Nissan 240sx - Antenna Replacement

You can replace just the mast. Nissan dealer gets $45-$55 for it. I just replaced mine for the second time in two years.

Go to the local parts house (Pep Boys & AutoZone have them) and look at the replacement power antenna masts they have. Buy the cheapest one you can find that has the same diameter of the inner-most (top) segment. I got one from AutoZone, but pep boys has what you need as well. The top segment actually has the string attached to it. It will cost $15-30 to go this route rather than OEM Nissan parts.

You remove the old mast by taking off the cap on top of the fender (bent tip needle nosed pliers or something similar to remove it) and then turn on the radio. It will eject the old antenna mast with the unbroken part of the string that is still attached.

If you actually broke the metal part of the mast, replacement is easy. You just feed the new mast back in by turning on the radio, feed the new mast string down into it and turn off the radio. It will pull it in. Put the cap back on. If it doesn't go all the way down, turn the radio on and then immediately off and it will pull it in the rest of the way. You are done.

Otherwise, now comes the fun part. if the gear string that pulls the mast up and down broke, you have to take out the antenna motor and disassemble part of it to remove the rest of the broken string.

E-mail me ( snipped-for-privacy@ieee.org) if you broke the string and you have an s13

Once you have all the old string out and have reinstalled the motor (assuming you had to take it out because the string was broken), feed the new mast back in as above and you are done.