87 turbo - antenna

[judgea]

I am wondering whether to replace or try to repair my antenna on my 87 turbo. Everything, I mean everything is great on the car, runs powerful & strong. Only one little nagging problem--antenna won't go up & down. The antenna motor works fine when turning on the radio, antenna just doesn't move.
So, my question is, should I order a replacement, or, when I remove the antenna is this a common problem easily fixed. I have seen the post & photos regarding how to remove/replace the antenna. I just need to know whether when I do this, should I have a replacement in hand, or will I find some easily fixable problem on the existing antenna?? Help please.

[lotusguy]

judgea said:

I am wondering whether to replace or try to repair my antenna on my 87 turbo. Everything, I mean everything is great on the car, runs powerful & strong. Only one little nagging problem--antenna won't go up & down. The antenna motor works fine when turning on the radio, antenna just doesn't move. So, my question is, should I order a replacement, or, when I remove the antenna is this a common problem easily fixed. I have seen the post & photos regarding how to remove/replace the antenna. I just need to know whether when I do this, should I have a replacement in hand, or will I find some easily fixable problem on the existing antenna?? Help please.

Hi,

You've encountered one of the worse jobs on an Esprit. I had the same problem when I first got my car 8 years ago and thought of replacing it.

On further investigation, I found that the antenna had simply bent or warped over the years from the constant air pressure on only one side.

I carefully pulled the antenna up as my wife operated the radio and then carefully rotated and bent the individual tubes so they were true again. The thing has worked the business ever since. So before you go selling your soul to the Devil to get through replacement, try what I did, it just may be the fix. Happy Motoring! ...Jim'85TE

[judgea]

Thanks Jim -- that's an interesting thought on an antenna problem; I hope that's all that is wrong with mine & I'll give it a look when I get home.

[pomoz]

Gday all
Interesting.....
Since i had my 87 .. my aerial didnt go ..Previous owner just said he, disconected the relay as it was playing up.
Since coming back to OZ and having a new cd player put in ..i asked the installer if he would have quick look at the aerial.On my return i asked .. " did you have a look at at the aerial :... his reply " er could be long time to fix it"
Hence i have got a new electric aerial ....
It is .. when i have a bit of time job
Just a ??... under the dash .. there is according to the handbook a switch that is "aerial overide switch "....What did this do?/.. i can see it no probs

Many thanks ... i may play with it very soon again

Alex 87S3HC na

[judgea]

Well I checked, but my antenna is aligned ok, so the problem seems to be whatever drives the antenna up is disconnected. So, if I dismantle/remove the antenna, is this something likely fixable, or should I order a new antenna? What exactly drives/pushes the antenna up & down? The comment about the override switch under the dash is interesting. Where is it? What does it do? Thanks.

[lotusguy]

judgea said:

Well I checked, but my antenna is aligned ok, so the problem seems to be whatever drives the antenna up is disconnected. So, if I dismantle/remove the antenna, is this something likely fixable, or should I order a new antenna? What exactly drives/pushes the antenna up & down? The comment about the override switch under the dash is interesting. Where is it? What does it do? Thanks.

Hi,

Are you sure the alignment is ok? Did you extend the antenna and try rotating the various sections to see what if any effect it has?

The antenna usually uses a flexible fiberglass rod which live inside the metal tubes and is rigid enough to extend the antenna, yet flexible enough to wrap around a spool driven by the motor. It is attached to the smallest antenna section so it can retract the metal tubes.

If this is the problem, replacement is probably the only way to go. You may be able to fix it, but considering the work, I wouldn't want to refit a near 20 y.o. antenna. Happy Motoring! ...Jim'85TE

[Dr.Hess]

My antennae (89 Non-SE) didn't work right when I got my car either. Turning on the radio would cause the antennae to go up but the motor never stopped. Sometimes this would happen on going down too. I tried disconnecting the power to the motor at the fuse and that caused the left front speaker to stop working. Lucas. Anyway, I replaced the Blaupunkt radio with an Alpine and ran a wire up the A pillar across the headliner to use as an antennae and disconnected the power antennae all together. Works great now. Interestingly enough, I put the Blaupunkt radio I took out in my truck and it works fine.

Dr.Hess

[judgea]

Jim, I'm going to try re-alignment again. However, if the flexible fiberglass rod is disonnected from the top of the antenna, I gather that must be impossible to re-attach??? Maybe the rod disconnected from the spool at the base of the antenna? Then I could possibly re-attach. (Just hoping for an easy remedy without ordering a replacement). Thanks.

[lotusguy]

judgea said:

Jim, I'm going to try re-alignment again. However, if the flexible fiberglass rod is disonnected from the top of the antenna, I gather that must be impossible to re-attach??? Maybe the rod disconnected from the spool at the base of the antenna? Then I could possibly re-attach. (Just hoping for an easy remedy without ordering a replacement). Thanks.

Hi,

It wouldn't necessarily be impossible to reattach, just tedious, exacting work, lots of small retaining clips etc.. If the rod were completely off the end piece of the mast, it would/should likely still raise the antenna and then leave it there as it retracts without the mast.

Anyway, removing the antenna to test the theory is arduous work. Too much so IMHO, to warrant re-using the old, tired almost 20 y.o. unit. If you need to go that route, replace.

Pretty much any generic power antenna from Pep Boys or the like will work and come in around $70 or less. That way, you lessen the risk of having to remove it again shortly because it finally gives up the Ghost. Happy Motoring! ...Jim'85TE