My son went through a car wash with the CD player ON. This caused the radio antenna to stay up. The obvious happened- the antenna got damaged. I need to replace the antenna but do not know if it comes as a unit and have to replace the motor as well or if the antenna can be purchased separately and can then replace the broken one.

How do I get to the power antenna parts?

My Volvo is a 1999 S-70 AWD Turbo

 

Antenna Replacement. The mast and the nylon line come in one unit - about 20 bucks or so, so don't bother trying to fix the existing one. The one from IPD does *not* come with instructions. A list member faxed me a copy of his official Volvo instructions. The mast is attached to a nylon line that rewinds down into a housing attached to the motor. When the line breaks, the end can remain in the housing, in which case you need to loosen the unit to open the housing enough to get the piece out. It actually made the whole replacement easier for me to loosen the unit (I didn't need remove it entirely). Run the antenna up and down a couple of times, *before* you button everything up all the way, as you might need to play with how far the end gets inserted into the housing, to make sure the antenna retracts completely. You have to remove the power unit if, after removing the interior panels to get to it, and removing the antenna mast and what's left of the nylon/plastic cable, you still can't see any of the cable that's still attached to the unit. If you can see it, turn radio on, grab what you can, and steadily pull it out. The inside of the unit is basically a plastic basket or spool, that simply grabs the teeth of the cable. The part I goofed on was once I had the antenna mast and cable out, and the power unit, I didn't realize how the power unit was put together. The Imparts one might be different, but the Volvo unit (made in Japan) 'case' has only one screw, and is basically pressed together, and will come apart almost completely in half, although it doesn't look like it at first. There is a silicone gasket also, so try not to pry it. I tore mine, which made it slightly tougher to put the case back together with the gasket in place, but not too bad. It was a longer job than I had been led to believe, though now that I've done it I can see how the mechanics at a dealership can do it in 15 minutes or so.
The insertion part is a bit easier, but only if you have the technique or are patient. I did this twice, because I mistakenly thought that the smaller metal part of the antenna mast (the part that goes 'inside' the car all the time) could not be fitted over the mast that I had already installed (p.s., it can fit over it). For those of you who only have a broken mast, but do have access to the cable, you're lucky. Turn the radio on, grab the cable and steadily pull it out. To put the new one in, with the mast nut off and the teeth of the cable facing the front of the car (not left, right or back) feed it in, trying not to spin it. It may take a couple of tries to get the feel of the end of the cable going through the tubing and hitting the spool of the power unit. You know you're they're if you (or an assistant), turn off the radio, with you pushing gently down on the cable, and the cable gets grabbed by the spool. Once it is, (watch out the mast doesn't whip around and get you), mount the mast back, put on the mast nut, and recyle the radio power 5 times or so. It will eventually take up the slack it detects, and you're done. This part is really only five to fifteen minutes, even for a mechanical klutz. And if you don't get it, you haven't broken anything anyway. The instructions with the mast are pretty good, and have pretty good diagrams. The instructions have you doing all of the insertion with the entire assembly apart, however. It was a lot tougher more work that way, and more difficult I think.



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Like an idiot I did the same thing rcoll's son did. Thanks nagesh for the replacement information. Great instructions!

 

I got my replacement mast at Rockauto. It is made by Uro and worked perfectly.

 

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