Welp, to share in the joy of DIY KIA repair....
Replaced my power antenna mast on the 01 Optima tonight. KIA's tech info has zero on this procedure. Bought the mast only online for about $15. I did the deed and left my radio on while going through one of those automatic car washes, good times. So, the metal mast was snapped and flopping around but the cord within was still intact, had to cut the cord at the hole.
What I did:
- Removed the two liner panels in the trunk to access the antenna. Two screws, 2 or 3 of those push in deals.
- Loosened the mast retainer (on the outside of the body).
- Removed the antenna assembly. This was surprisingly easy, one mount screw/nut and the whole thing comes loose (its on the bottom). Power connector, antenna connector and a ground wire screwed to the body.
- With the assembly in hand, I had to bring it in and figure out what the scoop was. You have to remove the spool cover plate, did this and yanked out the leftover cord. NOTE: the official KIA replacement did NOT come with a new bushing so I had to recycle this from the old one. Its made of semi-pliable plastic and can be pushed off with a little effort keeping in mind the whole mess is greasy. I had to remove the antenna tube as well to get at the small chunk of cord inside.
- Figured out how to spool the cord, the antenna cord has a ball-end that sits in a catch/slip ring within the main spool wheel. This was probably the most painful of steps while holed up in the corner of the trunk. The cord is stiff and wants to jump out and you have to wind in a revolution or two to get it fit when the antenna assembly is remounted. Even fully extended, there was still another 8-12" of cord so you have to spool that excess.
- Found that if the antenna is fully extended when the car is turned off, it will automatically retract as soon as you connect the 3 pin power connector. This is good, I was worried about it trying to extend an already extended antenna when the radio was turned on and stripping the plastic gear or something else bad.
- Also found that you can't turn that sucker by hand, its not doing anything w/o power. So you can't manually spool that way unfortunately. Its one hand pushing down on the slip ring to keep the cord from popping out, the other winding the spool.
- Tested extend/retract multiple times and checked the radio, all good.
- Carefully fastened the spool cover, tightened the top, sprayed some lithium grease on the extended mast and re-fastened the trunk liner panels.
- Time for a cold one.