Manual antenna won't go down

[CW240Z]

I have a 72 240z and the original antenna came with two plug-in wires (blue w/red stripe & blue w/white stripe) and the ground at the top of the antenna body. I recently bought a 73 antenna that only has one plug in with all three wires inside. So, matching the wires, I spliced the 73 antenna to receive the 72 plug-ins. The antenna is manual and works by a little toggle switch I have mounted on the console. My problem is, I was able to get the antenna to fully extend but now it will not go down. Any suggestions to fix this will be greatly appreciated.

Chase

[EScanlon]

In the FWIW dept, it's not a manual antenna, it's a semi-automatic antenna. A manual antenna does not have a motor. A semi- or full- automatic antenna does. The Fully automatic antenna extends or retracts completely while a semi-automatic requires the user to keep actuating the switch until it reaches it's stops either at full up or down.

Now, couple suggestions...

When you actuate the motor to try to retract the antenna, do you hear the motor at all? If so, you may have over-extended the antenna to the point where the nylon shaft inside the metal body is no longer connected to the wind-up reel.

If the motor cannot be heard (because it is NOT operating) in the down position, but it can be heard trying to extend the fully extended antenna, then your problem is in the wiring to the motor.

The Z's antenna is pretty basic, the two wires going to the motor are both "positive" while the body grounds for the "negative" connection. Depending on which wire has power, is whether it goes up or down.

E

[jfa.series1]

Chase - I had a similar problem with my OE antenna after the resto. I found that the thick nylon cable had broken near the core mounting point. So... it would extend but not retract. Open up the cable housing and check for a break. There are posts on the forum for repairs, some have used string trimmer materials about 0.080" thick if I recall correctly. Hope this helps.

Jim

Edited June 12, 2012 by jfa.series1

[CW240Z]

Thanks for the information guys. For some reason the motor I bought would not work after the mast was extended, so I pulled the mast out and installed it with the other motor.

Chase