Replacing the electric radio aerial

[Broadway1234]

Hi, any tips in replacing my damaged radio aerial

[Brakebuster]

should be quite easy

firstly , buy the right one

some internet/ebay masts only have three sections, from memory , genuine jaguar ones have four or even five sections, and are better quality , hence the slight increase in price for them, they can be got from Jaguar, or internet

firstly , make sure the top nut can be undone, i think its 14mm , but i wont swear to that, protect the bodywork with some masking tape, just in case

turn the top nut to undo it , holding the mast from inside may help at this point

when the top nut starts to move, spray a little WD40 , just to help it out, then undo all the way until its off its threads

then , with ignition on ( engine running not necessary ) but radio off , get a helper , get them to turn on the radio ( this is if the mast is down to start with ) , with the top nut undone the mast will start to go up , while its motoring carefully but firmly pull up , the base of the mast should now pull out followed by a tail of plastic gear section , once all out the motor will time out , there is also a slip ferrule that goes around the mast ( the new one will have it , ) make sure the old one comes out as well.

this is now the critical part , measure the tail against the new one, if the same length then you can start, if the old one is shorter it may mean there is some snapped off within the motor, this means removal of the motor and take it apart to remove the left behind gear section , this is quite a headache , as its mounted behind other stuff

once you have confirmed there is no mast left behind, get the new mast, insert the gear all the way down until it stops , then get your helper to turn off the stereo , this will activate the motor to pull in the nylon gear section , you may have to wiggle it to get it to catch , be aware , once it does catch it all happens fast, so be prepared to guide in the stainless tube section and let the mast fully retract

then turn off the car, and replace the top nut

over tightening the top nut can stop the mast moving correctly , so don't over tighten until you get full range operation

hope this helps

BB

( BTW , personally did this the other month for another member on here for his XK8 )

[Broadway1234]

Many thanks for the details