Rear Powe Antenna - How to replace

[bueller]

As mentioned, there are lots of third party options available. This is the one I bought:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002BEUYO/

Half the price of Houston but there are others mentioned on the forums also.

Most of the replacement units have built-in relays so you can probably bypass the antenna relay behind the drivers seat but verify first.

[Nuclearbacon]

My relay and wiring is all apart anyways. I will be re-wiring whatever system goes in so I believe it's a great place to start with a new one!

[David T]

It is impossible to get any parts for the old Harada antennas. There may still be some independent shops that could still have some NOS masts but good luck finding them. The original mast was a blackened chrome 5 section mast. Even harder to find. The plastic drive cable is what often breaks, it gets brittle and cracks. If you can get one you have to take the power unit out, remove all of the broken plastic and then install a new mast. The newer units do not need an external relay so if you change the power unit you probably have to remove the relay. It is behind the driver's seat under the parcel shelf next to the Idle ECU. Sometimes masts do come up for sale on E-Bay but be careful you get one that fits.

[Chris 16409]

Houston sells replacement antennas for $105.00. I've no idea why that thing costs so much. As far as I know the original power antenna unit that DMC installed was just a generic off the shelf part itself, and there is no reason you couldn't use the same since looking at the one online it's just a generic Metra unit that you can get for like 50-70% cheaper on eBay, and is the one with a black top to keep to camouflaged. If there is an advantage to the units that the vendors sell (upgraded internals, etc.), I'd be really interested in hearing about it.

DMC-CA installed a new antenna in my car before I bought it. It failed a couple years later and when I went to replace it, the unit had the Metra sticker on it. So I just got a replacement on eBay. Mine failed because the top screw mount got loose and the antenna got hung up on the grill.

[Nuclearbacon]

My Metra antenna just showed up! Looks almost identical to others I've seen... we will see this weekend!