Auto antenna problems!!

Hey there everyone, I am 18 years old, and have been wanting a cadillac ever since I first saw the devilles with the northstar when I was about 6 years old...I finally saved up enough to buy a 86 fleetwood brougham ( im a tall guy and need comfort ) well anyway I got a pretty good deal on it from a friend of my dads, it only has 37k original miles and is in perfect condition, exept for one thing, the automatic antenna motor just keeps going and going and the antenna never moves, I am just wondering what and how I have to do to fix this problem, also if there is anything I can do to temporarily fix the problem so I can get to school and work without having to disconnect my battery every time I stop.
 
Thanks in advance,
 
Chris

First thing lets get the power supply disconnected to that antenna, two ideas come to mind, find the fuse and pull it or just cut the wires. That antenna is fried anyway. Inside there is a spool with a nylon cable, sort of like a weed wacker only wider that runs up the chrome antenna you see from the outside of the car. The antenna is actually hollow and this nylon runs up and down and wraps around the spool. Either the nylon is snapped or the gears are stripped. Either way its garbage. You can check at the auto supply houses for an after market power antena, probably $60 to $80 and then install that. It won't be direct fit so some patience will be neded. You'll have to cut the factory harness and then splice in the wires to the new unit. I have done this on two occasions so it will work. Other options are wrecking yard or dealer for the part in which case it will be direct fit and plug and play.

I would deffineatly cut those atenna  wires for that so I wouldnt have to disconnect the battery, thats crazy! 

HEY SOCAL:  New antenna is about 150.00 to 175.00 at usapartssupply.com  if you are wanting to keep to all OEM parts. Nice to keep the old girl original if you ever go to sell. Good luck.

quote:

ORIGINAL: brougham1

HEY SOCAL:  New antenna is about 150.00 to 175.00 at usapartssupply.com  if you are wanting to keep to all OEM parts. Nice to keep the old girl original if you ever go to sell. Good luck.

 
I thought that OEM would be too rich for an 18 year old, it would be for the one that lives in my house anyway, because he'd be hitting me up for the cash!

I saw a power antenna on E-bay a couple weeks back.  It was priced fairly cheap.  Keep checking there too.

For sure they are very affordable on ebay:
 
http://cgi.ebay.ca/90-97-Cadillac-Fleetwood-Eldorado-Power-Antenna-91-92_W0QQitemZ200152147116QQihZ010QQcategoryZ33639QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks alot for all your help, I thought of pulling the fuse after I posted the thread, so the last couple of days I have been without a power antenna which kills me to see this beauty of a car without every piece of equitment working to a factory level... I am saving my pennies for a new antenna ( college student on a budget ) and cant wait to instal it, once I get it of course, thanks alot for all your help and im sure you will see me often on here!!

If only they had a 100 year warranty 

hey socal im also 18 years old with a 89 fleetwood with the exact same problem. My name is even chris to, kinda weird. but on my car there is a connector in the trunk with the antenna assembly that i just diconnected. My antenna is always up but it does the job.

I would disconnect the antenna lead under the hood. The fuse powers more than just the antenna motor.

quote:

ORIGINAL: 1989 fleetwood

hey socal im also 18 years old with a 89 fleetwood with the exact same problem. My name is even chris to, kinda weird. but on my car there is a connector in the trunk with the antenna assembly that i just diconnected. My antenna is always up but it does the job.

I think the problem is not the same .. yours moves .. right?
his didnt move and probably had a broken belt.

if yours goes up and down, you may have a bad limit switch or a couple teeth stripped of the belt at its end.

I keep a spare "belt" for such occasions.

lets us know which problem you got?

I wrote this post before i looked at the date of the first Chris' problem, but I'll leave the info here anyway, incase it is of valve to someone else.

Hey Chris, I have an 86 Brougham D'Elegance as well, and it had the same problem.. it would help to know if the antenna is up or down, if up , that better, you can still get reception while looking for your replacement.. but here's the best part, you can unplug the antenna motor power supply easily.. under the hood, next to the heater blowerer box assembly you'll see a wire that goes into a cut-out in your fender ( right below the base of the antenna) pull that wire out a bit, there will be some slack, and you will locate the connector plug for the antenna, just disconnect the plugs... easy .

If your antenna runs only when it goes down, but stops when it goes up, then disconnect it when it's up and it will stay that way. and you won't have to pull fuses and you can listen to your radio.

By the way, I forund a few replacement antennes from the pick your part salvage yard for under 20.00, putting them in is a challange, because you have to remove a part of your inner tire well and manuver the old one out, and the new one in thru a rather tricky tunnel, it's not hard but requires lots of patience.
Let me know if I can be of any help, or if you'd like some advice on how to pick a used antenna from the yards that still works, even though you'll have no waty to test it there ( I have a common sense system for finding them)
Good luck with it.

Matt