Bad Antennas

[Cardassian]

I have a 91 Camry and a 96 Camry. I changed the 91 Camry antenna after it failed, and replaced it with a short black flexible antenna which does not work very well. The 96 antenna has started to fail. In Winter in Toronto there are hundreds of Camry and other such antennas that are in various stages of disrepair. I see them all over town, half up half down, driving and parked. I was wondering if there have been any class actions or recalls of these faulty devices. They clearly do not work in our weather conditions.

[InTeReX]

hehe...seems to be a thing with camrys...i know mine stays down all the time. But my internal antennae works just fine

[dbruce]

It's a thing with all cars with auto-antennas. The antenna gets dity, slightly bent or frozen and sticks in place.

I have a 91 also and replaced it with an anteanna with a replacable mast from Autozone.

[Stealth]

Originally posted by dbruce
It's a thing with all cars with auto-antennas. The antenna gets dity, slightly bent or frozen and sticks in place.

I have a 91 also and replaced it with an anteanna with a replacable mast from Autozone.

Yeah most people get their's bent on something. Anyway it's pretty easy to replace the mast, $20 for a replacement on ebay, about half an hour of work and you're set.

[2wickedtoyz]

mine seems to work fine i just clean it alot and i plan to put a switch to stop it from going up when i don't want it to

[Nick]

i put in a switch to stop it from coming up (i leave it down all winter) otherwise it goes half way up and not all the way down

you just gotta keep them clean and lubricated

[Cardassian]

What lubrication is recommended for Winter use. I note that WD-40 is not recommended. I see someone recommended grease, but it would need to be a light grease, maybe a lithium based grease?

I still think it is a bad design. My wifes 97 Corolla has an antenna beside the drivers window, on the roof. You just stick your arm out and set it where you want it. Since its on the roof, about 6" extension works fine. The main problem with leaving the Camry antenna up all the time is the car wash which destroys it. Also if it is not all the way up water pours in. Like I said, a bad design in an otherwise excellent car, or is it just me?

[dbruce]

Do not use grease, the antenna mast collects dirt like crazy and stops working faster. The best way to keep the problem from happening is to clean the antenna every so often with a wet towel.

The antenna version you have on the Corolla is only on the base version (I believe the higher end Corolla gets the power antenna also).

FYI: If you ever break the antenna on the Corrola good luck replacing it......they are a royal bitch to get out.

[VVT-i Owns]

upto 2002 the corolla used a manual antenna, i think they just screw in...

anyways electric antennas suck, thats why no one uses them anymore

[jwa276]

Originally posted by VVT-i Owns
upto 2002 the corolla used a manual antenna, i think they just screw in...

anyways electric antennas suck, thats why no one uses them anymore

kind of like electric self revealing headlights, very similar issue.