Broken antenna

What broke off? The base off the roof of the car or the antenna off of the base?

If it was just the antenna you can unscrew it and by another.

Base off of the roof of the car.....that's going to cost more.

 

I've gone through a carwash hundreds of times in the last few years with many different cars and SUV's and never had a part get ripped off. If I were you I would not be returning to the car wash that caused your problem. They should also be paying for the cost of fixing the problem as it was their equipment that did the damage.

 

You need the base on the roof to fit the shark fin. I'm very happy with my shark fin.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Sep 16 2007, 07:46 PM) [snapback]513429[/snapback]</div>

We broke our base backing out of the garage with the door not fully open. Due to the high cost of replacing the original we also went to the Sharkfin. The reception is considerably less than the original, but if yours is working okay even without the antennna, then your preferred stations are likely close enough so that the Sharkfin will be fine. I'm not sure what Patspark means above. The only thing you need is the wire that comes out of the base. The Sharkfin simply fits loosely over the base, so being broke is not a problem.

I should clarify-- the wire from the Sharkfin screws into the "nut" that the antenna usually screws into. In our case the "nut" had broken out of the base, but I could still use the small bolt that comes with the Sharkfin to attach the wire from the Sharkfin to the "nut" on the base. There is a wire coming up into the base and is attached to the "nut."

PA P

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wkramer @ Sep 16 2007, 06:56 PM) [snapback]513414[/snapback]</div>

FYI, the Prius' Owner's Manual says to remove the antenna before going through a carwash.

 

There was a Ham Radio operator (I'm one too...) that posted how he replaced the Prius radio antenna with another antenna for amateur radio work. He showed how to drop the back of the headliner. At that point it looked quite easy to remove (or replace) the existing antenna.

If you can find that post, you could probably replace the antenna base yourself.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PA Prius @ Sep 17 2007, 09:43 AM) [snapback]513433[/snapback]</div>

That's what I mean.

The shark fin attaches to the base of the antenna via the curly wire inside, if the antenna wire is sticking out of the roof with no base you may need to solder the wires together and insulate with tape. It may also pay to seal the hole in the roof prior to sticking down the shark fin, I wouldn't put too much faith in double sided tape to seal against the roof although it will stick securely. If the hole is left open it may be an entry point for noise as well as dust and water.

Radio people know more about this stuff than I do so I'm open to being corrected. I believe the shielding on the antenna wire needs to be earthed to the body, is that right?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jackson Mom @ Sep 16 2007, 05:18 PM) [snapback]513404[/snapback]</div>

is there actually any body damage to the roof?

did it sheer anything that the base mounts too off?

have you tried asking the parts department? they got a parts blowup that you can look at
and give you the part number of any parts you need

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Sep 17 2007, 07:50 PM) [snapback]514021[/snapback]</div>

Earthed. Wait you must be (oops you ARE) from a "British" country.

Yes, for the FM antenna it most likely is and needs to be grounded to the car body at the base of the antenna.

 

it's an expensive repair because nobody wants to drop a headliner. if you were considering a sharkfin, go with that. then nobody will know the difference

 

I had the same thing happen to me backing out of my garage. The metal ball that the antenna screws into and the antenna its self came out. Apparently what happened is the metal part popped out of the plastic. To fix it:

1. Open the back hatch.
2. There are 3 friction plugs on the headliner, remove them.
3. There is a nut on the inside of the roof under the base of the antenna mount, remove it.
4. There you will find screws to separate the plastic cover from the base, remove them.
5. insert the metal ball part back inside the plastic cover and screw the antenna back in. ( make sure it will hold the antenna in place still.
6. Then you simply need to re-solder the signal wire from the base back to the metal ball part.
7. Reassemble.


Mine has worked like a charm ever since. Hope this helps, since i had solder and a soldering iron the cost to me was nothing. but potentially $20 for a cheap soldering iron and some solder.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ilwckb252 @ Sep 19 2007, 04:57 PM) [snapback]514959[/snapback]</div>

Good walk through. On ours, however, the top of the plastic cone broke off. I tried epoxing it back together, but it didn't hold, so we got the Sharkfin.

PA P

 

I tried to install two lead XM antenna through stock antenna mount but gave up when there wasn't enough clearance to do it right.

Here's another posting about the same/similar issue.

http://priuschat.com/Accessing-antenna-base-t38863.html

There's no way I would pay $600 to replace the antenna when I could do within 2 hours. I didn't actually replace the antenna but I did take it out to see if I could fit all of the wiring through the square hole and if I needed to drill new holes for XM antenna.

 

Yes, thank you for the instructions. My wife backed up the car this morning before the garage door was completely up and broke off the antenna. Called to make an appointment with the dealer then started searching online for a way to fix it myself and priuschat saved me again. I'm reposting the step by step instructions with a few added details and caveats:

1. Open the back hatch.
2. There are 3 friction plugs on the headliner (top of the car ceiling towards the back), remove them. Use a flat head screwdriver to pry them up a bit then slip in some needle nose pliers to grasp the base of the plug to pull out. They break pretty easy.
3. There is a nut on the inside of the roof under the base of the antenna mount, remove it. You will need to push the headliner down a bit, but not completely off, just enough to slip you hands/arms above it to reach the nut. Best to use a ratchet wrench to unscrew it.
4. After you take the nut off, go to the top of the car and move the base back and forth, side to side until it separates from the car. The antenna cable will still be going into the hole in the top of the car.
5. Beneath the base you just removed, you will find screws to separate the plastic cover from the base, remove them. Be careful not to let anything go down into the hole in the top of the car. Also, you might want to lay a towel on the top of the car to prevent scratches and things sliding off.
6. Re-solder the signal wire from the base back to the metal ball part.
7. Insert the metal ball part back inside the plastic cover and screw the antenna back in (make sure it will hold the antenna in place still). I applied some super glue (epoxy glue would work better) to the top of the ball before inserting back into the base, to hold it in place if I were to unscrew the antenna from the base in the future.
8. Reassemble. When putting the base back through the hole at the top of the car, make sure the two copper flanges are pushed in next to the round base/bolt going through the hole. These flanges need to go through the hole.
9. While tightening up the nut inside the car, before its completely snug, go to the top of the car and work the base side to side and back and forth until the rubber base is flush with the car, then finish tightening the nut.

Takes a bit of work, but definitely doable and much cheaper than going to the dealer. -DWrath