I recently noticed that the seal (or gasket, or whatever you want to call it) at the base of my antenna (1999 Passat) had split. Does anyone have any idea whether this is an easy, inexpensive part to come by, or do you have to buy the whole antenna assembly?
Also- Should I be concerned about leaks in the meantime, or is it strictly decorative?
You can't get just a gasket, at least not from the dealer. Maybe some
3rd party place sells just a gaskey, make some calls and let us know.You will have to drop the headliner to be able to swap out the gasket, not really hard, but don't expect to do this in 20 minutes (unless you don't mind a big crease going across your headliner).
Yes, the gasket does keep water out.
Yapeeeee, each paragraph started with the letter "Y", which sponcered my favorite show the other day, along with the number 5!
Not sure what the dealer will tell you but back in the mid 1990s I had the same problem on my 1991 GTI and they told me I had to buy a whole new antenna because it wasn't sold separately.
However, I ended up finding a gasket from this place for just a couple of bucks:
It is a little more than just decorative.
Replacing it is going to be fun because you're going to need to drop your headliner to get at the underside of the antenna, loosen the antenna (there's probably a nut underneath it), remove antenna, replace gasket, reinstall antenna.
ummmmmmmm...... OK. Not certain as to the meaning of this response, so I'll chalk it up to the mass consumption of hallucinogens.
On the B4 cars, you can snap out a long trim piece at the back edge of the headliner near the back window glass. This allows you to lean back onto the rear deck and just reach under the headliner with the necessary wrench to remove the antennae. The wires come off with turning the threaded nut, and pulling off a spade-type connector. No removal of the headliner at all, and only takes about 10 minutes to replace an antennae if someone holds the base while you do the tightening. Maybe this applies to the B5 also? I never had to replace the antenna on one.
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