arrrgh. trying to replace the antenna mast on a 740 wag (92 turbo). got the broken off top half of the old mast out, including all the plastic puller, but the last segment is stuck in there. this stub still goes up and down, it appears the retainer sleeve piece that has the two teeth sticknig out is what won't come out. I've gotten on a ladder so I'm above the car and tried yanking hard with channel locks, no luck.

any clues? do I try and remove the drain cup thing from the base of the antenna housing (in the rear pillar)? should I continue to go postal on it? next try is vice grip on anttenna stub, and a rubber mallet, I dunno.

 

ooops, never mind, mission accomplished. grabbed the edge/lip of the sleeve piece that holds it into the antenna mount, and twisted and it came out

new antenna installed, and going up/down! wooot!

 

Nice to hear you got it all working. Could you tell me where to buy the antenna from? I want to replace the one on my 1988 740 GLE wagon. Thanks.

 

I got the mast for like $12 or something from the local volvo indie's parts counter.

thats JUST the mast and the 'rope' thing that goes down into the mechanism. IPDusa and FCP Groton both should have them. so should almost anyone else. repairs range in difficulty, if part of the plastic 'rope' is broken off inside the motor reel, its more complicated, and if your motor isn't working, considerably more expensive.

on a 700/900 wagon, the motor is under the left side deck panel behind the left rear wheel. on a 240 sedan, its in the trunk. dunno where it is on a 240 wagon or a 7/9 sedan. on my 740 wagon, I also popped out the left rearmost pillar inside panel to see the rest of the mechanism, but in fact did not have to other than to go duh.

short version of the install, turn the radio and antenna switch on 'up' so the motor runs in the 'up' direction as far as it will. remove the exterior nut around the antenna, pull it out as high as you can. in my case, the last piece with the retainer fingers and flange wouldn't come up, I managed to grab its flange with my channellocks without munging the brass threads that hold said nut, and twisted and lifted til it came out. now, gently pull ALL the plastic toothed rope thing out. compare it to the replacement, it should be the same length. if the replacement is longer, there's probably some broken inside, now you get to pull the motor out and try and open it up, I can't help you. insert the plastic rod on the new antenna such that the teeth are facing the right way (on my wagon, the teeth had to face the far side of the car), and push it ALL the way down til it won't go no farther, and flip the antenna switch to 'down' (or shut off the radio) and quickily push down on the rod and it should get grabbed and pulled down, insert the metal antenna sleeve into the hole as soon as you can, and you can get it seated in one pass. run the antenna up/down a few times to be sure its working right, and reinstall the nut.

I haven't oiled my antenna yet but probably should wipe it down with some kind of light dry wax lubricant, or triflow, or something. I also didn't grease the plastic toothed puller thing, dunno if thats supposed to be greased or not, the old one was rather black but that may have been from age and old lube stuff dripping down it.

 

Thank you for the detailed reply. The sources you mentioned are very promising. I want to actually change the antenna of the car of a very dear friend of mine who has let me use the car as if it were my own. However, I don't recall at the moment if the antenna is motorized or not (never used it, never payed attention to it). The antenna repair is going to be a just a tiny token of thanks for the last use of the car.

 

haven't seen a Volvo with a non-motorized antenna since, I dunno when. Heck, last car I think I owned with a manual antenna was a 1984 VW Rabbit, and thats because I got the base model.

if you pop the floor panel in the back behind the left wheel hump (just grab the fabric loop that sticks out of the front of this panel and pull up til it pops out), you should see the power motor if you really need to confirm this.

There also should be an antenna switch on the dash just to the left of the steering wheel... has a icon that looks like a rake sticking up. the ignition has to be in accessory or on, and the radio has to be turned on, then this switch will send the antenna motor 'up' and 'down'. open rear hatch and remove the panel, go aruond front and flip switch, go around to back of car quickly, you shoudl hear the motor quietly humming for 10 seconds or something. it will stop eventually. flip switch other way, you should hear it again.

 

I see. I will try to do this 'test' next time I am around the car.

Thanks again.