Aerial Stopped Working

[Tim1111]

I have a Gen 6 Celica (ST202), and the aerial has stopped going up and down. It just makes a nasty grinding noise, so I know the motors still working.

Am I correct in thinking this will be a problem with the nylon cord? If so I'm assuming part no. 86337-2B200 (Aerial antenna and nylon cord) available for about £40 will fix it. Anyone had any experience of replacing the aerial, is it an easy job?

Thanks for your help.

[Fawbs]

I have a Gen 6 Celica (ST202), and the aerial has stopped going up and down. It just makes a nasty grinding noise, so I know the motors still working.

Am I correct in thinking this will be a problem with the nylon cord? If so I'm assuming part no. 86337-2B200 (Aerial antenna and nylon cord) available for about £40 will fix it. Anyone had any experience of replacing the aerial, is it an easy job?

Thanks for your help.

Its easy turn radio on, take the old mast off feed the cord down the hole, turn the radio off and it will pull the cord in all the way down till the mast is down till its normal position, job done.

[Fawbs]

Just remember to take that collar/nut off at the bottom. Spray a little wd40 on the new mast

[Tim1111]

Does this sound like it's a problem with the cord, don't want to get a new aerial to find it's something else like the motor?

Thanks.

[Fawbs]

My first impression would say its the motor but take that nut off at the bottom turn the radio on and let the aerial come up, it should keep feeding up as i think its a pressure sensor and the nut wont stop it for rising. Take note which way the teeth are facing on the cord (for when u put it back in) now you can inspect the cord and see if there is any problems with it

[Fawbs]

do it now only takes 5 minutes, i got the nut off with a screwdriver and gently tapping it round

[Tim1111]

Thanks for your help, I'll take a look at it asap and see if I can diagnose the problem - hopefully it's not the motor!

[Fawbs]

might have to pull it up if its not rising

[The Red Man]

It must be the time of year as my aerial has broke last week!! lol It goes up ok, but for some reason it makes a grinding intermittant noise for about 10 seconds after its fully extended. They only way to get it to go down is by pushing the aerial a bit before it automatically goes down, again making the same noise even when its down.

I really dont want to spend £40 so is there a quick fix and am I best just disconneting the motor for the time being. Sorry to hi jack the thread

[Tim1111]

No worries about the hijack - mine actually started doing that before it stopped working completely. It's as if it keeps trying to extend or retract past the point it should and sometimes got stuck halfway up or down. I assumed it was some rust or dirt jamming it up so gave it a bit of oil which seemed to stop it jamming halfway, but soon after it just stayed down and made that nasty grinding noise for 5-10 secs whenever I switch the radio on or off. I'm hoping it's just the aerial is jammed or the cord has jammed up or something - and I'm so fed up with the noise I'm happy to pay £40 to replace it (although I think it might actually be a bit cheaper than that although I haven't checked with the dealer yet).

I haven't got round to taking it apart yet to diagnose the problem (hopefully will get a chance at the weekend), I'll let you know how I get on if no-one else can suggest any easy fixes for you before then.

[Tim1111]

Oh and I found this on a website (http://www.colin99.co.uk/home_car.html):

"Aerial

If the electric aerial jams, it doesn't have to be replaced. If you're lucky you can fix it like this: Switch the radio on and leave it on. Undo the top nut holding the aerial to the wing. Pull the broken mast up and away from the aerial body. Fit a new mast, available from a Toyota dealer for around £20 by inserting the toothed nylon rack into the aerial body. Switch the radio off and the aerial should retract, refit top nut. If like me you are less lucky, the nylon flexible rack will have snapped off inside the body. Take the interior panel off inside the boot, and remove the aerial from inside, after pulling the old mast off as best you can. You will need to take the aerial apart and get the broken rack segment out before fitting the new mast. I have access to a 12V current limited power supply in my workshop which I used to drive the motor manually and test that I had it correctly reassembled before refitting to the car. If you don't have this, take it back to the boot of the car and test it there with the car's connector before fully refitting. This job took me about an hour and saved me having to buy a £200 replacement aerial, so was well worth the trouble."

[Tim1111]

Ok, I've had a look at the aerial, and is seems it was just jammed down. After pulling it up and down a couple of times it now works, except it makes the nasty grinding noise at each end and doesn't usually go all the way up or down.

At least it's sort of working now, but I'm going to need to change it before the grinding noise really annoys me. The problem I'm having is getting the aerial off, everyone keeps talking about the top nut that I need to take off - what is this top nut they keep referring to as I can't see one anywhere. I've had the rubber shrouding off the base of the aerial where it attaches to the bodywork and can't see any nut. I've also had a look from inside the boot and there is no nut on the aerial. The only thing I can see is the screw circled in red in the photo attached which is about where the bottom of the aerial will be when it's down. I've taken this screw off but it doesn't seem to do anything. Any help pointing me towards this 'top nut' would be greatly appreciated.

[Fawbs]

I'm on about this top nut with the 4 slots in

[Tim1111]

Ok, mine looks nothing like that. There is a rubber shroud around it as shown in image036 (sorry about the quality it's just starting to get dark here).

When I prise that shroud off there is another rubber bit that seems to attach to the bodywork as shown in the other photos from various angles (I've tried prising this away from the aerial but can't see a nut and it's seems quite brittle so didn't want to push it too much). Around the aerial there seems to be a hard shiny plastic covering but I can't find an edge to this down the side of the rubber bit around it. Any ideas?

[Fawbs]

That is strange i thought the 202 and 205 aerials were the same, with mine you just take that top nut off turn the radio on and it comes out. I'm stumped i'm afraid.

[Tim1111]

Yeh, everyone says just take the top nut off (even the website I quoted earlier, which by looking at the photos he's talking about the 202 as well). Thanks for trying to help though!

Looks like I'll just have to live with the annoying noise (at least the aerial sort of works now) - unless someone else can come to my rescue?

[Tim1111]

One final bump to see if anyone's got any suggestions or has had an aerial that didn't have this top nut?