Ariel Advice Needed!!

[Bumble-bee]

Hi guys!

Need some help, so I couldn't pick up any channels from my radio since I bought the car but I used my aux so it didn't bother me, there's crackling and I can just about get radio one, so yeah I wondered why I didn't work and turns out my ariel doesn't extend to pick up a signal at all!

After testing it with a live and blowing a fuse the motor doesn't work at all but looks brand new :') (guess it's because it's covered up) is it cheap and easy to change this motor? Or cheaper and better to just get a new ariel fitted that's always up?

Thanks for any help

[robbie_742003]

Yep, dead easy to replace, pull down the side carpet in boot and it's pretty much self explanatory. Always a few 2nd hand ones popping up.
Rob

[Bumble-bee]

Yep, dead easy to replace, pull down the side carpet in boot and it's pretty much self explanatory. Always a few 2nd hand ones popping up.
Rob

Thanks Rob, is there any change the shaft could be broken aswell? just don't want it to be costly I don't have the money to throw at a simple issue :')

And just realised my spelling was atrocious!! *aerial* aha

[Mullen]

Take it out and open it up to see if the toothed white plastic coil is broken as you can just replace that bit.

[rev3gtturbo]

In addition to what the others have said, have a look at the aerial control circuit board in the (black or green or brown) box attached to the aerial motor assembly. Some get water damaged and stop working so may not be the mast.

As for getting second hand parts, check the part numbers are the same as the bits you are trying to replace. In some cases the connecting plugs are physically different so wont connect, or they are wired different, or the circuit board is different so wont control it even if the connectors look ok.
Depending on which rear spoiler you have, the aerials are a different length when retracted.

I tried a few combinations last year. Gave up in the end and got a new aftermarket retractable aerial (the Toyota one is very expensive - costs hundreds!). The connector on the car loom had to be cut off and replaced with the modern European equivalent.

Toyota can tell you which part numbers are compatible from your chasis number and car model code.

[rev3gtturbo]

While you have the carpet lifted up, check there is a water drain tube attached to the bottom of the aerial assembly that goes out through a grommet in the boot floor otherwise any water that comes in through the aerial cannot get out of the boot and will probably cause rust somewhere.

Sometime these tubes can get disconnected from the aerial over time.
I have also seen them not routed through the boot floor grommet after an aerial has been removed and refitted/replaced.

When I had my new aftermarket aerial fitted with wiring mod, I asked if they had attached the water drain tube. They said yes. I could see one still attached to my old aerial so I checked later to be sure. The tube was missing so I put the old one on myself.