around the wheel well? I am differentiating this from the Mud Guard which uses a couple of metal screws! Any way, dealer does not have the clips, have to wait a few days before I start taking it apart!

Cheers.

[Big Fella Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Big Fella]

Baz,

Yes it is the big black plastic inner guard cover

Big Fella

[peter.hulcup Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close peter.hulcup]

I am changing my aerial at the moment too. According to the Gregorys Manual you can use the motor to feed the old mast out and to feed the new mast in.

My problem though is that the cogged plastic strip has snapped so only half came out and the other half is still in there. Will this just fall out of the way or will it foul up the new aerial when I feed it in?

Peter

[Chippy Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chippy]

I reckon you need to open the unit up and get the rest of the strip out of there. Chances are it will foul up.

Cheers
Chippy

[BAZPRADO Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BAZPRADO]

Hi Peter, please oh pretty please, take some pics and share with us! I still do not know how to twist the top off to get the unit out of the fender? Do you need a special key for that?

[BAZPRADO Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BAZPRADO]

I am unable to unscrew it by hand? Any idea?

[peter.hulcup Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close peter.hulcup]

Baz,

You shouldn't need a special tool. I put a flat screwdriver in one of the grooves at about a 45 degree angle and gave it a light tap with a hammer. It wasn't really that tight and after a quarter turn I could undo it with my fingers. Careful you don't slip with your screwdriver though cos you will put a nice scratch in your paint!

Peter

[BAZPRADO Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BAZPRADO]

So, I take the car for the 80,000 KM service and ask them to look at the electric antenna, well guess what, it is repairable! Something which all of us knew.

The same dealership's other service shop insisted on replacing the entire motor, while this one was able to repair it! man, I wish I had the time to go over there and give them a piece of my mind!

All in all, it cost $80.00 (US) to repair, not too bad... It is still too hot to work on the car, it should start cooling off in November :cry:

Cheers.

[big al Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close big al]

ripped off

DONT REPLACE THE MOTOR.Remove the wheel, remove the plastic splash guard. remove the antanna motor. dismantle wintch assembly. remove the remaining spline, insert new spline with the afixed antanna. Dont be concerned with the syncronization of the auto up and down,it will reset with the manual up and down dash controll switches.
,easy peasy.

[Dieselman Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dieselman]

Hi all,

Just replaced my broken radio mast. Pulled the motor apart on sunday to remove the broken plastic drive strip (sorry I didn't get any photo's). Fitting the new mast is just a matter of facing the teeth backwards on the plastic strip and get the missus to turn of the key. This will cause the motor to draw in the strip until it and the metal mast is home - too easy.

The part number for the mast is 86337-60110 and the clips for the splash guard are 53879-60010.

The wife is happy now the radio works properly


Ben

[JonBatson Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close JonBatson]

You're gonna love this

So I did the stupid thing and tried to listen to the CD while I was in a car wash. You can guess the rest!

Anyway, after bending and generally messing about with the twisted remains I got the original mast to almost go all the way down - missed by about 10cms - and go all the way up.

Then I ran into this thread while looking for something on GPS - so I read it all and then thought - what the hell - let's go get a replacement mast.

The local dealer had them in stock and the part numbers are fine. He actually recognised what it was just looking at the numbers!!!! So I’m not the only dumb cluck!!!

He then said in conversation that provided the old one was still working that, after taking off the top nut and playing with the ignition, it would just "spit the old one out".

So I got it home - undid the top nut - turned the CD on - the metal mast sections came up and out - but the cogged nylon insert coil wouldn't come all the way out. I tried pulling - but no luck and before pulling too hard I thought I'D BETTER HAVE A THINK BEFORE DOING SOMETHING STUPID – AGAIN!

Thinks - so what's stopping it spit the nylon out fully? - the motor stopped - why - some sort of contact - or pressure switch - or timer. The metal bits of the mast itself are all the way out so it's nothing to do with them. Could be a contact on the nylon as it rolls up - unlikely - pressure switch - unlikely.

Timer is my favourite. So if it’s a timer the motor has got to have a clutch so I could probably force it out by pulling really hard. Don’t like that idea too much!

I get a better idea.

So, ignition and CD on - nylon out as far as it will go. Grab the nylon so it won't go back. Turn ignition of - motor tries to retrieve the nylon but can't – clutch slipping obviously. Motor eventually stops after 5 secs or so. Ignition back on and the nylon spits out just like the guy said it would.

Then it's simply a matter of putting the new nylon cogged coil in the hole with the cogged bits pointing the right way!- turn ignition off - motor then pulls the whole lot back into the hole. Nut back on and job done!!!

Took me 20 minutes with most of that thinking time. Plus a few hours on the net of course. Next time it will be 5 minutes start to finish!!! – if that……

Hope this helps…………..