The power antenna on my 96 Subaru Legacy wagon no longer works. There is a guy on Ebay, http://www.antennax.com, selling Harada power antenna for $24.95 that he claims will fit in almost any import car. Has anyone had any experience with these or the flexible fixed euro style antennas as replacements

Why buy something if yours is repairable? Do you hear the motor try to raise it when you turn on the radio? Have you cleaned the wiring harness contacts at the antenna to see if it will fire up? If the motor isn't seized, and works, but the antenna doesn't respond, you can replace just the mast assembly very cheaply. Its a DIYer, if you're handy. Failing that, grab the top mast assembly ball with pliers and pull the antenna into a full up position and just leave it up. Personally I"d take it out of the car, clean and lub it up, motor, gear box, mast assembly and whip, and put her back in. Two hour job for me, start to finish.

I can walk you through it if you want to tackle it. I've done 3 of them all on different cars. In fact, many Japanese manufacturers use the same parts suppliers so they are interchangeable. My 90 300ZX has a mast assembly from a mid 90's Camry in it. Reason...I live close to the Toyota dealer and far from the Nissan dealer. Fits and works like a charm.

Did the lube job routine a few thousand back. Unit sounds torn up inside. Made mistake of going thru car wash with antenna up. Which bent it at a 90, unbending it put a major kink in the bottom segment. So it is pretty much toast : (

So mast is toast and whip is broken. No big deal. Pull the unit out of the car, buy a new mast as suggested, open the gear box on the side of the motor (one nut) remove broken whip pieces, put gear box back together, and install new mast/whip assembly as already suggested and pop the whole thing back into the car. Total cost, some frustration, some learning curve, $30 or so, and some time = satisfaction of fixing it yourself, the car remains stock, and antenna fixed.

I'll sell you a new mast assembly for cheap...I bought one thinking I could do it myself and got frustrated, then I boutha whole new pwr antenna on ebay so I have the new mast assembly sitting in a box. Let me know if you want it...$30.00.

 

Ben