Antenae on 99 SUS won't go down - any ideas?

[ismlv]

Just started happening today.... The antenae doesn't go down when I
shut the car or radio off.... I can hear the motor is running in the
back of the trunk there but nothing's happening. Almost like when an
electric garage door jumps the track....

Car sits in a heated garage so I don't think it's a piece of ice stuck
in it...

Is it something I can get to to look at?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ronald Donahue]

This used to happen every winter to my 1999 SUS now I put some WD40 on it a
couple of times a year and no more problem.

Ron Donahue

 

[John]

WD40, the retractable antennae's friend. I usually wipe mine down with it
first since it never gets washed as the car and/or radio is usally off when
I wash it.

 

[ismlv]

But what's weird is that it's not stiff..... and I can manually push
the bottom part down in to the hole in the side of the car... and even
some of the other joints and they all will turn/rotate freely...

When the car used to be parked outside and it's freeze up, you could
hear the motor going but also with a loud "clunking" noise for a few
seconds and it wouldn't go all the way down... this doesn't do that,
it's like the train jumped the track.

 

[JonnieBlue]

I had the same experience with my antenna.. older car (86 XT GL Coupe) but
same symptoms... it started that it wouldnt operate when it was freezing
outside.. then when day i just would go up, but only go down to the second
from bottom joint... i tried wd40 and graphite spray, but still wouldnt go
down.. next week, i was driving down the highway, heard a funny noise,
looked in my drivers side mirror and saw the antenna all the way out,
dangling over the side of the car. i looked in the trunk and the antenna
didnt seem easily accesable, so ive been without radio for a couple of
weeks.. any suggestions?

 

[John]

But what's weird is that it's not stiff..... and I can manually push

the bottom part down in to the hole in the side of the car... and even
some of the other joints and they all will turn/rotate freely...

Same issue I hade with mine. When the motor doesn't do the work, I can. It
simply has too much gunk, dirt, salt, etc for the motor to extend/retract.
I've alswyas been able to do it manually.
Its not then jints that are dirty (thats why the spin freely) its the
surface of each section that is dirty and the tolerance between each section
is smaller than the gunk, dirt, salt, etc not to mention the friction
created that the motor is not powerful enough to compensate for.

 

[John]

I'm not sure about the subies but my Accord's power antenna was really just
the antenna with a plactic gear that would feed into the motor. If is it
similar, sounds like your antennae and plastic gear came out of the motor.
The dealer should have the antenna w/ gear replacement if you cant feed
yours back in.