Do I need to take the whole inside of the trunk out just to change the mast if the antenna? It seems crazy?!

 

as far as I know, yes. But it is not that difficult, only the first time you remove it.

 

I think the antenna mast on an S3 is in the rear fender well behind the gas tank. Can be seen and maybe taken out be removing the tail light assembly.

Dave

 

yes but the mast is hard-connected to a cable connected to the motor which is located in the spare tire compartment, so to remove the mast and cable, the entire assembly and motor must be removed and that requires a lot of disassembly. Not impossible once you figure out it was designed that way, but not exactly a 1-hour job.

 

Not that I've ever done the task but I think Jose is right. I can't see any way to replace the mast without removing the entire unit for [partial] disassembly.

Maybe you could disconnect the cable from the motor (with the motor still in place), run the motor to feed-out the nylon drive cord, and then feed the new cord into the motor by running the motor again in the reverse direct. This assumes the drive cord isn't broken inside the motor. Even if that is possible it might actually just be easier to remove the whole shebang and do it on the workbench.






Cheers
DD

 

yes I did it once, I just ordered a complete assembly from David, it was a lot easier than trying to remove and replace the cable and mast from the motor which is under wound spring tension.