Michael Fang's Weblog Miko's Weblog

With the CD changer fixed in one car, now it's the time to tackle the radio reception problem on the other car. Physically, I noticed a broken antenna neck/nut that was probably damaged during a car wash.

I did some research on replacement parts, and found that I needed a Hirschmann AUTA 6000 KE. The antenna mast goes for about $90, but I need the whole assembly including motor (actually only the top tube of the assembly is broken, but I couldn't find anyone who sells just that part). The part goes for about $255 on some online stores and $330 at the dealer.

I searched ebay and online retailers and repair shops, and found that R&R Import Parts was selling a similar antenna mast on ebay. The company happened to be located very closely to my place, and the owner Roy Tucker was nice enough to be willing to help me replace the part for a small fee.  From talking with him on the phone, I could tell that he's knowledgeable about this part and knew what it takes to replace it. So, I asked him to order the correct parts for me (antenna assembly plus upper and lower seals) and help me with the installation.

The parts took about 1 day to arrive. I then made arrangement to go to Roy's place on Friday to get the part replaced. Before heading to Roy's place, I have already removed the trunk's carpet and the liner blocking access to the antenna. Here is how.

First, remove the carpet that sits on the floor of the trunk. There is nothing special, just pull it up, the whole piece just comes out.

To get to the antenna assembly, I had to remove the trunk liner on the left side of the trunk. It was held in place by a round retainer. This part is easily broken. I remove it by carefully inserting a chisel under it and slowly pop it up.

With the liner out of the way, the antenna assembly can be accessed. There are 2 screws to be removed. The top one holds the ground wire in place, the buttom one holds the antenna assembly in place. There is also an amplifier there making access a bit more crowded. It could be removed to make the work easier.

With the screws removed, wiggle the whole antenna assembly and pulls it down to remove it. Below you see the old and new antennae sitting side by side. At this time, we unplugged the wires from the old antenna and reconnected them to the new antenna assembly. The most difficult part of the work was to insert and tighten the lower screw, because it was blocked by the amp and it's helpful to have an extra hand to align and hold on to the position of the antenna assembly while another person tighten the screw.

Now, it's time to test it out. Hmmm.. the radio reception was still poor. What happened? I compared the connections on the old distribution box (or antenna signal booster) with the connections on the new box and found something weird.

Here is the connection on the new distribution box:

Here is the connection on the original distribution box:

The new distribution box's labels were wrong. How could this be? The cover panel was assembled upside down! (Hmm... what happened to precision German engineering...). So, the connection from the antenna mast was incorrected connected to the cell phone port! Anyway, I had to pull out the antenna and reconnect the wires. Now the radio reception has finally been regained.

Now, it looks like my original antenna was still in partial working order. The motor and mast still work, just the 'protective tube with neck" on top of the motor assembly was broken. I will try to sell it on ebay to recover some of the costs for the replacement part, and help someone else with a bad motor or mast.