pjh706

I recently bought an 02 RX300, and it's time to wash the baby. I have a subscription with a carwash that requires any peripheral antennae be secured/removed since they've accidentally broken several.

I can't for the life of me figure out a way to manually retract the antenna? Nor can I figure out a way to easily unscrew/remove the antennae temporarily.

Any protips??

Thanks!

Lexmus

The antenna is supposed to retract fully when you turn off the radio (even changing to CD mode retracts my antenna). It is not designed to manually retract or extend, nor easily be removed. Is the antenna not retracting when you turn off the car? The antennas often do get to that point where they seize and do not fully extend or retract, and have to be replaced if you want that feature to work.

pjh706

Ah, thank you so much! so obvious.

Yes, the antenna retracts when the car is turned off, but the car needs to remain on to drive up and through the cleaner. But simply switching to cd mode appears to do the trick.

thanks again!

salimshah

Watch out!.

Default audio is Radio.

If you are playing CD or tape (ha ha) and if any thing goes wrong, the radio will come on. If you have CD empty and no tape and you hit the audio ON, the radio will come on and even if nothing is tuned the antenna will come out.

So as you enter car wash, you should turn the Audio OFF and keeps your hands away from the power button. Many accidents have happened.

Since I have the option of hose-bib and hose and bucket, I have never take any of my vehicles to a Car wash. Exception was after a trip to the beach, I did use the power wash wand to spray the undercarriage.

Salim

CaltonB

I still wonder why there isn't a company out there that can upgrade these old school antenna to the rubber nub, it's almost a guarantee you will brake or bend this antenna in any drive thru car wash.. When I bought my car I knew of the antenna issue that it had (mine wouldn't retract) and what had to be done to fix it. The first thing I did was take out the plastic that pulls the antenna up and down and just take the topper most part of the antenna and secure that back in. The motor runs and the antenna stays invisible. Radio quality may vary based on what area you live in but so far I haven't noticed any change in radio quality plus I mainly listen to cd's.