2008: The Antenna issue

What a way to start the year. Some bonehead resorted to a thin yellow nylon rope as a way to section off a parking lot for some repair crews, right at an average standing human's eye height! No signs, no warning emails, nothing. So I slowly dragged this rope as I turned a corner... if it wasn't for the crashing noise of the support pillars located on extreme ends of the parking lot, I'd have never noticed. Sadly, my antenna got caught and bent internally, resulting in this failure.

After dispensing the appropriate amount of verbal abuse, I was permitted to order a replacement antenna housing and motor. I saved them a few bucks by making the repairs myself.

After removing the spare tire panel and the tire itself, the RF and power connectors may be disconnected from the antenna housing. Then the vent tube should be removed from the grommet in the side of the car, in my case the tube looked like it was never connected to begin with, dumping water into the trunk well around the spare tire (luckily, there's a vent hole there). Thanks a lot, GM of Boisbriand! (sarcasm noted)

One bolt holds the motor assembly. Removal and reinstallation is simple, requiring some wiggling to get the antenna shaft up through the body grommet on the fender surface up top. Reattachment of the bolt, reconnection of the power and RF cables, and verification of the tube being properly connected to the vent grommet, and the job is complete and ready for testing.

Lesson learned: some people will try anything to get out of accepting responsibility for a very poor decision (and thankfully, I wasn't a cyclist on a bike rounding that corner, my neck would have surely been compromised by that rope!).