I have the telescoping antenna. I had some recent grinding sounds as the antenna would extend. After checking around on the forum I followed the advice to pull the mast after removing the retaining nut and extending the mast via power on.

I have inspected the mast and cleaned all the grime off of it. After which I replaced it and worked it back and forth till the noise was eliminated. I thought I had won the battle. Only to find out the next day that I had forgot to include the metal slip on portion that mates to the end of the bottom most portion of the antenna. Ok, I must add this since the antenna is not properly secure...

After doing so, the noise returned. My analysis of this issue lead me to discover that if the locking nut is not 100% tight then there is no noise.
Naturally this will not allow the painted body portion to fit flush.

So I tried manually to get the mast to mate with the gears thinking it is not timing correctly. Example: The mast is fully extended and the motor continues to try and extend the mast.

Conversely, when fully retracted and lowered the motor thinks it has a little bit more to do and slight grinding sounds are noticed. However, no where near as lengthy as the extending operation.

The mast is in tact. It is not broken at any point and all the teeth are uniform. Installing the plastic portion seems only to work if the teeth face rearward of the vehicle.

I cannot accept the notion that something is "broken" since everything works as it should with the exception of the motor working a bit too long.

Interrogative: I recently had modules updated in the car and I wonder if this could be contributing to this issue. As if the computer is not registering the amount it must send the signal to the mast motor.

Please help me out. I am thanking you in advance. Since I don't want to have to drop any $ on something that is most likely not mechanically broken.

J3L

 

You need a NEW mast, not a cleaned up one that is still worn out. Been there, done that. New mast don't cost more than fifteen bucks give or take.

It's my guess that the motor stops when it sees a given resistance ( electrical). If you a turn the radio on, and as the mast rises up out of its hole, pinch the mast to keep it from going up further and I believe you'll find that the motor will stop. Well before it reaches its full height.

 

Pull the fuse for the mast and not bother with it.

 

I would pull the fuze if it weren't for the fact that I listen to AM radio almost daily. In fact I have already tried to do so but AM had too much static.
Thanks for the advise never-the-less.

I don't think this mast is worn out. It actually looks quite pristine.
I will take your word on it, however what mast is a direct replacement?

Jag OEM doesn't sell just the mast for 07...

 

I bought a 2007 XK with this problem. Turn the radio on............antenna goes up........antenna motor goes clanka, clanka, clanks for a number of seconds.

Turn radio off........antenna goes down and the motor goes clanka, clanka, clanka, clanks for a few seconds. My neighbor across the street could even hear it and asked what was wrong with the car.

I did a Google search using the words.............JAGUAR XK ANTENNA MAST and got a lot of hits. Bought one off EBay for fifteen to twenty bucks. Pulled the mast and motor out. Removed old mast completley from the motor. Installed the new mast with the motor laying on the floor of the trunk by turning the radio on/off etc.

Took several tries beause the new mast has a natural curl in it and it took several tries to get its tip past a boss inside the antenna mast post.

Works fine to this day almost a year ago. My old mast looked just fine and dandy. Just did the clanka, clanka thing for maybe ten seconds after going up and down.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=jaguar+antenna+mast I've long since lost the receipt of where I bought it. Similar to this link.