Hi, Thank you. A very useful video but after four attempts at failing to make the aerial work due to the internal plastic cable turning and not engaging on the gearwheel, despite my very careful attempts at winding it into the spool correctly. I found the answer to be to assemble the aerial fully extended. This allowed the aerial to twist itself so that the internal toothed cable remained correctly aligned. To prove this I attached a jumper earth wire from the motor mounting plate to the bulkhead screw holes. I then just loosely placed aerial assembly, so it was sticking horizontally out of the boot. I then connected the connector and battery and ran it that way a few times. This let the motor wind and unwind the internal plastic cable, rather than me trying to do it by hand and failing. Success! It now works perfectly. I can recommend this slight amendment to the otherwise excellent instructions in this video.
Remember to spray the hole with a zinc rich primer before reinstalling and also to spray with grease just before putting the carpet back - if like me you’re in a place like Scotland the constant rain and winter road salt will eventually corrode that spot. Great vid, thanks for posting!
Thanks for this! It was really helpful and I've just completed the swap and the aerial is back on the car working. I didn't notice anything different about installing it on a convertible. I was having trouble cramming the white plastic runner back into the wheel housing, so I extended the aerial, reassembled the housing and pushed it back in manually.
Excellent video, still helping people replaces these in 2022 (soon to be 23!). For those of you who have the cord just suddenly unwind, that is likely due to the center spindle coming apart (it’s a pain to reassemble if the springs or bearing pops out).
Thanks for the helpful video! Replaced the broken mast in my wife's 2002 9-3 SE. Some additions that helped for me: 1) Moving the carpet was difficult. Helps if you totally remove the speaker cover by removing the plastic trunk deck (the part that hangs from the hatch door) and then remove the knob that it snaps into as well as a second screw by the rear seat (you may have to fold the seat down to get to it). I also removed the retaining rings on the hatch sill cover (along bottom of hatch opening) so that I could pull up the plastic sill cover to pull the carpet out from behind it. It looks like the sill cover wasn't installed in the video. 2) After reinstalling the repaired mast assembly and screwing down the outside 17mm nut I turned on the radio and got several clicks and no antenna extension. I pulled the 17mm nut and the antenna extended normally, so I reinstalled the nut with the antenna extended and now it works normally. I'm guessing that the antenna was somehow hung up on the nut.
Thanks to your video I decided to install Viggen style antenna on the roof. Pros: - better reception (tested, built in amplifier) - no annoying noise when turning radio on and off - no risk of breaking in freezing temperatures Cons: - antenna plug costs $30, so I left old antenna in place
Thanks Edwin, it's comments like these that make me realize some random Saab project/repair I did long ago can continue to help someone now. If you have any suggestions feel free, bc I'd certainly like to keep them coming! Even though 4 Saabs give me more to do than I can film & edit ;-)
Thanks. Very good video. Unfortunately I did something wrong because antenna dont move. Motor turning and there hearing crang, crang noise. Next i put normal car antenna.
Oh heaven's no. Don't cut it. That cord's length is the antenna mast length when it's fully extended, plus a little extra to wind once around the motor gear. These old Saab antenna's are quite long too, oddly enough, so if you cut your new antenna it's going to get stuck in the "up" position. The motor gear won't have enough tail to pull it down, if that makes sense. Point is, don't do it! Use the part as it is, and just wind that long tail into the motor as shown in the video.
Didn’t work after multiple attempts installing ! Ugh so frustrating. After I put everything back , after and hour of trying , I heard it unravel inside? How the that happen ?? I might try the package instructions and just feed it down when power is on ..
Winding the tail into the housing is definitely the most patience-trying part. For $189 you can mail it to me and I'll rebuild it, test, & re-send. Email saabatx@gmail.com if interested
The problem is that when having the thread in the house like in this video the car will snap it off. When installing power the car will roll in the wire and it will snap. Do like Andrew suggesting and assembly with the antenna fully extended. You don't have do mess with the wire so much also. I need to order a new one since my wire snapped.
Great tip, sounds like doing it that way you let the motor roll the antenna from fully extended and dont have to manually (and painstakingly) coil in the antenna on the motor gear. You're saying just feed the litte bit of the tail thats left after full extension, and then the motor can coil it nicely, and in a manner that's natural. Saves the manual work, let the antenna motor do the work!! I LIKE IT. Thanks for sharing your insight so that others may read 🤟
Thanks for the video. Recently got a 2002 9-3 Aero 5D and a friend of mine decided to push the antenna down by hand :D .So now it's stuck and wont go up or down, but every time i start the car i can hear the loud motor trying to push it out, and down when i turn the car off, a bit annoying. Hopefully it's fixable so i don't have to buy a new one for almost 200 bucks.
You might want to unplug power from antenna. You are risking damaging motor or other moving parts. It doesn't have an amplifier, so no signal loss after unplugging.
Yeah personally I ran my 5DR Saab with the antenna power unplugged for two reasons. 1) It lessens the wear of going up and down everytime the radio is turned On and Off, and 2) I once had a FM transmitter for my MP3 player and having the antenna up always added to the interference. I just had to remember to re-plug connection to mast anytime before I did a roadtrip w/o the MP3 bc radio is definitely worse without the mast up
As much as this helped, I’m concerned about where the 3 small metal plates goes. Under the lock or above it. Everything is great but I’m concerned about that small part. Maybe record a little closer and show each individual part going off as well as screws and plates
@@saabross3171 I found it, but under the locking pin there are supposted to be 3 small metal plates, when put together looks like just one plate. When I got done putting it together and was 100% unsure if that was the right spot I looked through the whole video until I saw at 2:09 where they belonged. So I took it apart and put it back together in just a few minutes. As much as it helped I would say maybe show the screws and all that? (You can see the metal plates as well at 4:55) The outcome at least came out good on the cabriolet, but the antenna doesn't go in 100%, which is fine because it at least goes up and down now after about 6 years as my dad has never had the will to do it until when we did it a week ago, we took out the motor and I changed it.
The hardest part for me is trying to disconnect the plug in connector. A common problem for me!! Electrical connectors and their endless variety will no doubt be the cause of my death. My wife will come out to the garage one day to find me stone cold - my fingers still gripped tightly to an electrical connector in a life ending struggle!!
Hi, Thank you. A very useful video but after four attempts at failing to make the aerial work due to the internal plastic cable turning and not engaging on the gearwheel, despite my very careful attempts at winding it into the spool correctly. I found the answer to be to assemble the aerial fully extended. This allowed the aerial to twist itself so that the internal toothed cable remained correctly aligned. To prove this I attached a jumper earth wire from the motor mounting plate to the bulkhead screw holes. I then just loosely placed aerial assembly, so it was sticking horizontally out of the boot. I then connected the connector and battery and ran it that way a few times. This let the motor wind and unwind the internal plastic cable, rather than me trying to do it by hand and failing. Success! It now works perfectly. I can recommend this slight amendment to the otherwise excellent instructions in this video.
Genius!
I’m struggling too on this . But if you extend it out , install , how do you wind in the rest of the cord ?
I guess wind it so that theres just enough cable to put the end inside the coil?
Remember to spray the hole with a zinc rich primer before reinstalling and also to spray with grease just before putting the carpet back - if like me you’re in a place like Scotland the constant rain and winter road salt will eventually corrode that spot. Great vid, thanks for posting!
Thanks for this! It was really helpful and I've just completed the swap and the aerial is back on the car working. I didn't notice anything different about installing it on a convertible. I was having trouble cramming the white plastic runner back into the wheel housing, so I extended the aerial, reassembled the housing and pushed it back in manually.
Excellent video, still helping people replaces these in 2022 (soon to be 23!).
For those of you who have the cord just suddenly unwind, that is likely due to the center spindle coming apart (it’s a pain to reassemble if the springs or bearing pops out).
Thank you, completed this job recently and all is well. Much appreciated.
Thank you for the helpful video, my first successful car repair on my own
Glad to hear!!
Thanks for the helpful video! Replaced the broken mast in my wife's 2002 9-3 SE. Some additions that helped for me:
1) Moving the carpet was difficult. Helps if you totally remove the speaker cover by removing the plastic trunk deck (the part that hangs from the hatch door) and then remove the knob that it snaps into as well as a second screw by the rear seat (you may have to fold the seat down to get to it). I also removed the retaining rings on the hatch sill cover (along bottom of hatch opening) so that I could pull up the plastic sill cover to pull the carpet out from behind it. It looks like the sill cover wasn't installed in the video.
2) After reinstalling the repaired mast assembly and screwing down the outside 17mm nut I turned on the radio and got several clicks and no antenna extension. I pulled the 17mm nut and the antenna extended normally, so I reinstalled the nut with the antenna extended and now it works normally. I'm guessing that the antenna was somehow hung up on the nut.
Thanks to your video I decided to install Viggen style antenna on the roof.
Pros:
- better reception (tested, built in amplifier)
- no annoying noise when turning radio on and off
- no risk of breaking in freezing temperatures
Cons:
- antenna plug costs $30, so I left old antenna in place
Great video, I would have struggled putting mine back together without it.
Great tutorial, exactly the info I needed.
Glad to hear it Neal 🥰
Thank you, super helpful. My job for today. Mark from the UK
Best of luck Mark, let me know how it goes!
Saab Ross thank you Ross, all done. Wonderful to turn the radio on and the aerial goes flying up. Best wishes mark
Thank you very much 👍 thanks to this clip me and my son managed to install a new antenna.
Gald to hear! Nothing beats a lil' father/son wrenching, especially when it's successful 😉
Perfect video and instructions! Thank you
Ross, super helpful. Happy as can be with a 'new' working antenna. Keep up the posts.
Thanks Edwin, it's comments like these that make me realize some random Saab project/repair I did long ago can continue to help someone now. If you have any suggestions feel free, bc I'd certainly like to keep them coming! Even though 4 Saabs give me more to do than I can film & edit ;-)
I now have radio for the first time in 6 years!!!!
Awesome!!
Perfect Ross, helped me a lot (or: would not have tried myself without it!) Thanks!
Perfect! That's great to hear it went well Goudaspeed
Thank you so much for this video.
I been trying to remove the sleeve but it's really stuck. Do you have any tips how to do it?
Best tip: don't remove it. Though if you've chewed it up trying, using a large drill bit that juuust fits inside the mast will bore it out
The car shown in the video was a ng 900 or an og 9-3? Its hard to tell just by the side shot alone.
Thanks. Very good video. Unfortunately I did something wrong because antenna dont move. Motor turning and there hearing crang, crang noise. Next i put normal car antenna.
So you don’t trim the new cord ? Looks so long ?
Oh heaven's no. Don't cut it. That cord's length is the antenna mast length when it's fully extended, plus a little extra to wind once around the motor gear. These old Saab antenna's are quite long too, oddly enough, so if you cut your new antenna it's going to get stuck in the "up" position. The motor gear won't have enough tail to pull it down, if that makes sense.
Point is, don't do it! Use the part as it is, and just wind that long tail into the motor as shown in the video.
@@saabross3171 can I wind it in manually?
Didn’t work after multiple attempts installing ! Ugh so frustrating. After I put everything back , after and hour of trying , I heard it unravel inside? How the that happen ?? I might try the package instructions and just feed it down when power is on ..
Winding the tail into the housing is definitely the most patience-trying part. For $189 you can mail it to me and I'll rebuild it, test, & re-send. Email saabatx@gmail.com if interested
The problem is that when having the thread in the house like in this video the car will snap it off. When installing power the car will roll in the wire and it will snap. Do like Andrew suggesting and assembly with the antenna fully extended. You don't have do mess with the wire so much also. I need to order a new one since my wire snapped.
Great tip, sounds like doing it that way you let the motor roll the antenna from fully extended and dont have to manually (and painstakingly) coil in the antenna on the motor gear. You're saying just feed the litte bit of the tail thats left after full extension, and then the motor can coil it nicely, and in a manner that's natural. Saves the manual work, let the antenna motor do the work!! I LIKE IT. Thanks for sharing your insight so that others may read 🤟
what's the name of this antenna reolacement?
Thanks for the video.
Recently got a 2002 9-3 Aero 5D and a friend of mine decided to push the antenna down by hand :D .So now it's stuck and wont go up or down, but every time i start the car i can hear the loud motor trying to push it out, and down when i turn the car off, a bit annoying.
Hopefully it's fixable so i don't have to buy a new one for almost 200 bucks.
You might want to unplug power from antenna. You are risking damaging motor or other moving parts. It doesn't have an amplifier, so no signal loss after unplugging.
Yeah personally I ran my 5DR Saab with the antenna power unplugged for two reasons. 1) It lessens the wear of going up and down everytime the radio is turned On and Off, and 2) I once had a FM transmitter for my MP3 player and having the antenna up always added to the interference. I just had to remember to re-plug connection to mast anytime before I did a roadtrip w/o the MP3 bc radio is definitely worse without the mast up
Where did you order your new antenna and tooth cable? Very helpful video!
Two options, black or chrome:
m.eeuroparts.com/Cars/SAAB/1165/1999-9-3-2-0L-4-Cyl-16-Valve-Turbo/?search=antenna+
@@saabross3171 Thanks! Just got the antenna mast of my -97 900 repaired earlier today. Everything worked perfectly on the first try.
How do you disconnect car battery?
Just remove the positive terminal with a 13mm rachet.
Thanks,is very utility explications;👍👌.SAVE SAAB FOREVER.THANK YOU.
SAVE SAAB 😉
As much as this helped, I’m concerned about where the 3 small metal plates goes. Under the lock or above it. Everything is great but I’m concerned about that small part. Maybe record a little closer and show each individual part going off as well as screws and plates
What exactly do you mean by 3 small metal plates? I'd be happy to show you
@@saabross3171 I found it, but under the locking pin there are supposted to be 3 small metal plates, when put together looks like just one plate. When I got done putting it together and was 100% unsure if that was the right spot I looked through the whole video until I saw at 2:09 where they belonged. So I took it apart and put it back together in just a few minutes. As much as it helped I would say maybe show the screws and all that? (You can see the metal plates as well at 4:55)
The outcome at least came out good on the cabriolet, but the antenna doesn't go in 100%, which is fine because it at least goes up and down now after about 6 years as my dad has never had the will to do it until when we did it a week ago, we took out the motor and I changed it.
The hardest part for me is trying to disconnect the plug in connector. A common problem for me!! Electrical connectors and their endless variety will no doubt be the cause of my death. My wife will come out to the garage one day to find me stone cold - my fingers still gripped tightly to an electrical connector in a life ending struggle!!
Hahaha love it; I can relate on so many levels! Every one is different, but nothing a little flathead and some patience can't solve.
Three thumbs up!
thank you!
The antenna design is really bad. Every time you reverse accidents can happen.