trips1

Apologies for asking more questions on the already widely discussed RX300 antenna issues.
Also apologies for describing the whole process that i went through, but i wanted to put some context on the homework that i did making use of the wonderful postings on this forum

My antenna sometimes fails to either retract completely and sometimes fails to come out completely. Assuming this is the "famous" antenna mast problem, i bought a new mast from ebay.
On taking out the current antenna mast i found that the length of the old nylon cable did not match with the new mast nylon cable and so i moved to the next step of opening the motor and look for broken nylon cable in the motor.
But the motor did not have any broken nylon cable. I looked very carefully as was indicated in some of the email threads on this forum. But really did not see any broken nylon cable

Anyways i assembled the motor back and thought of using the new mast. But unfortunately the new mast nylon cable made noise in the motor which was not the case with my old mast. This was indicative of the fact that the nylon cable was indeed longer. (BTW i opened the motor once again to check if by any chance there is some nylon cable piece that got dislodged. But nope!)

So finally i assembled everything after putting some white grease and put back the old mast that i had.

The i realized that when the mast fails to come out completely or go up completely then i don't even hear the motor working towards that. At times motor only runs for few seconds and stops without completely bringing up/down the mast.

So now here are the questions :-)

1- So it looks that is a weak motor. Just curious if anyone has any experience on the life of these motors. Mine was changed at 75K by the dealer when it was covered by the extended warranty. Now i have 115K.

2- Why would my old mast nylon cable would be smaller than the new mast nylon cable. Have others also faced something similar with the antenna mast bought on ebay.

3- I really don't want to put money on a new motor and don't care too much about the retraction feature of the mast. I would be fine if it remains UP always. Can i remove the white connector from the motor whenever the mast is completely out and that would solve the purpose for me.
Or someone sees any issue with that?

Thanks,
Trips

maxSteel

my 1999 rx300 is on its original antenna motor and mast.

In the winter it has trouble extending all the way up or down. When it gets stuck I can briefly hear some noise. Lubricating the mast helps.

Never heard of a 'weak' motor. Just working/non-working.

Can't see any reason why removing the power to the antenna motor would cause a problem

hypervish

I haven't had my antenna since 2008. I broke it off going through a car wash. lol I had totally forgot about it going up when the radio is on. But, I never replaced it as I don't really every use the radio and I get pretty good reception even with it broken.

As to disconnecting the antenna, that should work I don't see why not either. I plan on doing that myself, because the stupid motor keeps on trying to move the antenna every time I use my stereo, because I use FM to play my iPod through an FM Modulator.

trhs75

I would be tempted to leave it extended and disconnect the motor. In the meantime, watch eBay for complete units. I have seen them both new and used. I found new Lexus brand at parts.com for about $150 (cheaper than most of the new ones I see on eBay!), but I found a new one for $70 on eBay last year. If you find one that's reasonable, maybe pick it up and swap it out using the great instructions on this forum.

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

I had exactly the same experience (to the letter!) The new mast eventually just stopped extending and retracting. So I just bit the bullet and bought a new antenna off e-bay. I wish I'd got that second one off e-bay last year for $70!

salimshah

Just be careful and not drive through a car wash

Salim

trhs75

I don't know how I lucked out on that $70 one; I'd been seeing them at about $170 forever. Salim, my wife has done the car wash thing twice -- two new antennas when she had her Sequoia!!

2002RX300

Open the motor up and inspect the plastic gears. One of my plastic gears had a few teeth missing so the antenna wouldn't retract and/or extend all the way and made a clicking noise and stuttered the whole time while trying to retract or extend the mast.

I've been looking for that little plastic gear for inside the motor for about a year now with no luck, I'd hate to bite the bullet and have to buy an new motor just for that little plastic gear that's missing a few teeth.

MASSMINI

I've had luck with this procedure for lubricating the motor itself.

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...1&#entry385991

apalma0609

I believe the issue is the direction on the nylon cable teeth on the new mask. If you still have the old antenna, look carefully what direction the gears teeth, just match it I believe there's a way to slip it over. Obviously you already know how to install the new mask, so let me know it this helps.

C-Stone

1. I replaced my '99 RX300 antenna mast from a seller on ebay... "antenna_x" I believe. It came with excellent instructions. At first it looked like the length of the nylon cable on the new one was longer than the old one. But, the old one was not completely retracted because it was bent... therefore, I finally figured out that the two cables were exactly the same. (Just a thought.)

2. The cable & antenna works like a champ. The RX has 140k miles.

trips1

Does anyone has the exact length of the nylon cable or can i find this information on the web?

trips1

Today again i dis-assembled the complete motor assembly and eventually ended up disconnecting the power from the extended antenna, so that antenna remains out.

My motor itself is behaving erratic. Out of say 15 times it would run fully only about once.
Rest of the times it would run only for few seconds.
I have posted a youtube video. Hopefully someone may be able to suggest if somewhere i can buy only the small motor and not the full assembly as everything else looked perfect(mast, gear).
The screw driver in my hand was to hold the gears from coming out of the system.

trips1

Would really appreciate if someone can look at the video and advice if changing the complete antenna system is the only option, or if there is something that can be repaired.

maxSteel

That motor seems to be spinning fine. Gears look fine.

google "lexus body electrical BE pdf"
Antenna motor diagnostics are on page BE-205