Antenna stuck in the raised position

[rjd2]

Hey folks-I appear to have an antenna that is stuck in the raised position. I have disconnected all of the electrical connections, as I understood this to disconnect power to it. It will manually easily compress a few "lengths", but that's about it. It appears to have some "springiness" if I gently attempt to lower it. would love any tips on how to get it down-it's been raised since I bought the car.

[Rich]

This needs more study.

There are at least three problems that would cause this. Meanwhile don't force the antenna down so you don't snap the plastic tail inside it. Extend it back up gently by hand til you get more info.

3 possible issues. Address them in order.

1. Antenna motor-drive not powered - No power or no switching signal from the radio to operate the antenna. Blown inline fuse, bad ground, prev owner installed a radio that doesn't switch the antenna, botched wiring, etc.
2. Antenna motor-drive broken - good power, ground and switching does not make antenna motor move
3. Antenna motor-drive works - antenna mast's internal geared-plastic tail snapped in two

Address these in order.

Starting with #1 - Did your antenna drive ever make a sound since you got the car? You should hear it running for a few seconds - or trying to run - when you turn the radio on-off-on with key on (engine off), even if the mast or the drive are busted.

[DMC-Ron]

On my car the antenna relay was the culprit which caused the antenna to stay in the up position. My relay is located behind the drivers seat under the rear deck (see photo). In order to retract, the antenna motor gets power through the normally closed contacts of the relay. In my case, those contacts did not provide a good connection when the relay dropped out (radio was turned off). I cleaned the contacts with DeoxIT and adjustied the spring tension ever so slightly. Back in business!

A quick test you might try (and this was how I found my relay problem) is to turn off the radio and tap the relay. If tapping the relay causes the antenna to retract, you've found the problem. Of course, this could have just been a fluke with my antenna relay. I'm sure there are other more likely causes such as a faulty antenna motor. If your car has this relay, then it's easy to verify that the relay is clicking on and off with radio operation. If you don't see the relay clicking, then you need to test the relay coil and verify the signal coming from the radio.

Ron

Antennae Relay Location.jpgAntenna Relay Closeup.jpg

[Helirich]

Mine was stuck down when I bought the car. When I finally got around to looking at it, I found it worked when I powered it directly. It turned out to be the wires from behind the seat to the motor. They were not tied down and had worn through in the pontoon area.

[David T]

If you are lucky it is only a simple electrical problem. If not, the plastic "tail" that pushes and pulls the mast up and down gets old, brittle, and breaks. Tough to find replacements anymore, especially in black. You can paint a chrome one flat black if you can find one but the easy answer is to replace the whole unit with a more modern one. If you do replace it you must remove the relay under the package tray. The newer ones have a reversing relay built-in.

[rjd2]

Thanks for the help, folks. I did everything I could electrically to lower the antenna, and it was still lodged in the up position. I verified the voltage at the white/brown relay connector, as well as the +12V at the yellow wire as constant. The motor would run, but the antenna wouldn't move. The car had sat for 30 years with the antenna up; when I removed it the entire thing was rusted inside.

I have a new unit installed from Delorean Go, but it doesn't include an actual pinout. It has:

black ground wire
antenna connection
red wire
blue wire

the instructions just list the red and blue wires as "connect to radio" in the diagram.

I can't find a pinout/diagram in the manual for the antenna. I gather yellow wire is constant +12V, and the white wire has continuity to engine/chassis, so I assume its ground? and the brown wire is on/off when the radio is turned on? It sounds like I should bypass the factory relay? thanks!

[DMC-Ron]

They may have changed but Delorean Go use to sell two versions of the motorized antenna (black and stainless mast). They both came with three motor wires: red, green, and black. Their instructions said: "These modern aerials have an internal relay so the original relay is bypassed. Red is power and is usually picked up from the central locking circuit breaker, black is connected to the earth point on the rear wing, green is the signal wire"

On my car (late model) the original antenna relay had a red wire which was power. a black wire that was ground, and a green signal wire from the radio which operated the relay coil. It would seem you would just connect red to red, black to black, and green to green. The yellow wire would not be used when bypassing the relay.

No guarantee. The antenna relay wiring in earlier cars might be different wire colors and function.

Ron

[bfloyd]

The direct replacement power antenna for our cars is a "METRA 44-PW22B". The only difference between the Amazon Metra antenna and the one sold by DMCH is a Delorean sticker on the side. You can currently find them on Amazon for $64.50.
Older cars have a relay under the parcel shelf behind the drivers seat. These newer antennas have an integrated relay. You'll find the wiring harness has a RED, BLACK, and BLUE wire.
RED is 12volts constant
BLACK is ground
BLUE is the trigger wire (usually tied to your radio.

When I installed mine, I wanted to control when the antenna was raised or not, so I converted one of the dummy switches on the console to an ON/OFF switch to power the blue wire to trigger the antenna.
The antennas made today are nowhere near as robust as they used to be. Consider it disposable. If you already have the antenna bracket in the pontoon, it's a 15 minute swap. Hardest part of the whole thing is getting the charcoal canister back in.

[rjd2]

thanks yall. got the delorean go model in and working!