tiguy99

This sux. The other day, my crazy behind forgot to turn off the radio on this carwash and wham my antenna was seriously bent. It would retract about 30 % down but stayed that way for a couple days. Tonight I was driving home and decided to cut on some music. Next thing I know I hear this ting sound and there it went....the whole thing fell off the car and I had to go back in the street to claim the remains. Needless to say, they run cheap (about 15.00 on Ebay) and I'm going to find another one and install it myself

squarehat

I know how you feel The antenna on my '96 finally broke down about a month ago, it didn't like all the times it's been jammed by ice this winter. I bought the OEM mast at the dealer, pulled the old one out without a problem (I even disassembled the motor unit to get the remaining teeth out of the housing). When I went to put the new one in, I found the rubber gasket had dry-rotted itself to the inside of the original antenna nut (which was also ugly, chipping gold--the only remnant of my long-since removed gold package that was on the car when I bought it). So, I called every Lexus and Toyota dealership around, but nobody had the part in stock. I finally ended up ordering it through the dealer, and paying them to install it while piggybacking the 1/2 hour of labor along with some other minor cosmetic repairs I wanted done to the car. That way, I figured I wouldn't have to worry about the teeth being misthreaded by me (and later jamming again), or me marring the new chrome antenna nut by improvising with taped-over pliers vs. the antenna nut tool the Lexus techs use.

Judging from the amazing work you've done on projector conversions, I'd say you can definitely handle this on your own . I'd just be sure to have a source ready for a new antenna nut in case the old one can't be reused (I drove around in the rain for two days with electrical tape over the antenna hole while waiting for the part to show up )

mcelligott

I did that a few years back -- just replaced it with a rubber one from autozone. Looks fine, except when im on the highway and its bent back in the wind lol.

tiguy99

I just snagged one up from Ebay for 20.00 shipped. But I forgot to put tape over the hole and it just so happened to rain today as well. Hopefully nothing rots/rusts

squarehat

There's a rubber drain hose inside the motor unit in the trunk (I found it when I had to dismantle the unit to remove the broken-off tail). That should take care of any rain that seeped in today . I think small amounts of water may get in while the antenna is up and it's raining, so the system was designed to drain it away.

rm1

Really intresting comments about antenna's not working but can someone guide me through the procedure if I want to change my antenna myself. My FM/AM works but the antenna is jammed so it doesnt moves and it makes this weird cranky noise every time the car is started and every time the car is turned off.

Any help will be appreciated.

tiguy99

Got it today. Will install tomorrow and follow up with a quick writeup

rm1

Looking forward to it. Thanks in advance.