benSB

I broke off the antenna on my 97 Civic, and I really don't want to pay a dealer $300 to fix it (especially when a replacement was $12). Is there an easy way to do this? I had a quick look and can't find the antenna cable as it snakes from the radio under the dash. Any advice (especially step by step instructions) would be great. Thanks.

Provocateur

Is it a retractable antenna?

Quez123

I had to replace my antenna not too long ago. I was backing out and a tree limb caught it and bent it farward. I have a '99 but I think it's the same thing. The antenna was a pain in the ass to install. There's 2 main parts. THe antenna itself with a cable attached to it and the extension which goes from the end of the antenna to the head unit. The cable that's attached to the antenna must go through the hole where the antenna mounts, through the inside of the driver side pillar, down to about where the hood latch release is. That's the hardest part. Getting the cable to go in the right place. I used a metal coat hanger to help me out. Right there where the hood latch release is is where the antenna cable connects to the extension cable... hope this helps.

CPL

Its actually not too bad. Just go ahead and unplug that antenna and work its way out , but b4 you pull it out of the pillar make sure you tie a string strong enough to it. Go ahead and proceed to pull it out. Take the string off the old antenna that you tied and tie it to the new one. Obviously use the string to help you get it through but like I said make sure the string is strong for the force you will put on it. After its through you can either follow the same route to the radio or make your own.

saltyf

What if I already pulled the old cable out? Is there still hope?

In my case the antenna cable was cut at the top and fell inside, so there was no way I could have pulled it from the top, with the string attached to the bottom end. I tried to put the old piece of cable back in just as an experiment, but there is something blocking it inside the pillar a couple inches from the bottom edge of the windshield. Also, where exactly should the cable come out inside the car, is this place easy to access?

saltyf

BTW, right now I'm using a temporary solution. I stripped the remains of the old antenna cable from it's copper shielding and routed it under the dash above the instrument cluster. The reception is pretty decent, I must say. Especially considering I didn't do any measurements to imiate a half-wavelength dipole and right now it is positioned parallel to wave polarization, so there is definitely room for improvement. But for now, I guess I found a good place to mount an internal antenna, invisible from outside and inside. It is above the lower level of the windshield and relatively far away from the body of the car and other big metal objects that can shield it.

saltyf

Finally got the antenna installed. I agree, pulling the antenna cable from the top seems to be pretty tough. It always get's stuck about where the lower edge of the windshield is. So I borrowed some of your ideas and decided to try a different approach. I had about 10 feet of 8 gauge power cable from Home Depot lying in my trunk. It is about the same diameter as the antenna cable, but much more rigid. I took this power cable and pulled it through from the other end (from inside the car, under the dash). It showed up in the antenna hole at the top of the car in no time. After that I just tied the antenna cable to this power cable and pulled the whole thing through in the opposite direction. No sweat, it took me about 15 minutes to do the whole thing.