There is a plastic cord running up the middle of the antenna shaft. It breaks
VERY easily. when broken, the motor retracts the cord thinking that the antenna is
going down too (its not). when you cut it on, the motor releases the cord thinking that
the antenna is going up (it already IS :-)) My antenna broke about 2 days after I bought
the car. :-( As it turns out the antenna on my 96 SE was a fixed mast so...... I went to
the junkyard and got all the fixed mast parts from a fixed antenna model and swapped. I
will NEVER have to worry about the damned, shitty Nissan power antenna again! the weight
reduction is nice too. I think other models of Nissan fixed antennas will work too. just
go to the junkyard and have a look around.
DAvid
[email protected]
If you want to fix your power antenna, it is quite easy. Nissan power antenna's are
built so that you only have to replace the mast itself. The mast for a 95 Maxima is less
than 40 dollars. I would suspect a similar price for the 240. All you need to do is
to remove the retaining nut on the top of the base of the antenna. I'm sure there is a
tool for this, but I just used a pair of pliers. Then you should be able to remove
the mast. The mast should have a long, thin piece of plastic hanging off of it,
unless it broke. You can pull this out with a little bit of force. If it has broken, try
making sure the radio is on, so the antenna would be in the up position. Hopefully
you can get a hold of the piece of plastic. If not, you may be out of luck. I never
had to take the motor out yet. If you are able to remove this long piece of plastic, all
you do to install the new mast is slide the plastic piece from the new mast down the
antenna shaft. When it gets to the bottom, have somone turn off the radio. It
should begin puliing the plastic down. It may not go all the way in. Turn on the radio
again, but then turn it back off right away. It will pull the rest down...hopefully.
Screw the retaining nut back on, and you are set.
Chano
[email protected]
Remove the motor assembly
1) Remove retaining nut from mast assembly (to free the mast from the car)
2) open hatch/truck/whatever you have and remove the jack (mine was mounted with 3 SILVER colored bolts. To access to bolts you need to pull back the interior trim to right of the jack access door.
3) remove the two darker bolts (all bolts in this procedure are 10mm) to the right of the jack bolts. There should be a hole between the bolts with a metal prong sticking through (use this hole and prong to align the bolt holes when you put the car back together).
4) put on your contortionist's hat and get the motor assembly out by wriggling it out through the jack access hole.
5) remove the metal column that the mast rests in by unscrewing the single screw holding it to the motor assembly. See the cable? pull it out if you can. if not, read on.
6) remove the rubber hose and metal cage from the black plastic assmebly (DO NOT REMOVE THE copper-colored MOTOR). You should now be able to see the copper-colored hex nut on to the back of the black plastic assmebly. remove it carefully, not losing any parts on the inside. as you pull it apart the antenna cable should spring out. remove it.
7) put everything back except the jack. Install the new mast. If it all works THEN put the jack back. I strongly suggest re-mounting the jack because if you don't it just kinda floats around back there and get annoying REALLY quickly :)
8) Happy listening!
-Cameron