I was cleaning and lubricating the antenna on my 91, 740 sedan, as a part of routine maintenance when I got distracted by someone that interrupted me, and the radio got turned on or off - I don't recall which. But it caused the plastic strip that pushes the power antenna up to come completely out of the tube. I assume this goes down into some sprocket or geared wheel of some sort. I tried to simply place it back into the tube but it doesn't grab or do anything. I also turned the unit on hoping it would grab and refeed itself but nothing worked that way either. The plastic piece I am referring to is has notched teeth on it just like a timing belt. The end, strangely has no metal piece or any special shape to it that would connect with any part down in the tube in any special way. It just is a certain length of plastic with these notches in it, that feed into something. There must be some kind of gear down in the tube? Or is there a hole that I am missing and need to get in back into?

Any simple as possible explanations with step by step instructions are needed ... HELP!

Thanks, Rob.