Power Antenna troubleshooting​

In January of 2016, I bought the power antenna and bracket for my car from DMCH. Installation was a breeze, and the antenna worked flawlessly for a couple of months.

Started having issues with it not retracting after the car was turned off. I found that if I pulled it up just a little by tugging on the mast, it would engage and automatically retract even with the keys out of the car. When the tugging it up wouldn't work, I did on several occasions manually push it down, but typically it would start to retract by itself once I got it about half way down.

Sometimes it seemed disconnecting the battery for a couple of minutes would reset everything, and it continued to work up until about a month ago.

Now it won't do anything. I pulled the charcoal canister to access the antenna and checked both the Blue wire and the red wire for 12v power. As I understand, the red wire has a constant 12v, and the Blue wire has 12v only when the radio is on. Using my tester, I have power on the red wire. With the key in the accessory only position, I have power​on the blue wire with the radio on.

Only thing besides the motor itself is the relay.

Any clues? It may be time to replace the antenna, but I was really hoping it would have lasted more than a year.

If I do end up replacing it, is there an aftermarket antenna with a black mast that would easily cross reference?

I had a similar issue which was caused by poor ground.


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I agree, the nest step is to confirm a good, solid, ground connection. Run an additional wire if necessary.

Went home during lunch today and ran a new ground and spiced it in to the black wire on the antenna harness. Turned the key and still have nothing. I guess it's time to look for a replacement.

you are not usign the relay behind the dirves seat, right ?
you only use the antenna with integrated relay, riht ?

then open the antenna and measure and replace the relay or the check the internal switches.


I've had this with a brand new antenna that stopped working within a few days because of
the internal relay.

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Originally Posted by bfloyd

Went home during lunch today and ran a new ground and spiced it in to the black wire on the antenna harness. Turned the key and still have nothing. I guess it's time to look for a replacement.

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Depending on how the antenna is wired, that black wire may not be ground. Hook the ground right to the case. Measure against the case to power to confirm ground.

having a similar issue with mine. the parking light on the quarter panel also flickers. in my case its definitely a ground issue.

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you are not using the relay behind the drivers seat, right ?
you only use the antenna with integrated relay, right ?

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Correct. My car does not have the relay behind the drivers seat. Only relay is on the antenna itself, enclosed inside a rubber boot with a glued on cap. I pried the cap off the relay last night and tried to remove it, but I couldn't tell if there was actually a socket it was plugged in to or just wires with push-on terminals. I'll try to remove that relay tonight and see if anything looks messed up.

The black wire is definitely the ground with a brass ring terminal. I've got the ground wire running out of an existing rubber grommet next to the carbon canister access door and running up to the existing ground wire terminal at the tail end of the quarter panel where the fascia meets the body of the car.

End of the story to my antenna dilemma. Turns out it's still covered under warranty from DMCH. I'll ship the old one back on Monday morning and get the new one put in in a week or so.