My 940 antenna is stuck. I have tried cleaning it and pulling it to assist it, and in the process made it worse. Now the stump won't go down anymore.
I am assuming that I need to replace the mast. How difficult is this repair? How do I go about it? The mast price vs. replacing the assembly makes repair more appealing.

OK, I'm convinced that this is one I can and will do. I'll order the part tonight. I do appreciate all of the constructive advice. After owning lot's of VW/Audis, this is my first Volvo. I love the car and I think I'll own others. That said, I'm even more impressed to find a group of helpfull owners so ready to offer advice. Thanks,
Mike

On my 945T (a wagon), it took me probably 20 minutes to replace my antenna. Now that I've done it once and know where everything is, I could probably do it in 10 minutes or less. Now, this is assuming that your antenna is just worn out or jammed, but that your motor which actually raises or lowers the antenna is still working.

It's not a hard job. Here are the instructions from the Haynes manual for the sedan with an automatic antenna on the trunk (or, as this book says, for a saloon with an automatic aerial in the boot):

1. Disconnect the battery negative lead
2. Open the boot and remove the left-hand side trim.
3. Remove the nuts and cover which secure the aerial tube to the rear wing (see illustration)
4. Disconnect the aerial signal and power leads (see illustration)
5. Remove the tube and drive securing nuts and bolts. Withdraw the aerial into the boot.

1st picture shows that the aerial tube nut and cover is the little piece that slips over the antenna on the outside of the car. And the 2nd picture is showing the disconnecting of the lead signal, which is the black wire next to what appears to be a plastic (or metal) tube.

At IPD a new antenna runs ~ $26.50. And once you do put a new one on, keep in mind that your owner’s manual tells you to occasionally clean your antenna with WD-40 (once every 10,000 miles, if I remember that part of the manual correctly).

Replaced the mast on my sedan six years ago. Amazingly easy to do, took less than 15 minutes. Got the part and an instruction sheet from RPR in California. WWW.RPRUSA.COM

It is not difficult to replace. The biggest problem you'll probably have is getting the assembly out to work on it. Use some light weight grease on the nylon teeth. This may be easier on a sedan than on a wagon. Just follow the instructions you get with the new mast and you should do fine.

Call Groton and get a mast. As long as you hear the motor inside the housing it is probably salvagable. Worst case if you try to replace the mast, is the caterpillar inside has snapped off. In that case you will need to remove the unit from the car to clear out the scraps of nylon inside. Chances are you may need to replace the mast again at some later date or in another car, so this is good exercise for you.

I am at the point with this that I need some more help. I tried to remove the old mast, but it sticks when it gets to the bottom of the largest diameter.
So, I pulled the motor housing apart hoping I could free it. I have (shy of destroying it) to remove the old mast. How is the bottom of the mast supposed to come clear through the mast tube? None of the directions here will accomplish this. An advise?
At this point I am hoping I can reassemble the unit so that I am at least back where I started.

Mike

>>>> How is the bottom of the mast supposed to come clear through the mast tube?

I'm not sure what you're asking, once you take off the outside piece holding the antenna on it should slip out. Then you have to take out the nylon cord. What is not coming out?

The tricky part for me (not having done it before) was feeding the nylon cord back into the motor, but that wasn't bad once I realized what was supposed to be done.

Also, have you seen the antenna information in the FAQ on this site?

http://www.brickboard.com/FAQ/700-900/RadioAntenna.htm#Antenna_Replacement

I may be in line for the mallet head of the month award, but here's what I did (also using the FAQ's as a guide).
I removed the nut securing the antenna to the fender and then turned the radio on. While it was extending, I pulled on it to remove the mast and the nylon drive. The mast stopped when it reached the first section and I was unable to move it further. I tried this a few times and then decided that my next move would be to pull the motor apart and see if I could persuade the mast to pull out. No luck, but I am now an expert on pulling this thing apart and putting it back together. It was really hard (almost impossible) to reassemble since I had to rewind the nylon drive in order to put it back together. The antenna is back in the car and still works as poorly as before.
How does the mast come out? I must really be missing something obvious?. I note that the new mast came with a round nylon piece that looks like the piece I can see peaking out of the bottom of the mast where it mounts into the large tubular housing that the mast passes through and that is attached to the motor. How on earth I would replace that thing is beyond me since I know that this larger tube does not want to be removed. I did try removing the two pinch screws that grip the bottom of this tube and attempted to drive the tube out of the motor housing without budging it.
I hope this is all clear. The bottom line is I can't figure out how to pull out the old mast. I do think I understand what I will need to do to put the new one in if I ever do get the old one out.

Mike

I’m not sure what “larger tube” you’re talking about. Any chance of posting a picture of what is going on? Also, you have a sedan, right?

If you don't have way to host pictuers yourself, you can have Yahoo do it. If you have a Yahoo ID: Upload your pictures to Yahoo; Send an invitation to view the pictures to yourself; Right click on the “view pictures” (or whatever) link, copy it, and post the link here.

As for the nylon cord, it just pulls out. You then feed the new nylon cord into the motor and attach the new antenna.

Thanks for staying with this. The photo is here>
http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=showMyPhoto&albumID=200102134&photoID=200103109&security=PggCJG or below in the URL
The "large tube" is the one the mast goes up and down in.
I can't pull the mast (or the nylon drive) out of it. It pulls only to the top of the first section and stops.
What am I missing?

Mike

OK, I think I’ve got it figured out. I just went out and looked at my antenna (in a light rain, had to get some other stuff out of the car). On top of that tube you see the top of the antenna, a 1/4 inch or so tube, then the threads. You are pulling on the antenna and the rim that you see, but the main sleeve that you should be pulling on / gently prying up (I believe) is the one whose rim is snug against the threads. It looks like a thread, but you’ll see that it really an inner sleeve that is snug against the threads. The antenna is inside of that sleeve, then something connects it at the bottom of that sleeve (I didn’t go that far in looking at my antenna just now).

As I remember, this is one of the steps that also confused me when I changed my antenna, though somehow I luckily saw that other sleeve after ten or fifteen minutes of playing around with it. Again, it's hard to see, it looks like a thread, but you'll notice that it's really a rim. Gently pry up on that, see if that is the problem.

Perfect, I'll give that a try. I've been pulling on the actual antenna.
I won't get a chance to attempt this until I get home from Europe (Sweden of all places)week after next. By virtue of my errant voyage into the drive mechanism I do know what holds it on the bottom. There is a plastic barrel and a really funky looking clip.
Mike