[gretschdrum]

Hey Gang,

I’m having a retractable antenna issue that I have not seen reported on this, or any other, forum. I hope someone can help with it.

I have a 98 SR5. I took the vehicle in for a 210,000-mile service and to have the main drive belts changed. When it came out of the service I turned the radio on as I was leaving the dealership. The antenna went up to its fully extended position but the antenna motor kept running. The antenna made a grinding noise for about 10 seconds AFTER the antenna was fully extended and then it stopped. When I shut the radio off the antenna retracts perfectly and the motor stops when it’s fully retracted. FYI, the radio works perfectly.

Another symptom is that I can turn the engine off but leave the ignition in the ‘ACC’ position. The radio will stay on fine and the antenna stays up. However, when I turn the engine back on the antenna motor starts AGAIN and grinds the already fully extended antenna for 10 seconds and then stops.

Ideas? The mast? The antenna relay? The antenna motor?

This entire thing started immediately after the 210,000-mile service at the Toyota dealer. I mentioned it to the service tech and he said it was total coincidence and that nothing near the antenna was serviced.

[cj80cruiser]

Originally Posted by gretschdrum

Hey Gang,

I’m having a retractable antenna issue that I have not seen reported on this, or any other, forum. I hope someone can help with it.

I have a 98 SR5. I took the vehicle in for a 210,000-mile service and to have the main drive belts changed. When it came out of the service I turned the radio on as I was leaving the dealership. The antenna went up to its fully extended position but the antenna motor kept running. The antenna made a grinding noise for about 10 seconds AFTER the antenna was fully extended and then it stopped. When I shut the radio off the antenna retracts perfectly and the motor stops when it’s fully retracted. FYI, the radio works perfectly.

Another symptom is that I can turn the engine off but leave the ignition in the ‘ACC’ position. The radio will stay on fine and the antenna stays up. However, when I turn the engine back on the antenna motor starts AGAIN and grinds the already fully extended antenna for 10 seconds and then stops.

Ideas? The mast? The antenna relay? The antenna motor?

This entire thing started immediately after the 210,000-mile service at the Toyota dealer. I mentioned it to the service tech and he said it was total coincidence and that nothing near the antenna was serviced.

Makes me wonder if they had something hung up over the side of your truck to keep from scratching up the paint, forgot about it covering your antenna and when they started your truck up the antenna went up carrying the cloth...meanwhile the hood caught the cloth and wouldn't let your antenna go up which resulted in your now clicking problem......

This is the only conclusion I can come up with for the coincidence and its a stretch but a possibility.

[gretschdrum]

Originally Posted by cj80cruiser

Makes me wonder if they had something hung up over the side of your truck to keep from scratching up the paint, forgot about it covering your antenna and when they started your truck up the antenna went up carrying the cloth...meanwhile the hood caught the cloth and wouldn't let your antenna go up which resulted in your now clicking problem......

This is the only conclusion I can come up with for the coincidence and its a stretch but a possibility.

Thanks for the reply. Anything's possible I suppose. However, to clarify, the antenna still goes up all the way. The antenna and radio both work fine except for the 10 seconds of antenna/motor grinding that occurs once the antenna mast is fully extended.

[cj80cruiser]

My friend back in high school broke my power antenna by holding it down when I started my truck....seems like it did that clicking thing too but that was many years ago and many trucks ago.

[gretschdrum]

Originally Posted by bootown

That's an odd problem. The teeth on my mast are broken and I just keep it fully extended all the time. In this situation the motor runs longer than it normally would...possibly around 10 seconds.

My only guess is that the teeth broke in the perfect spot where your motor thinks the antenna is still going up (because it has lost its grip) when it's actually fully extended but enough teeth remain allowing the motor to still pull the mast back down.

The first place to start would be to unscrew the antenna nut, turn on the radio, and the mast will pop right out. Then you can check the teeth on the mast to see if that's the problem

Well, I pulled the antenna and the cable/teeth seem to be fine. I re-installed the mast and I still have the issue with the motor running even after the mast is fully extended.

Any other ideas? Relay switch perhaps? Any other tests you can think of?

[gretschdrum]

Originally Posted by gretschdrum

Well, I pulled the antenna and the cable/teeth seem to be fine. I re-installed the mast and I still have the issue with the motor running even after the mast is fully extended.

Any other ideas? Relay switch perhaps? Any other tests you can think of?

Any chance that the antenna motor might be malfunctioning?

[rangermenace]

what iF the antenna is bent, can you just replace that with out the whole thing? It goes up & down just higher in the summer than winter and not down all the way

[gretschdrum]

Originally Posted by rangermenace

what iF the antenna is bent, can you just replace that with out the whole thing? It goes up & down just higher in the summer than winter and not down all the way

Huh?!?! Is that some kind of super clandestine code?!?

[BOSSIND]

I replaced mine with a fix whip ant. the first time I had a problem. I think a power ant. is foolish really, maybe nice to have for those automatic car washes but I never use those anyways.

[gretschdrum]

Originally Posted by BOSSIND

I replaced mine with a fix whip ant. the first time I had a problem. I think a power ant. is foolish really, maybe nice to have for those automatic car washes but I never use those anyways.

I'm REALLY close to doing that same thing. I just found one of those 13" rubber/flexible antennas on Ebay. Thinking about using that...

[Robert907]

Did you replace your antenna with the whip version? If so, where did you get it?

[Jack Hauser]

I installed a new power antenna, and HU in my '01 4runner. Everything works great, except for the antenna power hook up. 4runner has an antenna relay which I did not remove and a module behind the HU which I removed to access the factory radio harness.

Can anyone tell me where to connect the 2 wires from the antenna..
The stock antenna wires coming out of engine compartment near the antenna mounting are neither one are hot. I thought they would be a no brainer but not so.

Thanks for any help you can give me for the best 4Runner I ever owned..

[Lump34]

Did you ever figure out how to make it quit clicking and work right? The reason I ask is I just replaced my broken mast and now when I turn the radio on it extends all the way up and clicks for like 10 more seconds. Everything else seems to work just fine except for the clicking.