Power antenna Gurus

[Supra5MGTE]

Ok guys. When I put 12V directly to the motor of this factory power antenna it goes up/down perfectly. I've tried 2 control boxes. won't work. I took the thing apart and cleaned everything out and put it back together. still no better, but i did get a lot of crap out of it. I'm assuming it's a bad control box. However, there are 2 wires that go into the gear area. what do they they exactly? What else can it be other than a bad control box? Could it be those two wires go to some hall-affect type thing in there or what?



In the meantime, I'm working on a Metra custom fit manual antenna. I got the 44-TY23. Which is for 90-95 truck/4runners. It's close, but I think there are others that might fit better. so I'm ordering 4-5 other antennas to compare and see which fits the MK2 best. and I'll report the part # so we have it on hand.

[Dangerous Ken]

The two wires switch the motor.
A standard head unit has an output on the back for power antenna.
It's a thin wire, and has to run all the way to the antenna, so often you have to put a relay in there to 'repeat' the head unit's signal.
So that's one wire, the other wire is probably ground.
Mine works, and I haven't pulled the control box, but maybe your wiring is bad to the control box (measure).

Ken

[83restomod]

just shave it like i did. :p

[RedP85]

On the back there is some sort of position detector.
Every time the "finger" on the top of the central gear makes one turn,
it turns that thing by about 3/16" After the main gear did (let's say) 10 turns, the other one sends (or no longer sends) a position signal to the relay
box.
It is there to prevent the motor from turning contunuously if the plastic string breaks.

[Supra5MGTE]

RedP85- That makes sense. ok, that's what it is than. Anyway that can be bad making it not work at all? I checked the wiring. all the wiring is good. no shorts or breaks. so it must be the control boxes are bad.

[SupraFreak13]

My antenna just stoped working last night too. I can hear gears moving like it wants to go up but it won't budge. do you think it is broken or fixible?

[Supra5MGTE]

Suprafreak- sounds like your mast cable broke. just need a mast replacement.


At this point, I'm inclined on getting a factory angled grommet and nut for the factory power antenna, install it, put 12V to raise it, and then unplug it and call it good. I have 3 Metra manual custom antennas coming at the end of the month, we'll see how they fit though.

[Junkie]

PO installed a self centering toggle in my 83,when they installed an aftermarket deck.Forgot to put it down one night,now I need a new mast/cable "f'n punks".

[Supra5MGTE]

well I returned the 90-95 truck/4runner antenna today. it'd work, but the angled grommet had a lip, so water would get in. I have a 94 runner, the fenders have a "shape" to them really. SO I'm waiting on 3 other custom manual METRA antennas... camry, nissan etc. 3 total I think. After I try them, I'll make my decision on to use the stock antenna (broken/fixed or new) or use one of those custom manual antennas. This is just something I've seen rigged way to many times on MK2's.... I gotta do this right.

[SupraWes]

You need the metra PW12 and the factory body grommets and a factory lower antenna bracket.