Miata Mailing List: July 1994, Message #131
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   From: "Robert Cohen" 
Subject: Re: Ups and downs.
   Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 11:08:49 -0400

        Reply to:   RE>Ups and downs.
John W. Keating III writes (7/7/94):

>The power antenna on Trixie (92B) refuses to retract.  It started >yesterday,
and hasn't gone down (without my help) since.

>I can force it down, and it extends correctly on radio power-up, but it >will
not retract.

The antenna on my '92 began to stick a bit on retration about
a month ago.  I applied a very light film of Red-Line's "red moly"
grease on the alternate sections that were already darkened 
somewhat (due to the original factory lube?), and haven't 
had any problems since. 

In my case, the antenna would retract about an inch or three,
then stop, prior to the re-lube.  However, your symptoms sound like 
the entire retraction mechanism may be stuck or broken.  Hope it's
just stuck.

>In a worse-case scenario, would it be better to attempt to rebuild it, or 
>would it be better to buy a new one?

I don't know about your dealer, but I'd guess _mine_ would say it's
not fixable and charge a nice fee for a new Mazda part -- so it
might be worth your while to attempt the fix or, at worst, take it
apart and see what makes it tick.  I recall some advertisements for aftermarket
antennas in the MCA mag as well. 

Good luck,

Bob
'92 blue pkg b

robert_cohen@sdm.buffalo.edu
SUNY at Buffalo
(716) 829-3845 voice
(716) 837-7623 fax