Power Antenna troubleshooting​

[bfloyd]

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?

[mburshtain]

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


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[David T]

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

[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.

[Elvis]

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.

[David T]

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.

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.

[papanoel]

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