Recently purchased this car and the antenna didnt work at all, no motor noise or anything. After inspection the motor was unplugged and worked perfectly, but the mast was damaged. Replaced the mast with this:

Replacement was easy and went smoothly, antenna now goes all the way up and comes down. However, it does not go all the way down. The antenna base is larger than the motor's tube. Here are a few photos to show what I'm talking about.

The first & second photos show the brass spacer on the bottom of the new mast that is preventing it from going in the OEM tube. The third photo shows and adapter that came with the new mast and that will not go inthe tube either. The last photo shows the antenna at full down position with the lock nut installed. It doesnt look bad at this height, but it's not right and I'm a bit baffled as to what is going on here. I doubt I got the wrong mast, but I guess it's possible. The motor assembly looks original with original Jaguar part numbers so I dont think that has been messed with. If anyone has any ideas or has run into this before I'd appreciate any info you may have

 

Your GN and Jag are black? Geez! Hope you live in a cooler climate than me. I couldn’t tolerate a DD black car.

Anyways, I would take that mast all the way back out. After you get it out, you’ll want to pull the antenna motor out of the car. Open it up and inside the spool cover, I believe you’ll find a section of previous broken mast cable that just needs removed. After that is out of the way, put the antenna motor back in the car and turn the radio on. I’d have the engine running to get the most power to the antenna motor so it’ll go all the way down the fastest but that’s just me.

 

Yea, most of my cars are black. In PA so its not too bad most of the year, but middle of summer can be rough. At least the Jag has Oatmeal interior, that should help a bit.

That makes sense there possible being a piece of the old mast still in there. I'll pull the entire assembly and see what's going on. Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out when I get a minute.

 

Could the lowest section of the old antenna tube be stuck down and blocking the new antenna from installing? It should just drop in and that sleeve with the tab, in the second photo, should slide in as well, and lock in place. The brass ring will slide up and stop against it as the antenna extends. It could be a poor fitting part, but the part number is correct. I got the URO version off rockauto, same PN, and it fit with no issues.

If the sleeve by itself is too big to fit into the hole, you've probably got that old outer piece jammed inside there. The toothed cable would be independent of that issue.

 

The broken end is wound around the spool and will not come out until the halves are separated and the broken toothed cable is removed.

I've done DOZENS of this repair in the Jags since the XJ40 came out with this style.

bob

 

I did take the motor out, split it, and remove the old plastic toothed cable completely during the first repair.. I am thinking that there still might be a piece of the old mast stuck in there. That has to be it, can't really think of anything else it would be.

Thank you all for the suggestions, I'll remove the assembly sometime this week and report back.

 

You guys were spot on, the little clip in my third picture was still stuck in there from the old one. Just collapsed it from the top, pulled it out and the new one went in perfectly all the way to the bottom. Looks so much better all the way down. Thanks again guys. Now on to other projects...love this car.

 

Where does one get a replacement nut for the antenna? Mine is broke. I have a 2000 xj8

Thank you

 

The cheapest and quickest place, ...a junk yard ...or look in The Marketplace for ones being parted out. There's at least (2) XJ8's and an XK or 2.

 

With the advice and information in this thread I was able to get my antenna working. New to me 2007. The antenna only went up and down part way. Removed it, cleaned it up and reinstalled to see if it would work before ordering parts. Works great now. Thanks.
I didn't have any soaker hose so I bent the end of the geared plastic backwards a little. It held its shape long enough to insert it without catching on the ridge.